Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, walks as he arrives at Fort Leslie McNair in Washington, DC, on July 1, 2024.
Mandel and | AFP | Getty Images
Hunter Biden’s lawyer asked Thursday federal judge Courts in California and Delaware dismissed the criminal cases against him, citing recent opinions by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a related ruling this week that dismissed a criminally classified case against former President Donald Trump.
Biden’s lawyers cited both opinions in motions filed in both courts, questioning the legality of the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith to prosecute Trump and arguing that the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss was a special case in the prosecution of the president’s son. Prosecutor Joe Biden violated the Constitution.
The motions follow a Monday ruling by Florida federal court Judge Aileen Cannon that dismissed Smith’s lawsuit against Trump for withholding classified documents after leaving the White House. Cannon ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Hunter Biden, 54, was convicted in June in federal court in Delaware of three felonies related to a 2018 purchase of a handgun in Delaware while he was a user and addict of crack cocaine. A motion filed Thursday in that court seeks to vacate the conviction and dismiss the case.
He is awaiting trial on federal tax crime charges in federal court in Los Angeles, and Biden’s lawyers have similarly asked a judge there to dismiss the charges.
Both of Biden’s motions note that his attorneys have previously argued that Weiss was improperly appointed as special counsel in violation of Justice Department rules and that because he exempted funds that did not apply to the special counsel, there was no success.
“But Mr. Biden’s motion now is different and based on recent legal developments,” his attorneys wrote.
The motion points out that the Supreme Court said on July 1 that Trump enjoys presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for so-called official presidential conduct. The ruling is related to Smith’s upcoming prosecution of Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., on charges that he is trying to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
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