Special counsel David Weiss to seek indictment of Hunter Biden this month

The special counsel appointed to oversee the federal investigation into Hunter Biden intends to seek a grand jury indictment of the president’s son before the end of September, the prosecutor’s office said Wednesday in a court filing.

The filing was made in the felony criminal action against Biden over the possession of a gun while using narcotics, and also references the separately filed misdemeanor tax case brought by prosecutors early this year. The filing suggests new charges could be filed in both cases this month.

“The Speedy Trial Act requires that the Government obtain the return of an indictment by a grand jury by Friday, September 29, 2023, at the earliest. The Government intends to seek the return of an indictment in this case before that date,” prosecutors wrote in Wednesday’s filing.

Both the gun and tax cases were expected to be resolved at a plea hearing earlier this year before it fell apart over a judge’s questions about the agreement. The deal would have resulted in the gun charge being dismissed in two years if Biden stayed out of trouble, coupled with a recommendation of probation for the tax charges.

Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden, said in a statement Wednesday that the legal team for the president’s son believes the signed agreement in the gun case “remains valid and prevents any additional charges from being filed against Mr. Biden, who has been abiding by the conditions of release under that agreement for the last several weeks, including regular visits by the probation office.”

The government has disputed that the agreement referenced by Lowell is in effect.

“We expect a fair resolution of the sprawling, 5-year investigation into Mr. Biden that was based on the evidence and the law, not outside political pressure, and we’ll do what is necessary on behalf of Mr. Biden to achieve that,” Lowell added.

Asked for comment, the White House referred NBC News to Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, based in Delaware, was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel to oversee Biden’s case. Weiss, a Trump nominee, was already in charge of the investigation but had requested that he be elevated to special counsel.

That appointment came on Aug. 11, shortly before prosecutors from Weiss’s office said that negotiations over the tax and gun charges against Hunter Biden had collapsed. His office noted in court filings that without the plea agreement in place, there were venue issues and the case would likely have to go to trial in California or Washington, D.C. Prosecutors also suggested that they might bring different charges against the president’s son in the new case.

Under the terms of the original agreement, Biden would have pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor tax charges over his failure to pay income taxes, and prosecutors had agreed to a related agreement that could have resulted in the gun charge being dismissed.

Biden wound up entering a not guilty plea on the tax charges.