Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax charges

Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, has reached an agreement with the Justice Department to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge, according to a court document made public Tuesday. The deal likely will allow him to avoid any jail time.

Under the agreement in papers filed in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, the Justice Department will recommend a sentence of probation for the two counts of failing to pay taxes in a timely fashion for 2017 and 2018. Hunter Biden owed at least $100,000 of taxes for each of the two years. The taxes were fully paid in 2021, according to his attorney.

In addition, Biden will be subject to a pretrial diversion agreement and won't be charged for lying about being addicted to drugs and alcohol when filing the paperwork for purchasing a handgun in 2018.

The gun-charge deal would be contingent on Hunter Biden's ability to remain drug free for 24 months and agreeing never to own a firearm again.

A statement by the Justice Department said Biden could face "a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge" but that "sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties".

Biden's attorney, Chris Clark, said the deal means the long-running criminal investigation involving the president's son "is resolved".

But the investigation is ongoing, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Any plea deal would have to be approved by a federal judge. Both the prosecutors and the defense counsel have requested a court hearing at which Biden, 53, can enter his plea.

Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was the lead prosecutor in the case that started in 2018 and continued into the Biden administration. Both President Biden and US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that they wouldn't interfere with the investigation.

Hunter Biden has openly acknowledged his struggle with drugs and alcohol. His older brother Beau had helped him to combat alcohol abuse, but he relapsed again after Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 followed by his divorce in 2017, CNN reported. He got depressed and became addicted to cocaine.

White House spokesman Ian Sams issued a brief statement stating that "the President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment."

Trump criticized the deal on his own platform Truth Social.

"Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere 'traffic ticket.' Our system is BROKEN!" Trump wrote.

The investigation at one point scrutinized Hunter Biden's multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Joe Biden was vice-president for possible money laundering, foreign lobbying and other potential charges.

CNN reported that an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower claimed to have information that Garland "contradicts sworn testimony to Congress".

Another whistleblower who worked for the FBI also has complained to Republican lawmakers that the Justice Department wouldn't allow agents to take more aggressive investigative steps in the Hunter Biden probe.

Some Democratic lawmakers welcomed the agreement. US Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland called the agreement a reflection of DOJ's "continued institutional independence in following the evidence of actual crimes and enforcing the rule of law".

He also questioned why there is no similar investigations into "Jared Kushner and Donald Trump's receipt of billions of dollars from autocratic regimes after handing them a string of outrageous policy favors and concessions".

But Republican lawmakers are calling it "a slap on the wrist" and "double standard".

"You think it's equal and fair that a political opponent is going to be given jail time, but a presidential son — and if you compare this to other individuals in America that have the same accusations against them, same crimes that they had been guilty of, that they were proposed to have 10 years and other time periods — I think that's a difference of justice," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said.

"This is the epitome of the politicization and weaponization of Joe Biden's Department of Justice as they give a slap on the wrist to President Biden's son — a tax fraud and corrupt pay-to-play criminal," Representative Elise Stefanik from New York said in a statement. "House Republicans will not rest until the full illegal corruption of the Biden Crime Family is exposed."

Agencies contributed to this story.