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Hunter Biden’s attorneys asked federal judges to dismiss tax and gun cases against him on Thursday, taking their lead from a Florida ruling earlier this week that led to the classified documents being dropped against Donald Trump.
Attorneys for the president’s son argued that the special counsel appointed to investigate and bring charges against Biden was unlawfully appointed.
They claimed - as Trump’s legal team did - that the office of the Special Counsel was not properly appointed because Congress should have voted to confirm its establishment.
Trump’s team sucessfully used this legal argument to get the federal classified documents case dismissed on Monday. The judge overseeing that case, Aileen Cannon, threw out the charges, agreeing that a special counsel needs the approval of Congress.
Citing “recent legal developments” Biden’s attorneys pointed to Judge Cannon’s ruling and argued that her decision also applied to his case.
“The Attorney General relied upon the exact same authority to appoint the Special Counsel in both the Trump and Biden matters, and both appointments are invalid for the same reason,” the attorneys wrote.
Hunter was convicted on three federal gun charges in June after a years-long investigation into his financial and business dealings. Prosecutors said the president’s son illegally purchased and possessed a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine in 2018.
It is the first of two federal trials that Biden faces. The second, a federal tax charges case, is expected to begin in September.
His attorneys say neither case was brought lawfully under the Appropriations Clause and resulted from “political pressure.”
Earlier this week, Judge Cannon made the shocking decision to dismiss the indictment against Trump, relying heavily on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in his presidential immunity appeal.
In Justice Thomas’s separate opinion – unrelated to the ruling in the immunity appeal – he expressed suspicion of the constitutionality of a Special Counsel’s office. That gave Judge Cannon more basis for her opinion.
Biden’s attorneys also cited Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion as reasoning for dismissing his cases.
“Now that the defect has been recognized and used to invalidate an indictment brought by the Special Counsel against former President Trump, the equivalent result should be available to Mr. Biden,” they wrote.
“Different defendants but same constitutional flaws.”
