Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Withdraws From Case

Hunter Biden leaves at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Courthouse in Wilmington, Del., on Oct. 3, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

On Friday, Hunter Biden’s attorney Richard I. G. Jones, Jr., filed a motion to withdraw from the felony gun charges case against Mr. Biden.

Mr. Jones did not cite a specific reason for the withdrawal and wrote that, having his client’s consent, the withdrawal “will have no material adverse effect on Mr. Biden’s interests.” Attorneys Abbe David Lowell and Bartholomew J. Dalton will continue to represent Mr. Biden.

On Sept. 14, a three-count indictment of Mr. Biden was unsealed. He was charged with illegally possessing a firearm while he was a drug addict, and lying on the application form that asked whether he was a user of drugs. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The indictment came after an earlier case against Mr. Biden was dropped when his plea deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ) fell through.

The DOJ had been investigating Mr. Biden for five years, and previously brought tax charges against him. The tax crimes were misdemeanors, and Mr. Biden had agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a pretrial diversion that included a waiver of indictment—a plea deal, in which the DOJ agreed not to bring charges against Mr. Biden for the gun felony.

Plea Deal

That plea deal fell apart in July when Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the terms of the agreement and requested more information, declining to just “rubber stamp” what she called a “confusing” agreement. The lawyers appeared unable to answer her questions during Mr. Biden’s arraignment, his first appearance in court, and the meeting ended without a resolution.

Four of Mr. Biden’s attorneys had withdrawn from the case, and not all of them cited a reason. Defense attorney Christopher Clark was the only one to give a reason in his filing, citing his role as a potential witness.

“Based on recent developments, 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,” the filings read.

Mr. Clark had been involved in obtaining the plea deal and the specific terms in the deal, and expected to be called on to testify on it.

The New York Times had obtained tranche of emails between Mr. Clark and the DOJ, in which Mr. Clark appeared to pressure DOJ prosecutor David Weiss to end his investigation into the president’s son. He had called the gun charged unconstitutional—something Mr. Biden’s attorneys are doing now—and demanded that to have Mr. Biden not plead guilty to anything.

Mr. Clark is a high profile defense attorney who has litigated cases for billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Cuban.

Mr. Weiss, who would only be appointed special counsel weeks after the arraignment in Delaware, later withdrew the case from the Delaware court, leaving an opening to prosecute Mr. Biden for tax crimes in California, where he lived during some of the years investigated.

Mr. Biden’s current legal counsel maintains that the plea deal remains in effect, and the DOJ is only authorized to bring gun charges against his client on one count, not three.

Mr. Weiss has argued that the plea deal was never formally entered into, and no longer holds. Mr. Biden did not plead guilty to the tax charges at the first arraignment.