Special counsel David Weiss intends to indict Hunter Biden on gun charges by the end of September, a court filing confirmed Wednesday.
“The Speedy Trial Act requires that the Government obtain the return of an indictment by a grand jury by Friday, September 29, 2023, at the earliest,” a status report document on Hunter Biden’s case from the Department of Justice read. “The Government intends to seek the return of an indictment in this case before that date.”
In August, district judge Maryellen Noreika dismissed two outstanding misdemeanor tax charges against Hunter Biden following a request from federal prosecutors, setting the stage for additional charges from Weiss.
Under the initial plea deal Noreika later rejected, Hunter was to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax violations and submit to a pre-trial diversion agreement to avoid a felony gun charge in exchange for broad immunity from future prosecution. The gun charge stemmed from his alleged lying on a federal form when buying a handgun in 2018 when he was an admitted drug user. Noreika challenged the terms of the deal in court, noting that the broad immunity prosecutors offered Hunter was unprecedented. The judge’s remarks triggered federal prosecutors to pull the original deal and offer a more narrow agreement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss to serve as special counsel to continue the ongoing investigation of Hunter free of standard Department of Justice oversight. Moments before the announcement, federal prosecutors said in a court filing that the revised deal had fallen through and that a future trial was expected.
Hunter’s former lawyer Christopher Clark withdrew from the case last month, citing the possibility that he may be called to testify in the forthcoming case.
“It appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues,” Biden’s legal team wrote, according to court filings. “It is inadvisable for Mr. Clark to continue as counsel in this case.”