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Politics

Hunter Biden loses another ‘frivolous’ bid to stop Delaware gun case

By
Victor Nava
Published May 29, 2024, 8:06 p.m. ET

A Delaware judge on Wednesday rejected Hunter Biden’s latest attempt to stop proceedings in the federal gun case against him from moving forward, declaring the first son’s motion to be “frivolous.”

Biden, 54, had argued in his May 14 motion to enjoin that the use of congressional appropriations to fund Special Counsel David Weiss was unconstitutional because the prosecutor is not an “independent counsel.”

The embattled first son used the same argument in an effort to dismiss his California tax fraud case, a bid that was rejected by both the District Court for the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year. 

“Somewhat incongruously, [Biden] has asserted in this case both that he is being selectively prosecuted by a Special Counsel ‘making prosecutorial decisions for political reasons,’ and that the Special Counsel making those decisions is not actually independent from the Attorney General appointed by his father or the Executive Branch headed by his father,” US District Judge Maryellen Noreika wrote in her order, rejecting Biden’s argument. 

Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden is likely to appeal the judge’s ruling. AP

The jurist noted that the “use of the permanent appropriation to fund” special counsels is “well established” and that Biden’s motion “ignores the plain language of the appropriation,” which contains “no mandate that the special counsel be selected from outside the government to receive funds.”

“[N]either the [Government Accountability Office] nor any court has concluded that special counsel subject to the special counsel regulations cannot be ‘independent’ within the meaning of the appropriation,” Noreika wrote.  

“[Biden] has failed to convince the Court that funding of the Special Counsel’s prosecution in this case violates the Appropriations Clause,” she added. 

Noreika also pointed out that Biden “offered no record evidence (or even attorney argument) to support a showing of irreparable harm,” noting that “criminal prosecution alone is not irreparable injury.” 

As with his other efforts to throw out the gun indictment, the first son’s motion will likely head to the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals for a last-ditch appeal before his June 3 trial start date. 

Hunter Biden
Hunter Biden is slated to stand trial in the gun case on June 3.

Finding “no reason to believe” that Biden’s appeal of her order would be “any more meritorious than his prior efforts,” Noreika sided with the federal government and ruled that Biden’s motion to enjoin was “frivolous.” 

Biden has pleaded not guilty to all three counts against him in the gun case.

He is accused of lying about his drug use on a federal form when he bought a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in October 2018, a time during which he has admitted he was addicted to crack cocaine. 

Biden also faces nine counts related to tax fraud — including three felony charges — out of California, where he is accused by Weiss’ team of prosecutors of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over three years while living an “extravagant lifestyle.” 

He is slated to stand trial in that case beginning Sept. 5 in Los Angeles.