Hunter Biden indicted on three gun possession charges – US politics live | US politics

Federal prosecutors indicted Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, over illegally possessing a firearm in Delaware on Thursday. The indictment comes a month after the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed the US attorney David Weiss, a Trump nominee, to oversee the investigation as special counsel.

Hunter Biden has been at the center of a years-long investigation into his tax affairs that was set to close with a guilty plea. But that plea deal fell apart at a Delaware courthouse after the Trump-appointed judge said she could not agree to the agreement, which ensured Biden would avoid jail time in a separate case of illegally possessing a gun while using drugs.

Amid the controversy, the president has repeatedly said he supports his son and Hunter has been seen regularly at family events. Asked if President Biden would pardon his son in the event of any conviction, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters: “No.”

But the younger Biden has been embroiled in a list of unrelated controversies for years, including his overseas dealings and struggles with addiction, which ex-President Trump and his allies have regularly sought to use as fodder for attacks.

Here’s a comprehensive timeline of the moments that have propelled Hunter Biden into the limelight.

Hunter Biden has been charged with three counts: two counts of making false statements by checking a box falsely saying he was not a user of or addicted to drugs and of illegally possessing the gun as a drug user, and one count for possessing the gun as a drug user.

Two counts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison while the third carries up to five years in prison, upon conviction, AP reported.

Hunter Biden has also been under investigation for his business dealings. The special counsel overseeing the case has indicated that charges of failure to pay taxes on time could be filed in Washington or in California, where he lives.

Hunter Biden has been indicted by federal prosecutors on three criminal counts on firearm possession, according to court documents.

The indictment was filed at the US district court in Delaware on Thursday and charges President Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a drug addict.

“Robert Hunter Biden, provided a written statement on Form 4473 certifying he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious,” the indictment said.

The indictment brought special counsel David Weiss follows the collapse of a plea deal for Hunter Biden in July that would have seen him plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and register in a program that would avoid prosecution on a gun-related charge.

Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, has withdrawn his motion for an emergency stay in proceedings against him in the Fulton county court.

Meadows had requested to transfer his Georgia 2020 election interference case from state to federal court on the basis that some of the charged conduct was within the scope of his official duties.

From Politico’s Kyle Cheney:

Martin Pengelly

Joe Biden has said Republicans launched an impeachment inquiry against him because “they want to shut down the government”.

Without agreement on new funding by 30 September, the federal government will at least partly shut down. Hard-right Republicans are demanding cuts to some spending and increases in other areas, particularly immigration enforcement. Some made an impeachment inquiry – regarding the business affairs of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and unsubstantiated allegations of corruption involving Joe Biden – a condition of support for keeping the government open.

Given he must run the House with just a five-seat majority, the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, is at the mercy of such pressure.

With more than five Republicans having expressed skepticism about whether impeachment would be merited, McCarthy skipped a vote on whether to open an inquiry.

That followed the example of Nancy Pelosi, his Democratic predecessor, who did not hold a House vote before proceedings against Donald Trump began in 2019. Notably, it also opened McCarthy to accusations of hypocrisy, given that he excoriated Pelosi and told rightwing news outlets at the time that he would hold a vote.

After an inquiry, impeachment must be voted on by the full House. A yes vote sends the president to the Senate for trial. A vote there decides if the president will be acquitted, or convicted and removed.

Trump was impeached twice, first for seeking political dirt on the Biden family and others in Ukraine, then for inciting the January 6 attack on Congress. The second Trump impeachment was the most bipartisan in history, with 10 House Republicans voting to impeach and seven Republican senators voting to convict. But enough Senate Republicans stayed loyal to see Trump acquitted.

The other impeached presidents – Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) – also survived Senate trials. As Democrats now hold the Senate, the effort against Biden stands next to no chance of succeeding.

Donald Trump, in the interview with Megyn Kelly, said Joe Biden is “not too old at all” to be president but that he was “grossly incompetent”.

Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show, Trump said:

Age is interesting because some people are very sharp and some people do lose it, but you lose it at 40 and 50, also.

“But no, he’s not too old at all. He’s grossly incompetent,” he added.

Trump, who at 77 is just a few years younger than 80-year-old Biden, said he had friends “that are in their 90s and they’re sharp as a tack”. He added:

You know, there’s a great wisdom if you’re not in a position like [Biden]. But if you go back 25 years, he wasn’t the sharpest tack either.

A Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month found that 73% of voters said Biden is “too old to run for president” but just 47% of voters said the same about Trump.

Donald Trump said he didn’t know who gave Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease official who became the face of the US’s Covid-19 pandemic response, a presidential commendation in an interview with the ex-Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

In a clip circulating on social media ahead of the interview’s release, Kelly questioned Trump over his elevation of Fauci during the pandemic. She said:

Not only did you not fire Fauci, who is loathed by many – millions of Republicans in particular, but also some Democrats – you made him a star.

Kelly said the former president had made Fauci the face of the White House coronavirus task force. “You think so?” Trump said. Kelly went on to say: “You actually gave him a presidential commendation before you left office. Wouldn’t you like a do-over on that?”

Trump responded:

I don’t know who gave him the commendation. I really don’t know who gave him the commendation.

Trump awarded a presidential commendation to Fauci in January 2021, a day before he left office.

Martin Pengelly

A spokesperson for Ron DeSantis responded to a report about undisclosed trips on donors’ private jets and said the report is an example of “Trump-legacy media collusion”.

The DeSantis spokesperson, Andrew Romeo, directed the paper to a former aide to the Florida governor now a top adviser to Donald Trump. Romeo said:

Additional questions regarding events, itineraries and documentation from almost five years ago should be directed to Susie Wiles, the staffer who oversaw such matters prior to her dismissal.

Wiles, the Washington Post said, “deferred questions to the Trump campaign”. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said “the DeSantis campaign’s ridiculous statement doesn’t even merit a response”, but responded to it anyway.

Instead of pointing fingers and trying to place blame on others – like they have historically done – the DeSantises should take a good, hard look in the mirror to better understand why they chose to act unethically and sell access to their office.

On the subject of DeSantis’s travel arrangements, Romeo told the paper:

All travel and events you mention – from almost five years ago – were compliant and received proper payment. Efforts to fundraise for state political parties and cultivate relationships with state officials are standard for political leaders, especially during an election year.

Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis traveled on private jets and enjoyed luxury travel and leisure time with wealthy donors that he failed to properly disclose, according to a Washington Post report.

The report about DeSantis’s travel arrangements concerned “at least six undisclosed trips on private jets and … lodging and dining in late 2018”, when DeSantis was Florida governor-elect, having won power with Donald Trump’s endorsement.

One of the undisclosed flights was to Augusta National in Georgia, home of the Masters golf tournament, the report said. The donor who supplied the jet, Mori Hosseini, also supplied a golf simulator for the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee.

DeSantis also took four other flights on a plane registered to donor John Cwik, the paper said, adding that the governor did not report the flights or accommodations as gifts or campaign contributions.

The report continues:

The undisclosed trips, which have not been previously reported, reflect how DeSantis fueled his political rise through close bonds with rich patrons and had a taste for luxury travel, in contrast to his campaign’s portrayal of DeSantis’s humble blue-collar roots and aversion to moneyed interests. His preference for private jet travel has continued into his White House bid, even as his campaign has struggled to rein in spending. In an unusual arrangement, the campaign is sharing some costs for private plane travel with the super PAC supporting him.

Nancy Pelosi hesitantly supportive of Harris as running mate for Biden

Martin Pengelly

Nancy Pelosi seemed to offer a less-than-ringing endorsement when asked if Kamala Harris was the best running mate for Joe Biden next year, saying:

He thinks so, and that’s what matters.

But the former House speaker also had praise for the vice-president, telling CNN:

And, by the way, she’s very politically astute. I don’t think people give her enough credit. She’s … consistent with the president’s values and the rest.

As Biden knows after eight years under Barack Obama, the vice-presidency has never been easy to fill. Harris may or may not agree with John Nance Garner’s famous observation, that the job he did for Franklin D Roosevelt wasn’t worth “a pitcher of warm piss”, but she has experienced familiar trials.

Speculation over her performance and possible replacement has been constant. In a deeply sourced new book about the Biden White House, the author Franklin Foer describes Harris’s struggles to define her role.

Nor does Harris enjoy favourable polling. Her approval rating – like Biden’s – has long been stuck at around 40%.