Below is my column in The Messenger on Hunter Biden’s curious new defense in the federal gun case: he had a moment of sobriety just before he signed his gun form. It appears that the defense is lifting Hunter’s blackout dates on his long addiction defense.
Here is the column:
Hunter Biden returned to court today on the felony indictment for his possession of a handgun, including allegations that he lied on an Oct.12, 2018, form by denying that he was a drug user. His counsel is expected to continue to insist that the form was accurate because Hunter had ended his addiction to drugs and alcohol.
The problem for the case is that Hunter and his counsel appear to have an elastic calendar on his addiction, depending on its value in a given case or controversy.
The indictment alleges Biden certified on a federally mandated form “that he was not an unlawful user of, and addicted to, any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance, when in fact, as he knew, that statement was false and fictitious.”
However, Biden’s counsel, Abbe Lowell, maintained that “at the time that he purchased this gun, I don’t think there’s evidence that that’s when he was suffering.” Lowell said that Biden had already emerged from rehabilitation when he signed the form.
That is a shift from the previous year during which Hunter’s addiction was used as a final line of defense. At the start of this scandal, many in the media insisted that Hunter was a legitimate businessman who brought his skills and expertise to foreign businesses.
As it became clear that Hunter acquired millions in a raw influence-peddling scheme, many turned to the addiction defense. Hunter released a book, Beautiful Things: A Memoir, that was heralded by many as a brave account of his drug addiction. Reviewers gushed about “an astonishingly candid and brave book about loss, human frailty, wayward souls, and hard-fought redemption.”
I called it the “the 7% solution“: Suddenly, Hunter’s addiction to cocaine and other drugs was the conversation stopper for anyone who did not want to seem insensitive to the struggles of an addict. Gone was the president’s past mantra that “my son did nothing wrong” and, instead, in an 2022 interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the president declared that Hunter “fought an addiction problem. He overcame it. He wrote about it.”It was all about addiction … until now, apparently, it isn’t any longer.
Even before the latest calendar correction, the addiction defense only heightened the concerns over corrupt influence-peddling. When foreign figures were giving him millions of dollars, Hunter admits that he was a crack addict and alcoholic, writing in his book that “Drinking a quart of vodka a day by yourself in a room is absolutely, completely debilitating” as was “smoking crack around the clock.”
Yet Hunter was not some junkie in Times Square snatching purses to feed his addiction. He was flying around the world, vacuuming up millions and, according to House Republicans, allegedly distributing the money to various Biden family members through a labyrinth of shell companies and accounts. The addiction defense also begged the question: Why would these corrupt figures want an addict on their boards or involved in their businesses?
Nevertheless, the media embraced the troubled-son-of-the-president narrative. The prostitutes, the tax evasion, the gun violations, and other alleged crimes were just the face of the addiction.
Now, however, we are told that Hunter surfaced in sobriety just in time to sign a federal gun form.
The problem is that Hunter’s book discusses how his addiction continued into his father’s presidential campaign and required an intervention by his family. He said that, despite attacks from the Trump campaign and the liability to his father’s campaign, he remained an addict in 2019. (The gun form, remember, was signed in late 2018.)
There is an added problem with moving back the calendar date of his addiction. It would mean that Hunter no longer has the “7% solution” to other problems.
For example, in the summer of 2019, Hunter allegedly continued to receive huge transfers of money from Chinese sources. Notably, House Republicans say, he received two wire transfers totaling $260,000 that listed President Biden’s Delaware home as the beneficiary address for the funds.
Yet, in October 2019, a few months later, Hunter denied the receipt of any such money from China — echoing the repeated denials of his father. When ABC News asked if he received any money from the Chinese deals, Hunter said “no, no.” He was then asked, “Not one cent?” and replied “Not one cent.”
That was a dead-cold sober lie.
Starting today, the Biden campaign undoubtedly will try to thread this needle. It is the criminal defense version of airline blackout dates where you cannot make allegations against Hunter when he was allegedly blacked-out with drugs: While he was still influence-peddling on a global scale, those dates are addiction dates.
However, it turns out that Oct. 12, 2018, was a moment of sobriety — and thus Hunter apparently was telling the truth in denying the use of drugs.
In his book, Hunter wrote that he has never used the tragedies of his life as an excuse for his addiction because “that would be a cop-out.” Indeed, in a change for his counsel and the media alike, sobriety is now Hunter’s final line of defense.
Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School.
Off Topic:
KJP and Boden have been saying that they are doing as much as possible to secure the border, a border that is in fact secure…according to them.
Today Biden “WAIVED” 26 federal regulations in order to build a wall??? So if he ha sthe power to waive 26 federal regulations why hadn’t he done this before? If he has this power than was he really doing everything in his power….?
Trump’s walls are racist, Biden’s walls will be ignored by the media.
Now that they have allowed 10 million illegals to enter they will “promise” to secure the border if we just allow the 10 million to stay and become VOTING citizens.
They will sell out the country in order to win elections.
Just in time for the election.
That was my thought, too, that they decided they had enough to pollute the vote. Maddening.
Personal experience? It sounds that way.
So far, 50% of the comments posted are by “Anonymous.”
Thanks for the update.
@Ralph
Yup. Can nothing be done about this? They post 125 times an article, very often in rapid succession, likely intentionally, and it is very tiresome. Could they at least be held to the bare minimum of internet decorum on this site, like the rest of us, please?
@Ralph,
If I don’t ‘log in’ I end up posting as anon but I sign it …
-G
Right now the returns/white space is garbage.
-Gumby
So, the slippery slope in the wording of firearms application may become null and void once this high-profile lawsuit is adjudicated. The wording is slip-shod and open to so many interpretations, I was now I’m not, I did but now I don’t and on and on! This law (if you want to call it a law) shows how the Constitution has been skewed, where are states’ rights, or the second amendment addressed? Don’t get me wrong Hunter is not the best representative in challenging this overbearing law. There is no way that an individual can be judged to have lied on the questions without a drug test, arrest and subsequent drug test, or discovery of controlled substance in their possession. You may say there is video of using drugs but how can that be determined without suppositions. Laws that limit or attempt to limit Constitutional rights should be viewed with a diminutive eye.
Anyone that has had the pleasure of dealing with an addict (family member or otherwise) knows well that lying, subterfuge, intentional ambiguity and outright deception is all part of their ‘game’ of gaming you.
Anyone who has not had this pleasurable experience and wants to believe it is otherwise is just a sucker.
Can you add in narcissistic personality disorder too?
That defense isn’t going to fly.
-G
Add??…he is living with it.
It’s much like the lying, subterfuge, intentional ambiguity and outright deception that we deal with from politicians and bureaucrats. At least with AI they call it by a different name, hallucinations.
Many Americans who keep up with daily news are beginning, if they haven’t already begun, to think the Joe Biden needs to be told in no uncertain terms, clear concise terms, that if he does not admit to his corrupt practices involving his son Hunter, then he will lose this son, and be left with no sons at all. Beau died of cancer. Hunter by other means.
Hunter Biden need not worry about a thing. He has the legacy media willing to turn themselves inside out to defend him.
The media has their marching orders from the White House and they are fulfilling them.
Junkies do what junkies do. They lie to get their fix. Hunter may be in a real jam, but not for the reason one may think. If he wins on the gun charge, he may lose the defense that he was on drugs with the other shenanigans. If he uses the defense on the other shenanigans, then he loses the defense on the gun charges.
I am no fan of the law about self-reporting that one is addicted and then charging. If one is addicted, they are junkies are will lie. It is what they do for their addiction. Yet, if one goes sober and through a program, then one is addicted still, just not using. Does that mean they then cannot have a gun because they are addicts? This is a gotcha, nothing more. For those that want to get Hunter, good luck. I am willing to bet his father pardons him one way or the other in the end.
Yet, this defense just may work, because the Prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and that just may be a bridge too far.
It’s going to be, ”He got the dates wrong before because he was an addict, but these dates are the correct ones.” They’ll try to confuse a likely friendly jury enough to create reasonable doubt. Hope there still is metadata attached to those photos of him with the gun and crack pipe.
Didn’t you see the MSNBC report? Why, that was just a BB gun!
Who was the incompetent lawyer that was going to let him agree to a diversion deal if he was innocent? Oh yea, thats right, he did that because the government offered him blanket immunity in perpetuity. Nothing to see here.
The “victim defense” never made any sense. Someone who consumes vast quantities of cocaine, and enjoys the services of young women who probably were forced into prostitution, and who consorts with foreign parties who do not have the interests of the United States in mind, is not a “victim.” To satisfy his own pleasures, he was an exploiter of people harmed by the drug trade, and of trafficked women, and of all Americans. What does it say about our MSM that they propagated the victim defense?
Ah…. sure. He was sober, albeit briefly. That’s why they found cocaine at the White House a few months ago.
The actual language in the federal firearms application in question asks: “f. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? [Bold] Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medical or recreational purposes in the state where you reside. [end of Bold]” [emphasis as in original] Hunter Biden answered this question with a “no” in 2018 when he applied for and received permission to own a gun. The question now revolves around whether Hunter’s past addiction and use of drugs – well-documented prior to 2018 – was relevant to the truthfulness of his answer provided in 2018. The wording of the question appears to ask about the applicant’s present tense use of drugs and/or addiction to drugs so this then becomes a question of how the court or jury interprets that ambiguous wording as to timing. Theoretically, in a criminal case a doubt goes to the benefit of the defendant. These charges are just mere distractions from the real Hunter Biden crimes of bribery, influence peddling, and failure to register as a foreign agent.
It depends on what the meaning of “is” is! Or “Are”.
Sure hope coffee in the morning and booze in the evening doesn’t mean I lose my constitutional right(s).
JJC – Turley’s column states: “He [Hunter in his book] said that, despite attacks from the Trump campaign and the liability to his father’s campaign, he remained an addict in 2019. (The gun form, remember, was signed in late 2018.)”
These people are ridiculous, and disgusting. Redefining low seems to be the core mission of the modern left. The elite faction of the dems have always been this arrogant and selfish; in 2023 the rest have been hoodwinked into thinking they are standing shoulder to shoulder with them. Unbelievable.
A couple of questions…..
What Residential Address did Hunter use on that Federal Form that he lied about his drug use?
Who was the source of those illegal drugs?
Why has there been no attempt to track down the Dealers and interview them?
If Hunter used a bogus residential address or made any other false statement then those are crimes as well as lying about his drug use.
Why is it the Republicans in Congress are asking and finding answers to all of this and the DOJ/FBI/IRS, and of course US Attorney (now Special Prosecutor) Weiss not done so in the five years they have been going after Hunter?
The CIA and it’s various appendages of Intel are probably in the supply chain and they don’t wan their money laundering and complicity becoming too obvious.
We know they had a constant view on every message from the bidemob so in any case they condoned it 100% after all the billions swirling in and out of Ukraine since before 2014 were very important to them.
𝐈𝐓’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐧 – 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝!
𝐂𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 & 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐔𝐬𝐞
By: Editorial Staff ~ Jun 29, 2023
[LINK://] americanaddictioncenters.org/cocaine-treatment/signs
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐣𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐚 (𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐝) 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦?
By: Dan Wagener, M.A. Edited by: Wendy Manwarren Generes ~ Sep 13, 2022
[LINK://] americanaddictioncenters.org/marijuana-rehab/how-long-system-body
I’d like to know How Hunter Biden got passed the SF-85/SF-86 process, and Who it was that passed/allowed him to get a free-pass.
If you are Flying around on Air Force #1 and sitting next to the V.P./President, or in the Residence of the White House or Home where Secret and Top Secret Confidential Documents are stored,
don’t you think that a Security Background check would be required.
This isn’t a Goof-Up, it’s a National Tragedy that has brought direct implications regarding China and Ukraine/Russia.
There’s more of your ‘Collusion’ Hillary.
Re:
The SF-86 is used for all security clearance determinations, including Secret and Top Secret clearances. The forms are similar. The SF-85 requires slightly different information in terms of reporting dates, so pay attention to how far back you’re required to list information such as criminal or employment history.
https://news.clearancejobs.com/2018/03/08/whats-difference-sf86-sf85/
In Addendum:
There should be a “Security Audit Report” regrading the Bidens (Joe, His Family, Staff, etc.).
A Security Audit at the very Least:
1. When Joe Biden became a Senator,
2. When He became the Vice. President,
3. When he became President.
That’s Three Audits (at least) that Hunter should have been named a ‘Risk’, ‘Illicit Drug Compromised’, and that ‘He Can Not Be Trusted’.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬? 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 ‘𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒’?
[Investigative Reporters – Start asking the right Questions]
The Five Ws+H: Who, What, When Where, Why, and How.
The blatant lying from the left has reached a sickening level of absurdity.
-Hunter received $260,000 from China with Joe’s home as the beneficiary address because Hunter was an addict that was living there due to the pandemic (which hadn’t arrived yet)?
-Hunter never received one cent from China.
-The DOJ sat on Hinter’s tax cases for 5 years as the SOL lapsed because they were “investigating”.
-Biden didn’t know he had Classified Documents in his house, ate his Chinese supported “think” tank and at his office and yet the Special Prosecutor has taken no action yet. As Trump is already indicted.
-Biden and his spokeditz say he isn’t harming our energy efforts as Biden also says he will end fossil fuels.
-Joe never spoke to his son about business. and Joe saying Hunter never received one cent from China.
-Jamaal Bowman thought he could open a door by pulling a fire alarm…as Katherine Clark was on the House floor trying to forestall a vote, a vote that Bowman also wanted to stall.
-The border is secure.
-The economy is strong.
-Yesterday KJP stated that the Republicans are responsible for carjackings in DC because they didn’t support the Presidents Recovery Act. A bill that DID PASS and did so with Republican support???
-Joe Biden DECREED that he is “giving” another NINE BILLION in student loan relief because this is somehow not what the COURT said he could not do.
-When gas prices go down it is because of Biden, when they go up a president can’t have any effect on gas prices.
They think we are dumb, they send a spokeswoman out there to tell us blatant lies with no pushback from the “reporters”, an no comment from any other media besides Fox News and on here we have liars that repeat all of these moronic lies that make it like trying to argue with someone that says 2 + 2 isn’t 4 or that day is night. They are Orwellian and it is truly getting scary.
Turkey is taking quite a few liberties with the facts.
“Hunter received $260,000 from China with Joe’s home as the beneficiary address because Hunter was an addict that was living there due to the pandemic (which hadn’t arrived yet)?”
That’s not true. He was living at his father’s house because of his divorce.
Just because he was at Joe Biden’s home doesn’t prove the money was going to the president. The money is still wired to Hunter’s accounts not his father’s.
The gun charge will still be very difficult to prosecute since the fifth circuit ruling stating that prohibition of gun purchases because someone had an addiction is unconstitutional. Whether he was an addict or off drugs at the time of purchase is irrelevant.
No crimes were committed while he had the weapon and he only had it for 11 days. It’s going to be very very difficult for the special counsel to prove the purchase was illegal with the fifth circuit ruling. The charge of lying on the form will be moot because of the fifth circuit ruling. Turley seems to be ignoring that potential problem for the prosecution.
Addiction is not the bar, clown:
f. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?
Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside. The moron biden, was clearly an unlawful user… Now, your addiction to being a Swamp Cuck and polishing lefty knobs is not prohibitive.
Lol! Perjury is committed when you’re under oath and in court.
Lying on a form is not perjury. You didn’t prove me wrong. You never did. Lol!
Neil, it doesn’t matter what he put on the form. The fifth circuit ruled that prohibitions on gun ownership because someone is addict or even a non-violent felon are unconstitutional.
If an alcoholic can purchase a gun without a problem despite the fact that alcoholism is an addiction why should it be illegal for any other addict?
Is he being tried in the 5th circuit?
The ruling from the 5th circuit was a federal case. It applies to every case in the nation until it’s reviewed by the Supreme Court.
He fraudulently prepared his FFL document, a Federal document. He lied to get a gun – he is a fraud, a crook, and a coward just like his father and his supporters. There is only one legitimate reason for hunter biden to have a gun, and it has become clear that was not the reason he got it.
“The money is still wired to Hunter’s accounts not his father’s. ”
Sure about that? Can you link us to the transaction receipt. Don’t Joe and Hunter share accounts? You know, like all adults?
Bwahahahahahaha
If you understood how wire transfer work you wouldn’t have to ask stupid questions.
Please, tell me
O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive!
Walter Scott
Still holds true.
If Hunter becomes a convicted felon, then I believe he looses the right to possess a firearm.
Not true. According to the fifth circuit court. Non-violent felons cannot be prohibited from owning a gun. They narrowed the criteria. Violent felons are still prohibited from owning a gun.
That only applies in the 5th circut
Putting aside the absurdity of this defense as a practical matter, proving that an applicant was addicted to drugs is a tough job. Assuming he was addicted as all addicts and alcoholics are, was he high when he filled out the application? What is the period of sobriety that a defendant must experience before he can buy a gun? And so what if the government shows picutres of Hunter clad in crazy get ups or puts his book into evidence. They sill have to prove that he was addicted/high at the time he filled out the application. Without a drug test, i think he walks.
Even with a drug test, he walks. You know it. We all know it.
Why must they prove that? The FFL form clearly asks: “f. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?
Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.” He is obviously an unlawful user of crack, FJB’s spawn is a whoremongering crackhead.
They can’t prove he was an addict or under the influence when he filled out the form.
Was he sober or not? They can’t prove it. That’s the problem with that charge.
The fifth circuit already ruled that prohibition of gun ownership because someone is an addict is unconstitutional. This makes the change of lying on the form moot.
And you’re the only one who knows that apparently
“They can’t prove it”
Except by his own admissions.
These must be the dumbest prosecutors of all time. Guess they should have consulted you.
Those who read the ruling know. It’s not a secret. Google is your friend.
Why do they need to prove that crap? They don’t, they just need to prove he lied on the Federal form to get a gun illegally, which clearly he did. Your (and others’ want to make this about being high or an addict is simply misdirection.
Again, the question that needed to be answered was “Are you an unlawful user of,…, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? There is nothing that says are you currently high? But w/e, you defend the scumbag all you want. There is only one legit reason for hunter to have a gun and he’s too much a coward to exercise that.
Neil, the question is moot. That he lied on the form is no longer relevant. It’s unconstitutional to prohibit ownership and purchase of a firearm because you’re an addict or a non-violent felony conviction.
The Constitutionality of owning a firearm is not what the crime here is, the crime is fraud on a federal application. If he wanted to stand behind the scotus ruling, he could have left the answer blank…but guess what happens if you leave a Q blank on the FFL form – you don’t get the gun – so he lied to get a gun. (When did he apply, btw, before or after that scotus case?? Not that it really matters)
Neil, the point is, the question is unconstitutional. That’s the problem. So it’s irrelevant whether he lied on the question.