The president’s son is facing charges in relation to tax and gun offenses, following the collapse of a plea agreement in July and an ongoing investigation by House Republicans into his financial transactions.

Court documents reveal that Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has been formally charged by federal prosecutors with gun-related offenses.

Joe Biden was formally charged on Thursday in the federal court of Delaware with three counts relating to carrying a firearm under the influence of drugs.

Biden is facing charges related to an incident in October 2018 where he is believed to have misled authorities on a form about his drug use when purchasing a Colt Cobra revolver. The charges include two counts of making false statements and one count of possessing a firearm while under the influence of drugs. According to the indictment, Biden falsely certified on a federally required form that he was not using illegal drugs and was not addicted to any controlled substances, despite knowing that this statement was untrue.

The potential penalties for these charges include a maximum imprisonment of 10 years for two counts, with the third count carrying a maximum sentence of five years. Additionally, each count may result in a maximum fine of $250,000.

The recent indictment against the son of a current president has emerged following the breakdown of a plea deal that could have resolved a lengthy investigation into Hunter Biden. This development coincides with House Republicans initiating an impeachment inquiry, aiming to obtain bank records and other pertinent documents from both the president and his son.

The case is being overseen by special counsel David Weiss, who also headed the investigation. Weiss is a Trump appointee who was kept on as U.S. attorney for Delaware because of the sensitive and unique nature of the investigation into a president’s son by the Justice Department, a part of the executive branch headed by the president. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss special counsel in August, as negotiations over the tax and gun charges collapsed.

The Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s legal team were approached by the White House for comment.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, stated that the recent charges against his client are politically motivated and unjustified. Lowell emphasized that they believe these charges are prohibited by the agreement made between the prosecutors and Mr. Biden, as well as by the recent rulings from multiple federal courts deeming this statute unconstitutional. Additionally, Lowell expressed confidence in their ability to prove in court that Hunter Biden did not violate the law in question.

Weiss launched their inquiry into the finances of Joe Biden’s son in 2018, a year prior to Joe Biden’s announcement of his presidential candidacy, as disclosed by a reliable source familiar with the investigation. The focus of the inquiry was specifically on the younger Biden’s financial matters.

In July, an agreement was made between the two parties in which Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of tax evasion in a federal court in Delaware. This plea deal would result in a probation sentence as recommended by the prosecutors. Additionally, a separate felony charge relating to the illegal possession of a Colt Cobra .38 Special handgun would be dismissed in two years if Biden adhered to the conditions of a diversion agreement.

The plea agreement began to unravel during the court hearing, which was supposed to finalize it. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika raised concerns about certain aspects of the agreement, noting that they were not typical and contained potentially unusual provisions. One provision, in particular, could theoretically shield Biden from other tax-related offenses during the same time period.

Prosecutors argued that the clause in the diversion agreement would not shield him from other charges, whereas Hunter Biden’s attorneys asserted the opposite. Noreika, a judge appointed by Trump, requested further details from both parties, and subsequently, the agreement, which Republicans were already criticizing as a favorable arrangement, collapsed.

In later legal documents submitted by Weiss’s office, it was mentioned that in the absence of the plea agreement, there would be challenges regarding the appropriate jurisdiction for the tax case, and it would likely proceed to trial in either California or Washington, D.C. The prosecution also hinted at the possibility of introducing different charges in the upcoming case. In a recent court filing, the prosecutors indicated their intention to file new indictments before the end of this month. When asked on Thursday if there would be any additional charges or indictments, a spokesperson for the special counsel confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing.

Two of the charges brought forward on Thursday were not included in the gun case pursued by the prosecutors back in July. This fact was highlighted by Lowell in his statement. He pointed out that “prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case.” The evidence has remained the same during this time period, but changes have occurred in both the law and the interference from MAGA Republicans, which has been inappropriate and politically biased. Hunter Biden’s possession of an unloaded firearm for 11 days did not pose a risk to public safety. However, a prosecutor, possessing immense power, caving in to political pressure, poses a significant threat to the integrity of our justice system.”

Lowell contends that the diversion agreement from the earlier firearm case remains valid due to its prior signing by his client and the prosecutors. He asserts that this agreement effectively bars the filing of any further charges against Mr. Biden.

According to prosecutors, they are challenging the validity of the agreement, asserting that it does not carry legal weight due to the absence of a required signature from the probation department.

Documents submitted to the court in July, which are not admissible in the present case, attribute Biden’s behavior in the tax and gun cases to his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. According to these documents, Biden achieved sobriety in May 2019 and, by October 2021, managed to settle approximately $2 million in outstanding taxes and penalties with the assistance of a third-party.

According to the gun case documentation, a “statement of facts” indicated that during October 2018, when Biden purchased a revolver from a licensed firearms dealer in Delaware, he was actively consuming crack cocaine. Despite being a user and addicted to crack cocaine at the time, Biden falsely declared on the federal form, which inquired about illegal narcotics usage, that he had not used them. The court filing highlights this discrepancy.

During an 11-day period, he ended up in possession of the firearm and consistently engaged in the purchase and consumption of crack cocaine. Later, the gun was discovered in his vehicle alongside drug equipment and was subsequently disposed of in a trash receptacle outside a supermarket located in Greenville, Delaware.

House Oversight Committee chair, James Comer of Kentucky, expressed his dissatisfaction with the recently disclosed charges against the Biden family’s finances. Despite his ongoing investigation into their financial affairs, Comer made it clear that he did not find the new charges significant, referring to them as “the least of all the dozen crimes he’s committed.” Comer expressed his hope that prosecutor Weiss would take further action and bring additional charges against the president’s son.

Former President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the charges, on his social media platform, Truth Social, that “the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden.”

The House investigations have primarily centered around the income that Hunter Biden generated from overseas entities during his father’s tenure as vice president. However, up until now, no evidence has been discovered indicating that the president gained any advantages from his son’s business transactions.

The investigation has received minimal response from the White House, but the president took the opportunity to support his son during an interview with MSNBC.

When questioned about the potential impact of charges against his son on his presidency, Biden expressed that it instilled a sense of pride in him.

Hunter Biden stated during a 2021 interview with CBS News that he is fully cooperating with the federal investigation. He expressed confidence that he will be exonerated from any misconduct once the investigation is concluded.