What led to Hunter Biden’s indictment on firearms charges and the legal battle ahead

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• Amna Nawaz:

  Turning now to our other lead story, Hunter Biden's indictment on gun charges, which sets up a high-profile legal battle ahead of President Biden's reelection campaign.

  The indictment comes days after House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry into the president and his family's business dealings. A plea deal for Hunter Biden collapsed in federal court this July. Soon after, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed the U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, to serve as a special counsel overseeing the investigation.

  Joining me now is Devlin Barrett, who covers the Department of Justice for The Washington Post.

  And, Devlin, you have looked at this indictment. It's a short indictment, about four pages' long. It includes three different counts. What exactly is Hunter Biden being accused of in this indictment?

• Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post:

  He's accused of lying on one of the forms you fill out when you buy a gun. And one of the things you are supposed to attest to when you buy a firearm in this country is that you are not a user or a user or addicted to illegal drugs.

  And he said he wasn't, but, by his own admission in his biography and other places, he was, in fact, dealing with a very significant substance abuse problem at that time. So he's accused of that lie. The case, the facts of the case, are actually fairly simple. It's everything around it.

  Because it's Hunter Biden and because it's obviously become a bit of a political hot potato, even within the Justice Department, it's everything around it that's very complicated.

• Amna Nawaz:

  We will talk about that more in just a moment.

  But do we know how Hunter Biden is pleading?

• Devlin Barrett:

  So his lawyer has said he will fight this case. And his lawyer has argued that, because they agreed to the terms of a plea and diversion deal, that this indictment should never have been brought, and that essentially the conditions of that deal should still be in effect.

  That may be a hard argument to win over a judge, but that is what Hunter Biden's lawyers are starting — that's their starting point in the wake of this indictment.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Devlin, it was just weeks ago that that plea agreement collapsed, right? That would have meant that Hunter Biden avoided a criminal trial. Help us understand what shifted between then and now.

• Devlin Barrett:

  So, the big problem for the judge with that plea deal was that he was — under the terms of that deal, he was going to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and take what's called a diversion agreement, in which you don't actually plead guilty, but you admit wrongdoing, to a gun charge.

  And, basically, what the judge decided was that this is just too cute by half, and it's not a proper use of the guilty plea system. And when that fell apart, prosecutors decided they had no other choice but to charge him. And now you have got a situation where Hunter Biden and his lawyers feel they have been essentially misled and mistreated. And they might have to go to trial with this.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You mentioned everything around the indictments. Let me ask you about that, the political context here, especially the fact that this comes just days after House Republicans opened that impeachment inquiry into President Biden, and much of it is centered on questions around Hunter Biden.

• Devlin Barrett:

  Right.

  So, this investigation has been going on a long time, almost five years. And it really has always sort of had, as a jumping-off point, what money was Hunter Biden earning from foreign sources, and was he declaring that money, all of that money, on his taxes? And, as a separate issue, was there anything inappropriate or maybe even illegal about the sources of that income?

  The tax issue, investigators felt like they could make some kind of case there, although Hunter Biden's lawyers say it's a very, very weak case. The corruption type of allegations that Republicans have lodged have really not — they have not had much to work with in terms of making those accusations, but they do make them.

  And that is sort of the fulcrum of all this political drama on the Hill about possible impeachment.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Devlin, we have got about 30 seconds left. But these are specific gun charges. Could there be more charges, like around that tax issue you raised, ahead?

• Devlin Barrett:

  Right.

  I think it's very possible that we will see a tax indictment against Hunter Biden in the near future. That wouldn't be in Delaware, where the gun charges are. That would probably be in a different jurisdiction, because, again, this is a complicated case.

• Amna Nawaz:

  It is indeed. We will be following it and your reporting.

  Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post joining us tonight.

  Devlin, thank you.

• Devlin Barrett:

  Thanks.