A Delaware judge on Wednesday rejected Hunter Biden’s latest attempt to block his federal firearms lawsuit from moving forward, declaring his claims “without merit.”
Biden, 54, had argued in his May 14 motion to block that it was unconstitutional to use congressional appropriations to fund special counsel David Weiss because the prosecutor was not an “independent counsel.”
The embattled eldest son made the same argument in his efforts to have his California tax evasion case dismissed, but that was rejected earlier this year by both the US District Court for the Central District of California and the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
“It’s a little unnatural, [Biden] “In this case, he argues that he is being selectively prosecuted by a special counsel who ‘makes charging decisions for political reasons,’ and that the special counsel making those decisions is not actually independent from the attorney general who was appointed by his father, or from the executive branch led by his father,” U.S. District Judge Mariellen Noreika said. I wrote on her order formBiden denied the allegations.
The judge noted that the “use of permanent appropriations to fund” special counsels is “well established” and that Biden’s motion “ignores the clear language of the appropriations” and that “there is no provision requiring that a special counsel be selected from outside the government to receive funding.”
“[N]which one [Government Accountability Office] Nor has any court concluded that a special counsel subject to the special counsel rules cannot be ‘independent’ within a budgetary sense,” Noreika wrote.
“[Biden] “We have failed to convince the Court that funding the special counsel’s prosecution in this case violates the Appropriations Clause,” she added.
Noreika also noted that Biden “has not presented any evidence of the record – or even any arguments of counsel – to support a showing of irreparable harm” and that “criminal prosecution alone does not amount to irreparable harm.”
Like other efforts to have the firearms-related charges dismissed, the eldest son’s motion is likely to be appealed to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a last resort before the trial begins on June 3.
Judge Noreika found that he had “no reason to believe” that Biden’s appeal was “more meritorious than the efforts made so far” and sided with the federal government, ruling that Biden’s request for an injunction was “without merit.”
Biden has pleaded not guilty to all three charges in the gun case.
He purchased a Colt Cobra 38 SPL revolver in October 2018 and admitted to being addicted to crack cocaine at the time, but is accused of lying about his drug use on federal documents.
Biden also faces nine charges related to tax evasion in California, including three felonies, with Weiss’s prosecution team accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over three years while living an “extravagant lifestyle.”
He is scheduled to go on trial in the case from September 5 in Los Angeles.
