Hunter Biden pleads guilty to tax charges, reaches deal on firearm charge

President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, reached a deal with federal prosecutors and will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges. He was also charged with a felony related to possession of a firearm, but entered a pretrial diversion agreement to avoid prosecution.

The letter, filed by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, says Biden has been charged with two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. A press release from his office says Biden received income over $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018, and that he did not pay the required $100,000 in annual taxes required in either year.

Biden also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement related to his possession of a firearm while under the influence of drugs, according to the letter. Per The Hill, Biden will not go to jail under this plea deal, which also allows him to avoid a trial.

For each tax charge, he faced a maximum of a year in prison, and for the firearms charge the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison, Weiss said. But, he added, “actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.”

His lawyer, Christopher Clark, said in a statement that this deal will settle the Justice Department’s five-year-long probe into the president’s son.

“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement,” Clark said, per CNBC. “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.”

Meanwhile, Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, said that President Biden and his wife, first lady Jill Biden, “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” per The New York Times.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, said that the charges against Hunter Biden “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,” he said.

Comer said the charges and the “sweetheart plea deal” will not affect the committee’s investigation.

“We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed,” he said.

Oversight and Accountability Committee’s investigation

Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, took to the Senate floor and alleged that the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been hiding information about what he called a “bribery scheme” between President Biden, Hunter Biden and a foreign national.

During his remarks, Grassley said the FBI has not been cooperative in providing an unredacted version of the FD-1023 document, which details multiple conversations that alleged that an executive from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma offered then-Vice President Biden and his son a bribe of $5 million, according to CNN.

“The FBI made Congress review a redacted unclassified document in a classified facility. That goes to show you the disrespect the FBI has for Congress,” he said in his remarks.

“Two standards of justice in this country will turn our constitutional republic upside down. Thanks to the political infection within the Biden Justice Department and FBI, we’re well along the road for that to happen.”

Grassley said that the document states the foreign national had 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden and two between him and President Biden.

“Getting a full and complete 1023 is critical for the American people to know and understand the true nature of the document and to hold the Justice Department and FBI accountable,” he said.

The only two lawmakers who have read the unredacted version of the document are Grassley and Comer, who earlier last week confirmed that the recordings were noted in the document but didn’t verify if they were legitimate.

The same day as Grassley’s remarks, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued a subpoena requiring Devon Archer to testify. He is a former business partner of Hunter Biden.

According to the subpoena letter, Archer’s testimony is critical since he “is associated with corporate entities that the committee has identified and the Biden family’s role in each of them.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., addressed the demands of his GOP colleagues in an appearance on Fox News. He began by praising Grassley for his “great deal of credibility” in the Senate before diving into the allegations of bribery that the Iowa senator has raised.

“Now, I don’t know if all of that is true or not, but we’re entitled to see that document. First, the FBI said, well, we can’t even tell you that it exists. And then they said, you can see it, but it has to be redacted. They won’t tell us whether they’ve even investigated the allegations,” he said.

“The only people who can fix this are the head of the FBI and the attorney general,” he said “And you can’t find either one of them with a search party, and they just won’t answer.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who has been briefed by the FBI, asked the agency in a letter to make public its analysis of the allegation made by the foreign national.

He said that the public statements made by his colleagues “are plainly inconsistent with statements made by the FBI in the June 5, 2023, briefing.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is characterizing these claims as conspiratorial.

“Congressional Republicans are openly admitting they’re peddling debunked conspiracy theories in an embarrassing attempt to improve their political prospects heading into 2024,” said a Democratic National Committee spokesperson, per The Hill.