Hunter Biden to plead guilty on federal tax charges

(CN) — Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to two counts of failing to file and pay federal income taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.

The 53-year-old also faces a separate information in Delaware for buying a handgun illegally in 2018. As he would later admit in his 2021 book “Beautiful Things,” Biden was abusing crack cocaine during this time period but he maintained he wasn’t using drugs at the time of purchase of the gun. The memoir admission put him under investigation for violating a federal law that mandates gun buyers attest they aren’t drug users or addicted to illegal drugs at time of purchase.

On this count, Biden will enter a pretrial diversion agreement. The agreement permits the Justice Department to charge Biden with purchasing the gun but not prosecute him for it.

Biden has agreed to live drug-free for two years and never own a firearm again as a term of the deal. If found in violation of this probation agreement, he could be prosecuted on the firearm charge.

The son of the president has worked as a lobbyist, lawyer and investment banker. He first disclosed in December 2020 that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, was investigating him for tax misdemeanors.

President Biden did not opt to remove Weiss from his post after his election to avoid the appearance he was interfering in his son’s then-ongoing investigation.

Hunter Biden is expected to be arraigned in Delaware and plead guilty to the tax misdemeanors in the coming days. A memorandum detailing the terms of his plea deal “will be submitted at or in advance of the hearing,” according to a letter from the Justice Department submitted Tuesday. The plea deal must be approved by a federal judge.

Biden’s criminal defense lawyer Chris Clark indicated that this agreement marks a resolution to the five-year investigation.

“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,” Clark said in a statement.

The White House released its own statement on the matter: “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, who is considered President Biden’s top opponent in his 2024 reelection bid, sounded off on the plea deal.

“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket,’” the former president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Our system is BROKEN!”

President Biden has previously spoken proudly about his son’s struggles to overcome drug addiction.

“This is a kid who got — not a kid, he’s a grown man — he got hooked on, like many families have had happen, hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life,” the president told CNN last year of Hunter.

The president’s other son, former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in 2015. He was 46 years old. Hunter Biden previously made headlines when he briefly pursued a romantic relationship with Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden, after his brother’s death.

Investigating Hunter Biden’s drug use and finances, as well as international business relations, has long been a pursuit of Republican lawmakers, proving to be a unifying goal across the party. Hunter Biden is also currently under investigation for his role serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.