Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, was indicted Thursday on a federal gun charge, less than two months after a plea agreement fell apart over tax and gun charges.
The indictment charges Hunter Biden with knowingly deceiving a firearms dealer when buying a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver on Oct. 12, 2018. He is also charged with falsely filling out a federal firearms form denying he was addicted to any narcotics. Hunter Biden has since acknowledged he was a drug addict at the time.
The charges revive the prospect that Hunter Biden could be jailed if convicted and rekindle his role as a lightning rod for political criticism as his father runs for reelection in 2024.
Republicans criticized the plea agreement as a “sweetheart deal.” Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, to become a special counsel to continue his investigation.
Biden was set to plead guilty in July to two misdemeanor charges for not filing taxes in 2017 and 2018, which he has since paid. He was also set to enter a pretrial program for a gun charge, which would have resulted in the charge being dropped if he complied with program’s requirements.
But U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika refused to accept the plea agreement because of disputes between Biden’s lawyers and federal prosecutors about the terms.
Three House Republican chairmen sent a letter Wednesday to Biden’s lawyers, Christopher Clark and Lowell, asking for documents related to the plea deal.
Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, head of the Judiciary Committee; James Comer of Kentucky, head of the Oversight and Accountability Committee; and Jason Smith of Missouri, head of the Ways and Means Committee, seeks documents described in articles in the New York Times and Politico about how the deal fell apart.
But one of Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, called the request further evidence of interfering with the investigation.
“These Republican chairmen continue to abuse their power to push a purely partisan attack on the Biden administration and family,” Lowell said. ” This latest demand is further proof of their continued and improper interference with the Justice Department’s investigation, which remains ongoing and in which Congress has no legitimate role.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden indicted on federal gun charges