Hunter Biden's gun pouch contained cocaine residue, prosecutor reveals

Investigators found cocaine residue on a leather pouch where Hunter Biden stored his gun, federal prosecutors revealed in a court filing as they urged a judge not to dismiss weapons charges against the president's son.

Snapping back at allegations by Hunter Biden's lawyers that the gun charges were "trumped up" under political pressure, Justice Department special counsel David Weiss said in a court filing that “the strength of the evidence against him is overwhelming" and stood out "from any other person who was not prosecuted for similar crimes.”

The clash came as the younger Biden battles criminal indictments on both coasts and a slew of Congressional investigations that seek to tie him and his foreign business dealings to President Joe Biden.

Hunter Biden was indicted in his home state of Delaware last September on three federal charges alleging he lied about his drug addiction when buying a gun in 2018. The indictment came after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected a plea deal that would have resolved potential tax and gun indictments in July. Congressional Republicans and former President Donald Trump criticized the scuttled deal as too lenient, leading Biden’s lawyer to argue that the charges were spurred by political pressure.

But Weiss argued that Biden had failed to show that other people weren’t charged for similar actions. Biden demonstrated no "improper political purpose" in asking to dismiss the prosecution, one authorized by the attorney general his father appointed, Weiss wrote.

“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,” Weiss wrote.

Weiss contends gun charges not 'trumped up' because of Trump

The gun charges represent just one of many legal battles Hunter Biden faces.

He was indicted Thursday on federal tax charges in California for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019. The House of Representatives will consider whether to hold him in contempt for defying subpoenas from the Judiciary and Oversight and Accountability committees. And he remains under federal investigation as a potential foreign agent.

Biden faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all three gun charges, although first-time offenders are typically given shorter terms.

Biden was charged under a statute forbidding people who are addicted to narcotics from owning firearms. He is accused of lying about his addiction in 2018 in a statement to a gun dealer and on a federal form, and then by possessing the Colt Cobra 38SPL.

Biden had asked the judge to dismiss the gun charges on the grounds that prosecutors had reneged on promises they made while negotiating the failed plea agreement.

But Weiss argued Biden knows full well why he was charged, and that's for illegally owning the Colt revolver and lying about his addiction. After the federal investigation was announced, in 2020, Biden wrote a memoir the next year recounting years of drug abuse, including during the period when he bought the gun.

Investigators obtained messages from Biden's Apple iCloud account in which he discussed buying thousands of dollars worth of crack cocaine while also taking videos of himself weighing crack and smoking it, Weiss wrote. A chemist confirmed the presence of cocaine residue on the brown leather pouch in which Biden stored the gun, Weiss wrote.

“Stripped of its bluster, the defendant’s theory of vindictiveness is simply not credible,” Weiss added.

Weiss contends gun charges constitutional because 2nd Amendment is 'not a suicide pact'

Lowell has also argued that the gun statute Biden is accused of violating is unconstitutional. Federal courts are grappling with which gun laws should stand and which should be struck down after a 2022 Supreme Court decision triggered a flood of gun-related lawsuits.

A year ago, a federal judge in Oklahoma dismissed a case related to the same charge Hunter Biden faces by finding it “unconstitutionally vague."

But Weiss argued Anglo-American law has long recognized the need to regulate firearms.

“The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Constitution, ‘protects against invasions of individual rights; it is not a suicide pact,’” Weiss wrote, quoting a 1963 Supreme Court decision. “Congress’s legislative choice to prohibit individuals who are actively engaged in habitual illegal or compulsive narcotic use from possessing firearms falls firmly within longstanding historical traditions and accords with the Second Amendment.”

Weiss calls argument challenging his appointment 'meritless'

Lowell, Biden’s lawyer, also urged the judge to dismiss the case by arguing Weiss was appointed inappropriately because Congress hasn’t designated funding for the special counsel’s office.

But Weiss responded that the attorney general has always had the authority to designate any officer of the Justice Department to represent the country in any court.

“This argument is meritless and should be denied,” Weiss wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cocaine residue found in Hunter Biden's gun case, prosecutor reveals