Presidential son Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor federal tax charges in exchange for a recommended sentence of no prison time, effectively ending the sprawling five-year probe into a wide range of allegations trumpeted by Republicans.
Hunter Biden, 53, is set to plead guilty to failing to properly file his taxes for two years, court filings said. He also reached a deal that will result in him avoiding a felony charge of illegal gun possession.
The agreement was cut by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and kept on the case by President Joe Biden to avoid any perception of favoritism.
The deal, which analysts say will likely call for Hunter Biden to serve time on probation, puts an official legal end to the grandiose claims of widespread wrongdoing that Republicans have used as a political cudgel against President Biden.
“Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” said Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
The White House, which has kept itself at arm’s length from the Hunter Biden probe, issued only a brief statement: “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”
But Republicans cried foul at the deal, which denies them the political benefit of an embarrassing trial of the president’s son as the 2024 campaign lurches into gear.
Trump wasted no time slamming the deal as evidence of a double standard of justice, especially since he faces far more serious federal criminal charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
“[The Department of Justice] just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” Trump wrote on his social media site.
GOP lawmakers signaled they will not let up in their effort to use their congressional investigatory power to uncover more dirt on Hunter Biden and what they say are corrupt overseas business deals and other supposedly scandalous issues.
“These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on [our] investigation,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the GOP-run House oversight committee.
“[It’s] two standards of justice,” added Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., a staunch supporter of Trump.
The Hunter Biden investigation burst into public view in December 2020, one month after Joe Biden beat Trump in the presidential election, when the president-elect’s son revealed that he had received a subpoena as part of the department’s scrutiny of his taxes.
The subpoena sought information on the younger Biden’s business dealings with a number of entities, including Burisma, a Ukraine gas company on whose board he sat.
During his single term in the White House, Trump was impeached over his efforts to bully Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into dredging up dirt related to Hunter Biden’s business in Ukraine to help sully his father’s reputation.
Despite elaborate GOP claims about Hunter Biden, there has never been any evidence that Joe Biden had any involvement in any of his son’s business deals.
After they regained control of the House of Representatives, Republicans jumpstarted their own probe, vowing to blow the lid off the so-called secrets of the so-called Biden crime family.
So far, it’s led to very little in the way of actual crimes or even credible allegations.
The feds say in court papers that Hunter Biden possessed a Colt Cobra .38 special in October 2018, which he obtained by falsely claiming in an application that he was not using illegal drugs at the time.
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 on that charge that will likely result in his agreeing to undergo drug treatment and monitoring.
The tax charges involve failing to pay $1.2 million in taxes for 2017 and 2018. Hunter Biden has since made restitution.
