First son Hunter Biden is seeking a dismissal of the federal indictment against him and insists an original plea deal remains intact, according to a new court filing, NBC News reported.
Biden on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to three federal firearms charges filed after a plea deal on tax and gun charges imploded.
Biden's legal team argues the agreement should remain in effect because both the defendant's lawyers and special counsel David Weiss' team signed it.
Attorney Abbe Lowell, in a court filing Thursday, said Biden "maintains" the original plea deal and diversion agreement, "remains in force,” NBC News reported.
"He will seek to dismiss the Indictment against him pursuant to the immunity provisions of that Agreement," Lowell wrote in the filing.
Under the terms of the original plea deal, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and would also have avoided prosecution on the gun charges had he stayed out of trouble for two years.
Weiss also used the diversion agreement to include a sweeping immunity provision that covered Biden’s foreign business dealings in the unrelated diversion agreement.
The deal collapsed in federal court on the day of Biden's arraignment in July, and he wound up pleading not guilty on the tax charges.
President Joe Biden's son faces charges that he lied about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days.
Hunter Biden was indicted last month on three federal gun charges: two counts of falsely completing a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a firearm in October 2018, and a third count alleging he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic.
Hunter Biden's attorneys suggested that prosecutors bowed to pressure by Republicans who have insisted the president’s son got a sweetheart deal, and that the charges were the result of political pressure.
It was reported Thursday that prosecutors who filed firearms charges against Hunter Biden were moving to formally dismiss a gun count that had been part of the collapsed plea deal.
The procedural step, initiated Wednesday, removes a charge alleging Biden broke a law against drug users having guns when he bought a gun in 2018, during a period he has acknowledged struggling with addiction.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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