Former Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree said Hunter Bidenâs argument that he did not believe he was a drug addict when he purchased a gun will be challenging to get a jury to believe.
Biden is facing three federal gun charges brought by Special Counsel David Weiss in September, which include providing false statements and knowingly possessing a gun while being addicted to drugs. Dupree on âCNN News Centralâ said Bidenâs defense strategy to deny his knowledge he was a drug addict poses challenges because of the evidence against him.
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âI think that is going to be a critical point in this trial, and I strongly suspect thatâs actually going to be the primary defense that we hear from Hunter Bidenâs team,â Dupree said. âWhat they are going to argue is that even if he was abusing drugs at the time, he thought genuinely, in their view, that maybe he wasnât addicted to drugs, maybe he wasnât abusing them. And so therefore, he canât be held criminally accountable for checking the box âno on the federal form.â
âI think itâs a tough argument for the jury. I donât know if the defense has a whole lot of other options available to it,â he continued. âThis may be the best they can do, but I think itâs going to be tough persuading the jury that well, when he checked a box, he didnât really realize that he was abusing drugs at the time.â
Prosecutors obtained some messages and material from Bidenâs abandoned laptop, showing it to the jury that was selected on Monday as evidence of his drug use around the period of the gun purchase in 2018, according to CNN.
Criminal defense attorney Bernarda Villalona had suggested Biden plead guilty on Monday, asserting Weissâ evidence against him is âstrong.â She also offered the advice based on the potential jail sentence the presidentâs son could face if convicted, claiming a guilty plea may be his âbestâ course of action to evade incarceration.
Biden also faces nine federal tax charges, including tax evasion and tax fraud for tax years 2016 through 2019, according to the indictment against him. Bidenâs attorneys appealed the case, but Judge Mark Scarsi rejected it, with the trial scheduled to commence on June 20.
(Featured Image Media Credit:Â Screenshot/Rumble/CNN)
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