A federal judge on Friday rejected claims from Hunter Biden’s attorneys that the federal gun charge against President Joe Biden’s son be dropped.
U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the defense motions that sought to avoid any trial on charges that Hunter Biden lied about his drug use in October 2018 when he completed a federal form to buy a gun, according to the Associated Press.
At one point last year, the gun charge was going to go away as part of a plea agreement, but the agreement collapsed.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have argued three separate points to get the charge dropped -- that the case was politically motivated, that last year’s deal ought to still be in effect and that special counsel David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, was not properly appointed.
Noreika, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said that Hunter Biden’s lawyers never got down to specifics to prove there was direct political influence at work.
“The pressure campaign from Congressional Republicans may have occurred around the time that Special Counsel decided to move forward with indictment instead of pretrial diversion, but the Court has been given nothing credible to suggest that the conduct of those lawmakers (or anyone else) had any impact on Special Counsel,” the judge wrote.
“It is all speculation," she wrote
"At best, [Hunter Biden] has generically alleged that individuals from the prior administration were or are targeting him (or his father) and therefore his prosecution here must be vindictive," Noreika wrote, according to ABC.
"The problem with this argument is that the charging decision at issue was made during this administration -- by Special Counsel Weiss -- at a time when the head of the Executive Branch prosecuting Defendant is Defendant's father,” she wrote.
She noted that at all levels, there was no influence from Trump.
“The Executive Branch that charged Defendant is headed by that sitting President -- Defendant’s father. The Attorney General heading the DOJ was appointed by and reports to Defendant’s father. And that Attorney General appointed the Special Counsel who made the challenged charging decision in this case -- while Defendant’s father was still the sitting President,” she wrote, according to CNN.
“Defendant’s claim is effectively that his own father targeted him for being his son, a claim that is nonsensical under the facts here,” she wrote.
The claim of Weiss’s appointment being improper was rejected, as was the claim that the agreement from last year should be in force.
Noreika wrote that the 2023 deal was never signed by the probation office, which means it never officially existed as anything more than a proposal, according to AP.
The gun charge trial is scheduled to begin in June.
Hunter Biden is also facing a June trial on charges he did not pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.
The defense has failed to have those charges dismissed as well.
