Hunter Biden plans to plead not guilty to three federal gun charges during an initial court appearance and is requesting that the hearing be held via videoconference instead of appearing in federal court in Wilmington, Del., his attorney said in a statement Tuesday file.
Mr. Biden, 53, was indicted last week by David C. Weiss, the special prosecutor who oversaw the case, on two charges that he lied about his drug use to buy a gun in 2018, and on under one charge of illegal possession of the weapon, which he had less than two weeks to do.
The not guilty plea was expected. The decision to file criminal charges against Mr. Biden, the president’s troubled youngest son, came after the collapse of a plea deal in July that would have resolved the long-running investigation without him serving jail time.
“Mr. Biden will also plead not guilty, and there is no reason why he cannot say those two words via videoconference,” Abbe Lowell, Mr. Biden’s attorney, wrote in a two-page letter to Judge Christopher J Burke.
If convicted, Mr. Biden could face up to 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. But nonviolent, first-time offenders who have not been charged with using the weapon in another crime rarely receive serious prison time for the charge.
A substantial percentage of those accused of lying on a federal firearms application, as happened to Mr. Biden, are never charged on that charge unless they are also charged with a more serious underlying crime, according to current and former law enforcement officials. Most negotiate deals that include probation and participation in programs that include counseling, monitoring and regular drug testing.
No date has been set for Mr. Biden’s arraignment.
The defunct plea deal also would have resolved an investigation into Mr. Biden’s years-long late filing of his tax returns. Prosecutors did not file tax charges against Mr. Biden last week but could still do so.
Mr. Weiss’s team has also indicated that it continues to investigate other elements of Mr. Biden’s business dealings, most likely including whether his work with foreign interests violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which prohibits disclosure of lobbying activities for other countries are required.
