President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was charged Tuesday with illegally possessing a handgun and failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018, according to a notice filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Hunter has agreed to plead guilty on the two tax misdemeanors and will enter a probation agreement that, if violated, would result in his being prosecuted for possessing a handgun while intoxicated in 2018, a felony charge.
“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” the White House said in a statement. “We will have no further comment.”
While the plea deal must still be approved by a federal judge, it could bring an end to a federal investigation that has captivated elected Republicans and their voters, and haunted Democrats and President Biden since before he took office.
The deal will likely see the younger Biden avoid jail time as prosecutors plan to recommend probation for the tax misdemeanors, the Washington Post reported. Should Biden comply with the terms of his pre-trial diversion program, he will also escape time behind bars over the gun charge — and will likely have the charge wiped from his record after two years, sources familiar with the matter told the Post.
The gun charge stems from an admission Biden made in his recent autobiography that he was using crack nearly every 15 minutes around the time he purchased a handgun in 2018. In order to complete the purchase, Biden claimed on a federal background check that he was not using illicit drugs at the time.
Hallie Biden, Hunter’s then girlfriend and his late brother’s widow, illegally disposed of the handgun in a public trash can outside of a grocery store in Delaware less than two weeks after it was purchased. After Delaware police began investigating the disposal of the weapon, Secret Service agents showed up at the gun store and asked its owner for the paperwork involved in the sale, Politico previously reported. Suspecting the Secret Service agents were trying to orchestrate a cover-up, the gun store owner refused to provide them the paperwork and instead turned it over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
The gun was later recovered by a man rummaging through the trash, who turned it in. No one was charged in the incident and the Secret Service denied any involvement.
The plea agreements come after an IRS whistleblower came forward to accuse the Biden administration of delaying the investigation into Hunter’s alleged wrongdoing.
“There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” the IRS agent told CBS News in his first public interview last month.
“When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer responded to the news of Hunter’s plea deal by accusing the Department of Justice of presiding over a “two-tiered” justice system.
“Let’s be clear: the Department of Justice’s charges against President Biden’s son Hunter reveal 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 in a statement. “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.”
While Biden’s personal legal woes may be brought to an end through compliance with his various plea deals, he remains at the center of a sprawling House Oversight investigation that could have profound political ramifications for 2024.
The committee recently released a report alleging that Hunter orchestrated a foreign influence peddling scheme while his father was vice president. According to the report, then-Vice President Biden, his brother James, and his son Hunter allegedly funneled millions in payments from corrupt Romanian and Chinese oligarchs through a complex network of shell companies.