10 things you need to know today: September 15, 2023

A grand jury indicts Hunter Biden on gun charges, House defense spending bill stalls as shutdown looms, and more

Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy meets the press
(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

1. Hunter Biden indicted on gun charges

A Delaware grand jury on Thursday indicted Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, on charges that he illegally possessed a handgun as a drug user in 2018, and lied on a form he filled out to buy it. A plea deal on the felony charges fell through, so special counsel David Weiss took the case to the grand jury. Hunter Biden could also face separate tax charges. The indictment increases Biden's legal peril and poses a threat to his father's re-election campaign as three House committees launch an impeachment inquiry related to Hunter Biden's business dealings. The younger Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Weiss caved to political pressure in pushing the rarely prosecuted charges. The Washington Post, Politico

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.