Special counsel David Weiss signaled eight days ago that an indictment would drop soon. Indeed, it had to drop soon or risk going past the statute of limitation — which Weiss allowed to pass on some of the tax evasion charges Hunter Biden might have faced.

But with as much scrutiny that Weiss and the Department of Justice faced after their smelly plea deal and diversion agreement collapsed, neither Weiss nor Merrick Garland apparently had the stomach to take another hit for the Biden team. Hence, Weiss has indicted Hunter for three felonies in relation to his illegal possession of a firearm in 2018:

A grand jury delivered an indictment Thursday against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter over allegations he unlawfully owned a gun while addicted to drugs.

The indictment, brought by special counsel David Weiss, included three charges against Hunter Biden related to gun possession.

According to CNN, the three counts relate to false statements as well as possession as a prohibited person. CNN also has the indictment, which is blessedly brief. The first two counts both allege false statements on the same form for the same gun relating to his drug use. The third charges Hunter for “knowingly possess[ing] a firearm” despite knowing his ineligibility to do so.

It’s not as if this case will hold any surprises. Hunter bought a revolver at a gun shop in Delaware, and then lied on the form to complete the sale, swearing that he was not a drug user. These kinds of crimes almost always result in prison time if your last name doesn’t rhyme with Schmiden, but Hunter nearly walked without the charges even remaining on his record, let alone serve even a day in jail.

There is one curiosity about this indictment. This charges Hunter with felony possession of a specific revolver during a prohibited period. There is evidence from Hunter’s laptop, however, that he also possessed a semi-automatic pistol in the same time frame. Remember this? The firearm in that image is clearly not a revolver — so where is that weapon, and why isn’t Weiss charging the same felony possession charge with this kind of photographic evidence of it? Perhaps the picture couldn’t be conclusively dated, or perhaps that charge may eventually get added to the indictment. Color me skeptical on any sort of follow-up, though.

In fact, it’s not entirely clear that this will go to trial at all. Expect Hunter’s legal team to demand that the court restore the diversion agreement:

Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell previously said that the earlier gun deal with prosecutors “prevents any additional charges from being filed” and that his client “has been abiding by the conditions of release under that agreement.” Prosecutors say that deal never went into force.

That could be a bigger problem for Weiss than it looks, since diversion agreements don’t usually require courts to finalize. If Weiss agreed to it and Hunter didn’t violate its terms afterward, a court might be inclined toward sympathy for Lowell’s position here. And one has to wonder if that’s not what Weiss is counting on in filing this indictment, as a way to cover his own ass after attempting to bail out the Bidens over the last five years.