Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to three federal firearms felonies related to his 2018 purchase of a handgun during which he is alleged to have lied about his otherwise openly admitted drug use on a federal form to obtain the firearm that he was knowingly barred by federal law from possessing because of his admitted drug addiction.
It has now been revealed in a court filing that cocaine residue was found on a leather pouch that he used to store that illicitly purchased and possessed firearm, according to Fox News.
That revelation came in a motion of opposition filed by Special Counsel David Weiss in response to a motion to dismiss the gun charges previously filed by Biden's attorneys.
In 2018, during a period in which Hunter Biden was admittedly addicted to smoking crack cocaine, he purchased a small revolver that was subsequently discovered and thrown away by his then-girlfriend, Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother Beau, that was then discovered in a trash can and turned over to police in Delaware.
Last year, as part of a years-long federal investigation, and just before the expiration of the statute of limitations, Biden was charged with making false statements about his drug use on the ATF Form 4473 when he purchased the firearm, as well as with the illegal possession of a firearm by a prohibited person -- charges that altogether could land him behind bars for up to 25 years.
According to USA Today, Biden filed a motion to have those charges dismissed on claims that a scuttled plea deal -- which would have diverted the charges but never went into effect -- remained binding as well as claims that he was being selectively and vindictively prosecuted for political reasons.
However, Special Counsel Weiss just responded to that motion and, in addition to knocking down Biden's arguments about vindictive political prosecution, also revealed the damning extra evidence linking his drug addiction with the illegal gun purchase.
In a 52-page motion filed Tuesday, Weiss explained at length how "the strength of the evidence against [Biden] is overwhelming" and why the federal gun charges against him should not be dismissed.
"After the defendant’s then-girlfriend discovered and discarded his gun, and after he became aware that local authorities had seized his gun, speed loader, and ammunition, and after the defendant announced his awareness of a federal investigation of him in 2020, the defendant chose to author and sell a book in 2021 in which he made countless incriminating statements about his years-long drug usage, including during the time period he purchased and possessed the gun," the motion stated.
"He recounted his interaction with a drug dealer who pointed a gun at him during a drug deal before he decided to buy his own gun. Investigators also obtained messages from his Apple iCloud account in which he discussed buying thousands of dollars’ worth of crack while also taking videos of himself weighing crack and smoking it," the filing continued. "Furthermore, a chemist was able to confirm the presence of cocaine residue on the brown leather pouch in which defendant stored his firearm. The evidence against him does not end there."
Weiss added, "The charges in this case are not trumped up or because of former President Trump -- they are instead a result of the defendant’s own choices and were brought in spite of, not because of, any outside noise made by politicians."
Later in the filed motion, after laying out the known facts about the 2018 gun purchase and Biden's admitted illicit drug use at the time, Special Counsel Weiss unveiled the new evidence of cocaine residue that had been discovered on the leather pouch that had been used to store the illegally owned handgun.
"In 2023, FBI investigators pulled sealed evidence from the state police vault to take photographs of the defendant’s firearm. After opening the evidence, FBI investigators observed a white powdery substance on the defendant’s brown leather pouch that had held the defendant’s firearm in October 2018," the filing stated.
"Based on their training and experience, investigators believed that this substance was likely cocaine and that this evidence would corroborate the messages that investigators had obtained which showed the defendant buying and using drugs in October 2018. An FBI chemist subsequently analyzed the residue and determined that it was cocaine," the motion added. "To be clear, investigators literally found drugs on the pouch where the defendant had kept his gun."
