Hunter Biden, son of U.S President Joe Biden is set to plead guilty to federal tax offenses.
Hunter Biden, 52, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public on Tuesday, June 20, 2023. The agreement will also avoid prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors.
The resolution of a federal criminal case concurrently with the filing of charges is uncommon but not unheard of.
He is to plead guilty to failing to pay more than $100,0000 in taxes on over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018. That charge carries a maximum possible penalty of a year behind bars.
The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 Special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user.
The count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the terms of the agreement, the case will be wiped from his record.
The agreement puts an end to a protracted Justice Department inquiry into Biden’s second son, who has admitted having drug issues in the wake of his brother Beau Biden’s death in 2015. Additionally, it averts a trial, which would have resulted in days or weeks’ worth of distracting headlines for a White House that has steadfastly tried to distance itself from the Justice Department.
It comes just days after a 37-count indictment against former President Donald Trump in relation to accusations of mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate, a case with even more significant political implications.
Trump, in a post on his social media platform, compared the Hunter Biden deal to a “mere traffic ticket,”stating, “Our system is BROKEN!”
Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, noted in a statement that it was his understanding that the five-year investigation had now been resolved.
“I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” Clark said, adding that “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
“A Two-Tiered Justice System”
Also on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, Republicans labelled the federal charges as an example of “a two-tiered justice system.”
According to James Comer, the Republican Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Hunter Biden is “getting away with a slap on the wrist,” despite investigations in Congress which Republican lawmakers claim that they show a pattern of corruption involving the family’s financial ties. Republicans have not yet provided evidence of these claims.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called the charges “low-hanging fruit” and vowed not let “full accountability fall by the wayside.”
On the other hand, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware stressed that the case was thoroughly examined over five years by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Delaware prosecutor judge appointed by Trump.
Resolution of the case, Coons said, “brings to a close a five-year investigation, despite the elaborate conspiracy theories spun by many who believed there would be much more to this.”
Trump’s indictment has brought an onslaught of Republican criticism of “politicization” of the Justice Department and a renewed barrage of questions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
Meanwhile, congressional Republicans continue to pursue their own investigations into nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including examining foreign payments.
