Special counsel will seek Hunter Biden indictment, Justice Department says

Sept. 6 (UPI) -- David Weiss, the special counsel probing President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden for potential criminal gun charges, will seek an indictment from a grand jury this month, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Prosecutors will seek to obtain an indictment from a grand jury by Sept. 29, Weiss said in a document filed with the U.S. District Court in Delaware and obtained by UPI. The deadline is necessary to comply with the requirements of the Speedy Trial Act.

"The government intends to seek the return of an indictment in this case before that date," Weiss said in the court filing.

The court filing was made a month after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss, who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump, as special counsel.

Weiss had been investigating Biden since 2019 and requested the elevation to the role of special counsel to be able to continue the probe.

Hunter Biden would be the first child of a sitting president to be charged by the U.S. Justice Department.

He pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges in July after a plea deal fell through because of a dispute between the legal teams over a separate gun-related charge.

Biden had been expected to plead guilty to two federal offenses connected to his taxes and businesses in 2017 and 2018 under the condition that there would be a pretrial diversion on a potential gun charge stemming from a firearm the president's son allegedly illegally possessed in October 2018.

The pretrial diversion would allow for the charge to be dropped if Biden were to obey certain predetermined terms. However, that agreement came apart under questioning from presiding District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.

The judge had questioned in July whether Biden would still agree to the terms of his plea arrangement if there was a potential for additional charges in the future. Biden said he would not.

Weiss did not specify what charges Biden could possibly face if an indictment is returned.

The younger Biden's legal team filed its own status report to the court Wednesday, obtained by UPI. The Biden status report made reference to the previous agreement for the pretrial diversion.

"Mr. Biden has been following and will continue to follow the conditions of that agreement, which the U.S. Attorney's Office agreed and signed and informed the court on July 20, 2023, that the Probation Office had agreed to and recommended be put into effect," the document reads.