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- Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is investigating Hunter Biden, announced the tax and gun charges in a court filing Monday.
- Biden has acknowledged the inquiry covered tax matters, but he has denied wrongdoing.
WASHINGTON – Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of tax evasion in federal court in Delaware and participate in a pretrial program for a firearm offense, after a multi-year investigation into his tax matters, a case with implications for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and dealings with congressional Republicans.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss filed a letter in federal court Tuesday citing the charges and the plea agreement. In one case, the president’s son will plead guilty to the tax charges, which allege willful failure to pay federal income tax. In another case, he agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement for the gun offense, in which he acknowledged unlawful possession of a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver, despite being addicted to drugs.
The Justice Department will recommend probation for tax charges, according to The Associated Press, based on an unnamed source. The diversion program could eventually lead to dismissal of the gun charge.
Weiss asked the court − a judge has not yet been assigned − to set a date to formally process the plea agreements. Weiss began in 2018 with questions about taxes on overseas business deals, after his work in Ukraine and China drew federal scrutiny.
Biden’s lawyer, Christopher Clark, said his understanding is that the agreements resolve the five-year investigation.
“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement,” Clark said. “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. He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
Biden himself disclosed the inquiry in December 2020.
The White House has previously said the president hasn’t discussed the investigation with Attorney General Merrick Garland or the Justice Department.
“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement. “We will have no further comment.”
The case has political implications. Former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have attacked Hunter Biden as a potentially bad influence on his father. Trump appointed Weiss. IRS agents say they were removed from the probe. Hunter Biden has sued a laptop repairman for allegedly distributing private personal information to Trump supporters and reporters.
Here is what we know about the inquiry:
What are the tax charges?
One of the court filings explained the basis for the tax charges against Hunter Biden.
He allegedly received more than $1.5 million in taxable income during 2017, when he lived in Washington, D.C., and owed the federal government more than $100,000, according to a court record. He was required to pay the tax by April 2018 but didn’t, according to the document filed by Leo Wise and Derek Hines, two special assistant U.S. attorneys in Weiss’s office.
Biden again received more than $1.5 million in 2018 and failed to pay his taxes by April 2019, according to the document.
IRS investigators recently removed from probe
Congressional Republicans have questioned Biden’s overseas business deals. A whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service, which has been investigating Biden for potential tax violations, told lawmakers in May his entire team was removed from the probe, according to a letter from his lawyers obtained by USA TODAY.
Mark Lytle, the attorney for the IRS whistleblower, wrote to lawmakers that his client has information about a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition” of a criminal investigation related to Biden’s taxes and whether he made a false statement in connection with a gun purchase.
The letter said the IRS criminal supervisory special agent “was informed that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress.” The Justice Department informed the whistleblower about the change.
Another charge involves allegedly false statement when buying a gun
Another charge in Weiss’s inquiry alleges Biden made a false statement on a federal form when he bought a gun in 2018.
The Gun Control Act prohibits drug users from possessing firearms. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ruled the ban applies to “a conviction for use or possession of a controlled substance within the past year.”
Biden filled out a federal form when he bought a handgun in October 2018 in which he replied “no” to a question of whether he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance,” according to the Washington Post.
By his own account in his memoir “Beautiful Things,” Biden battled drug addiction and for periods during 2018 smoked crack “every 15 minutes.”
But Biden could potentiallly challenge the law under his Second Amendment right to bear arms. The Supreme Court overturned a New York gun law in June 2022, in a decision that threatened a variety of firearms regulations.
How does Hunter Biden’s laptop figure into the probe?
A laptop became a focal point of congressional inquiries because it contained a trove of documents and pictures of Hunter Biden.
When Trump raised questions about the laptop at a 2020 presidential debate, Joe Biden initially replied that it was Russian disinformation. The laptop’s legitimacy has since been confirmed by CBS News and The Washington Post, but the contents remain under investigation.
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A computer repairman, John Paul Mac Isaac, gave the laptop information to the FBI after Hunter Biden failed to pick up the MacBook Pro following repairs in April 2019. Mac Isaac later gave a copy of the laptop’s contents to Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who shared the material Trump’s political supporters and with reporters.
Hunter Biden filed a claim in federal court alleging Mac Isaac violated his privacy, took part in a conspiracy and helped others invade his privacy. The filing was in response to a $1.5 million lawsuit for alleged defamation that the repairman filed in Delaware Superior Court against Biden, CNN, Politico and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. The case has been moved to U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Biden became lightning rod for political conflict between father’s administration and House GOP
The inquiry carried political implications from the start because of his father’s ambition as a former vice president to return to the White House and because of clashes with congressional Republicans.
House Republicans led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., have argued that Hunter Biden peddled influence on the administration through lucrative business deals and the sale of art. For example, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee released a report in March saying Hunter Biden and other relatives received $1.3 million from a business associate after he received a wire transfer from a Chinese company.
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Comer called the charges a “slap on the wrist” and said they reflect a “two-tiered system of justice.”
“Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist when growing evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee reveals the Bidens engaged in a pattern of corruption, influence peddling, and possibly bribery,” Comer said. “These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the Oversight Committee’s investigation. We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”
Trump, who has been indicted on federal charges over classified documents and New York state charges over business records, said in a post on Truth Social the Justice Department gave Hunter Biden “a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!”
The White House has dismissed the inquiries into Hunter Biden’s business deals as hyperpartisan and politically motivated. Joe Biden has defended himself and his son from attacks by Trump since the 2020 campaign.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has told Congress that the department’s decisions in the case would not be politicized.
“I stand by my testimony, and I refer you to the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, who is in charge of this case and capable of making any decisions that he feels are appropriate,” Garland said at an unrelated news conference May 2.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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