U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was indicted on Thursday for illegally buying a gun five years ago at a time when he admits he was using drugs heavily.

 Mr. Hunter Biden was charged with two counts of making false statements, for claiming on forms that he was not using drugs illegally at the time he bought a Colt revolver in Delaware.

A third charge said that, based on the false statements, he illegally possessed the gun — a charge that can bring up to 10 years in prison.

The charges were filed by Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating Mr. Hunter Biden since 2018.

It came two months after a plea deal between Mr. Hunter Biden and Mr. Weiss, covering the gun charge as well as alleged tax violations, went sour over differences of whether the President’s son could face unspecified additional charges.

In exchange he was offered probation, as he had already paid what he owed the government along with penalties.

In the same deal, Mr. Weiss agreed to suspend the felony gun charge if Mr. Hunter Biden completed “pretrial diversion,” which often involves counseling or rehabilitation.

But in a dramatic July 26 hearing, the deal collapsed over the issue of whether Mr. Hunter Biden would have been immune from any other charges also investigated by Mr. Weiss, including possible crimes related to his business dealings in Ukraine, China and elsewhere.