Hunter Biden's legal team is seeking to dismiss federal charges against him for allegedly lying about his drug use on a federal form when purchasing a handgun in 2018, claiming a months-old plea deal it made with the Department of Justice is still in effect.
Biden maintains that a sweetheart plea deal, which was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in July, "remains in force," his lawyer Abbe Lowell said in a Thursday filing. Biden is seeking to have the charges he was arraigned for this week thrown out.
The president's son was charged with three counts surrounding the gun purchase. Under the original plea deal, Biden would have pleaded guilty to two separate misdemeanor tax crime charges and the federal government would have dropped the gun charges.
"He will seek to dismiss the Indictment against him pursuant to the immunity provisions of that Agreement," Lowell said in the filing.
Noreika rejected that plea deal, taking issue with the broad immunity the first son would have won. She told prosecutors and Biden's legal team to craft a new one. She said the original deal was "not standard" and "different from what I normally see."
When the deal fell apart, Biden pleaded not guilty to the tax charges. Federal prosecutors were at one point reportedly ready to not charge Biden at all, before whistleblowers from the Internal Revenue Service came forward alleging that the first son was receiving preferential treatment in the probes.