Hunter Biden unveils defense tactics in Delaware gun case

Hunter Biden is aiming to limit evidence special counsel David Weiss can use in the case against the first son in Delaware related to allegations he illegally purchased a gun in 2018, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Biden’s defense attorneys wrote that they plan to file “expeditiously” a request that Judge Maryellen Noreika prohibit Weiss from using evidence in the case that Weiss, in their view, “improperly gathered.”

Fights over discovery are common, as are motions to exclude evidence from trials, but the new slate of filings shed light on Biden’s aggressive, multipronged approach to defending himself in the case.

The filings included the Biden defense team’s warning about its forthcoming request to ban Weiss from using certain evidence. They also included a request that Noreika force Weiss to hand over certain discovery items. Lastly, the filings included several arguments supporting Biden’s prior requests that the judge dismiss the case or, in the event that she does not outright dismiss it, hold a hearing to examine Biden’s dismissal arguments.

Regarding the evidence they are fighting to exclude from the case, defense attorneys cited recently unsealed warrants that revealed that Weiss had obtained some evidence in December 2023, three months after he indicted Biden on the gun charges. Defense attorneys argued this evidence should be inadmissible and that Weiss should also not be able to use evidence in the gun case that he gathered as part of a separate tax-related indictment that he brought against Biden in California.

Weiss charged Biden in Delaware with lying on a gun form about using drugs so that he could purchase a revolver. The special counsel gathered some evidence, including messages Biden had written about using drugs, from Biden’s laptop, according to court filings.

Defense attorneys disputed the authenticity of the laptop, which Weiss first obtained a warrant to search in 2019.

“Questions remain about the provenance and total authenticity of the data on the laptop image and hard drive the government seized, as both had been reviewed and likely altered before coming into the hands of the prosecution,” the attorneys wrote.

Weiss also revealed in recent court filings that federal investigators pulled the gun in question from a sealed evidence bag in 2023 and tested what they found to be a powdery white substance on its case. They said an FBI chemist determined it was cocaine.

Defense attorneys sought to discredit that evidence, saying it was “obtained by a scavenger from a public trash can.”

In terms of outstanding discovery issues, Biden’s defense team said that while prosecutors had produced hundreds of thousands of pages of discovery, including computer data, phone records, bank statements, and travel records, the defense attorneys claimed that key items were missing or that the vast amount of discovery was not adequately searchable.

The attorneys asked that Noreika order prosecutors to immediately disclose any expert reports they planned to use in the trial, any witness testimony they had, grand jury details, and any outstanding exculpatory evidence.

“If the prosecution is really committed to a search for truth, nothing is gained by sandbagging the defense,” the attorneys wrote.

Part of Biden’s argument that the case should be dismissed is that former President Donald Trump improperly pressured his Department of Justice deputies to investigate Biden while Trump was in office.

Defense attorneys said that Noreika should order Weiss to produce as part of discovery any communication that occurred between Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and other Trump administration DOJ officials that related to Biden.

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“Such documents would be exculpatory in demonstrating DOJ’s lack of independent investigatory and prosecutorial decision-making concerning Mr. Biden,” they wrote.

Weiss has already filed several arguments objecting to dismissing the case, and the next steps involve Noreika issuing decisions on whether to grant or deny Biden’s requests.