Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that he thinks most Americans would not have to face the gun charges that President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is currently on trial for in Delaware.
In comments to HuffPostGraham defended the president’s son against the gun charges, but said he thinks the second charge Hunter Biden faces, accusing him of tax crimes, is more legitimate.
“I think any average American who paid their taxes like Hunter Biden probably would have faced a lawsuit,” Graham said of the tax case, which is scheduled to go to trial in California in September.
“However, I don’t think the average American would have been charged with gun possession,” he continued. “I don’t see anything good coming from this.”
The president’s son faces three criminal charges, including two for allegedly lying on a federal form when purchasing a gun in 2018. Prosecutors say he indicated on the form that he did not use illegal drugs and was not addicted, when in fact, he was addicted to crack at the time.
He faces a third charge of illegal possession of a firearm for 11 days.
Hunter Biden, who has pleaded not guilty, was more recently open about his experiences with addiction, detailing his journey in his 2021 memoir.
His lawyers suggested, however, that he may have thought he was telling the truth when filling out the form, claiming that at the time he did not consider himself an addict.
“The issue here is Mr. Biden’s understanding of the issue, which asks in the present tense whether he ‘is’ a user or an addict,” wrote Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell. in legal proceedings. “The terms ‘user’ or ‘addict’ are not defined on the form and were not explained to him.
“Someone, like Mr. Biden, who had just completed an 11-day rehab program and lived with a sober companion thereafter, could certainly believe that he was not a user or addict at the present time,” he continued.
Hunter Biden faces a separate criminal charge in California, his second charge stemming from special counsel David Weiss’ investigation into his business dealings. He faces three felony tax charges related to tax evasion and filing false returns, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failing to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.
Biden’s lawyer dismissed the charges as part of a broader case that would not have warranted a prosecutor’s attention without the scrutiny brought by the Republican Party.
“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name had been anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been filed,” Lowell said in a statement at the time the case was filed.
The Hill has reached out to Graham’s office for further comment.
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