Everything you need to know about Hunter Biden
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Hunter Biden, the president’s son, is under heightened scrutiny over alleged criminal activity and whether his father, President Joe Biden, was involved in his foreign consulting business.
Hunter Biden is facing three felony charges filed by federal prosecutors as well as a congressional investigation into his and his family’s business dealings, which has paved the way for a GOP-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday about why the Justice Department allowed the statute of limitations on potential tax crime charges against Hunter Biden to expire.
Garland pointed to special counsel David Weiss, who launched the investigation into Hunter Biden in 2018, for answers and said it was Weiss who was in charge of that decision.
“There’s one more fact that’s important, and that is that this investigation was being conducted by Mr. Weiss, an appointee of President Trump,” Garland responded, per Fox News. “You will, at the appropriate time, have the opportunity to ask Mr. Weiss that question and he will no doubt address it in the public report that will be transmitted to the Congress.”
Garland fielded other questions related to the tax crimes that were a product of Hunter Biden’s dealings with Burisma, a Ukrainian company that seated him on the board when his father was vice president.
The investigations into Hunter Biden have also put his lifelong battle with drug and alcohol addiction on display. The younger Biden, a father of four, has been open about his personal struggles, including in his memoir, “Beautiful Things” published in 2021.
Here is a timeline of key events in Hunter Biden’s life leading up to the multiple inquiries into his actions.
Early life
Hunter Biden was born in 1970 to President Biden and his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden. He was the middle child — he had an older brother, Beau, and a younger sister, Naomi.
But their family suffered a great tragedy when Neilia and Naomi Biden died in a car crash. Hunter Biden and his brother, around 2 and 3 years old at the time, were injured in the crash.
Hunter Biden has previously said the traumatic car crash was “at the center” of his addiction issues.
Early professional life
Between graduating from Georgetown University and Yale Law School, Hunter Biden married Kathleen Buhle.
In the early 2000s, Biden began working at Oldaker, Biden & Belair, a law and lobbying firm where he was a founding partner. He began partying heavily after work.
In 2008, Biden quit working as a lobbyist when the then-presidential candidate Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his running mate.
When President Biden was VP
During President Biden’s term as vice president, Hunter Biden partnered with Chinese businessmen to create BHR, an investment company based in Shanghai, in 2013. The same year, he was commissioned as a Navy Reserve ensign but was discharged shortly after for testing positive for cocaine, as CNN reported.
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In 2014, as then Vice President Biden took charge of forging diplomatic relations with Ukraine, Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma Holdings Limited, a Ukrainian energy company. He initially failed to pay taxes on nearly $8 million in income generated from the company, as an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower said.
Hunter Biden’s relapse
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015. The tragedy made Hunter Biden spiral, he said, as he struggled with his addiction, fueling it with money his firm made. The loss of his brother left him depressed. In 2017, Biden and Buhle finalized their divorce.
“Anyone who has seen addiction ruin a relationship, or been through infidelity and divorce, can tell you how devastating it feels. But what I also realize through those crushing experiences is that I needed to find a way to stand on my own,” she said in an interview in 2022.
After his divorce, Biden had a brief relationship with Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden, and an encounter with a woman from Arkansas, Lunden Roberts, who later gave birth to his daughter Navy Joan Roberts in 2018.
Illegal gun purchase
Hunter Biden purchased a .38-caliber handgun in October 2018. Still fighting his addiction, he lied about not using drugs on a U.S. government form required for a firearm purchase.
The infamous laptop
Less than a year later, he dropped off three MacBook Pros that needed to be repaired because of water damage at a computer repair shop in Delaware.
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Only one laptop’s contents could be restored. It contained emails, documents and photos that belonged to Biden that led to controversy during the 2020 presidential election. Contents of the laptop were first published by the New York Post.
The repair shop owner turned over the laptop to the FBI a year later.
Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for president
President Biden, in the early weeks of his presidential campaign, falsely claimed that his son had not made money in China. A few months later, in December 2020, Hunter Biden announced that the Justice Department was investigating him. The effort was led by the Trump-appointed Delaware District Attorney David Weiss.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” Hunter Biden said at the time, according to Politico.
Hunter Biden’s plea deal
The investigation continued behind the scenes until June 2023, when Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a deferment on a felony firearms charge.
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“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,” his lawyer, Christopher Clark, said in a statement.
Whistleblowers testify against Hunter Biden
Two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers testified in front of the House Oversight Committee in July, claiming interference from the Justice Department over the investigation into Hunter Biden.
“The Justice Department provided preferential treatment, slow-walked the investigation, (and) did nothing to avoid obvious conflicts” when investigating Hunter Biden, one of the whistleblowers Gary Shapley, an IRS criminal supervisory special agent, alleged.
Special counsel Weiss gets appointed, plea deal falls apart
In August, Garland appointed a special counsel for the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, giving Weiss free rein to investigate and prosecute in the case.
The announcement came just weeks after a federal judge didn’t accept the plea deal Hunter Biden struck with federal prosecutors, citing the Justice Department’s still-open investigation into the younger Biden.
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Weiss, right after earning the title of special counsel, said the negotiations over the plea deal are at an “impasse” in a court filing. He dismissed the tax charges against Biden in another filing so they can be refiled in Washington, D.C., or California, where Biden allegedly committed the tax-related offenses, instead of being pursued in Delaware.
Weiss charges Hunter Biden with 3 felony charges
In September, Weiss filed an indictment against Hunter Biden over three firearm-related felony charges. The special counsel is also expected to file charges related to Biden’s tax crimes as well.
Hunter Biden responded in court. His lawyers filed a lawsuit against the IRS for allowing whistleblowers to disclose confidential tax return information.
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President Biden’s impeachment inquiry
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry last week, saying he believes there is enough evidence that Biden may have been involved in his son Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. This puts pressure on President Biden, who is seeking reelection.
The White House maintains that President Biden had no involvement with his son’s business.
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