Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, appeared in federal court Tuesday where he pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from allegations he failed to disclose his drug usage when he bought a gun in 2018.
In an appearance in a Delaware federal court, Hunter Biden, 53, pleaded not guilty to three felony charges, including falsifying a federal firearms application, lying to a federally licensed gun dealer and possessing an illegally obtained gun for 11 days, according to The New York Times.
The charges come with maximum penalties of up to 25 years of jail time and a $750,000 fine.
Biden allegedly lied about not using drugs on a government form required for a gun purchase when he bought a .38-caliber handgun in October 2018.
The charges were brought by special counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating Biden for several years.
At the hearing, presided over by Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke, Biden was released without bail, with conditions including the need for Biden to look for employment and communicate all international travel plans. He also will need to continue to submit to random drug testing and is prohibited from owning a gun or using drugs or alcohol, according to Fox News.
Abbe Lowell, attorney for Hunter Biden, said she planned to file a motion to dismiss the gun charges.
Earlier this year, the younger Biden was set to plead guilty as part of a plea deal to charges related to allegedly underpaying his taxes in 2017 and 2018. He also would have entered a diversion program over the felony gun charges. But that deal fell apart after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned it and pointed to a congressional investigation into Biden.
“It seems to me like you are saying ‘just rubber stamp the agreement, Your Honor.’ … This seems to me to be form over substance,” she said in July.
A month later, Weiss, who launched the investigation into the president’s son in 2018, was appointed as special counsel.