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2 months ago
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Hunter Biden is desperately trying to throw out his criminal gun conviction charges and a separate tax evasion case by claiming the person prosecuting him was unlawfully appointed.
The younger Biden's lawyers referenced a federal judge's decision Monday dismissing charges against Donald Trump for illegally holding onto classified documents after office.
In that decision, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon found the appointment of Jack Smith, the special counsel in the classified documents case, violated the Constitution because he was not authorized by Congress to pursue the charges.
The legal maneuver comes after the Supreme Court's decision weeks ago to grant Trump presidential immunity in the documents case in which Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Smith was improperly appointed.
Smith's office is appealing the ruling.
Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden arrive to hear the verdict in his federal gun trial at the Federal District Court in Wilmington
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel, in a move intended to insulate his own office from prosecuting President Biden's rival
'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,' Biden's representation wrote in a court filing.
In June, another special counsel, David Weiss, secured Hunter Biden's conviction on charges he lied about his drug use when purchasing a firearm years ago during the height of his crack addiction.
That same special counsel is heading up a tax case against Hunter that is scheduled to begin in September.
The president's son has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Biden and his legal team's move highlights the potential impact the decision from Cannon could have on limiting the attorney general's capacity to appoint special counsel in sensitive political probes.
It also shows an eye-raising situation in which the president's son is utilizing a ruling that benefits Trump for his own good.
FBI agents seized boxes of materials marked classified from Trump's Florida club
Judge Cannon issued her ruling two days after Trump was shot and as the Republican convention is set to gather, a few weeks after Trump's lawyers challenged the constitutionality of Jack Smith's appointment
US President Donald Trump applauds next to Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and judge Amy Coney Barrett who was just sworn-in as a US Supreme Court Associate Justice, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House October 26, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2017
However, Hunter Biden and his team will likely have a difficult time railing against the ruling because Smith was not a U.S. government employee when he was appointed to the job - and that he has not gone through a Senate confirmation.
Weiss, on the other hand, was confirmed by the upper chamber to serve as the chief federal prosecutor in Delaware, meaning he has at least gotten approval from Congress to be a federal judge before being named special counsel.
The president's son has previously challenged Weiss's appointment on different grounds, but that effort was rejected by federal judges in both his gun and tax cases.
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