The announcement that federal prosecutors have reached a settlement with President Joe Biden’s son Hunter on tax and gun charges marks the likely end of a five-year Justice Department investigation that has dogged the family Biden.
However, that doesn’t mean congressional Republicans are done with their own broad investigation into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including an examination of foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.
Some of the Republican candidates hoping to face President Biden in the 2024 election are denouncing the deal as evidence of an unfair justice system, especially in light of the recent federal indictment of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, despite that there are obvious differences between the two cases.
Here’s what to know about the charges, the plea deal, other probes involving the president’s son and politics:
WHAT ARE THE CHARGES?
According to a letter filed in the United States District Court in Delaware, Hunter Biden has been charged with a misdemeanor for failing to pay federal income tax. Court documents allege he failed to pay more than $200,000 in federal income taxes for 2017 and 2018.
The federal investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018 and erupted publicly in December 2020, a month after the presidential election, when he revealed that he had received a subpoena as part of the Justice Department’s scrutiny of his taxes.
That subpoena sought information about the younger Biden’s business dealings with several entities, including Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company whose board he joined in 2014. The move raised concerns about the perception of a conflict of interests, given that the great Biden was deeply involved. in US policy towards Ukraine.
An investigation by the then-Republican-controlled Senate did not identify any policies that were directly affected by Hunter Biden’s work.
At the time of the subpoena, Hunter Biden said he was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I conducted my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.” .
The younger Biden has also reached a settlement with the Department of Justice on the charge that he illegally possessed a firearm while a drug user.
Federal law prohibits people who use drugs from possessing firearms or ammunition, although a federal judge challenged the legality earlier this year. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, between 1998 and 2014, nearly 100,000 potential gun buyers went home empty-handed because they were flagged as using illegal drugs. legal
WHAT DOES THE SECURITY AGREEMENT MEAN?
By entering a plea, Hunter Biden avoids a trial and is unlikely to spend time in prison, although the penalties are ultimately up to a judge.
Biden was charged under an information, a formal document that lays out the charges against him but does not require a grand jury vote, which would be an indictment.
A person familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend probation for the tax charges. But the decision to approve any deal is up to a judge. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The weapons charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department says Hunter Biden has also reached a pretrial agreement on that charge.
It’s somewhat unusual for a federal criminal case to be settled at the same time charges are filed in court, though it’s not entirely unheard of.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The settlement essentially means the case is over, unless Hunter Biden defaults.
A deferred prosecution is a deal offered by prosecutors in which a defendant must meet strict conditions, which will be known after appearing in court. No date has been set for this appearance.
A judge usually sets up regular checks for the defendant to appear to make sure he’s following the rules. If they don’t, their deal is revoked and the criminal charges are reinstated, which in Hunter Biden’s case carry a maximum of a decade in prison. But if he adheres to the rules, the case will be expunged from his record.
IS THERE NOT ANOTHER PROBE?
Yes. Republicans in Congress have conducted their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of his finances.
The minor tax crimes to which the young Biden will plead guilty are much more limited in scope than the allegations that have pursued congressional Republicans for years. On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said “the charges against Hunter Biden and the Love plea deal have no impact on” his panel’s investigation.
Even before running for president in 2020, Joe Biden has faced questions about his son’s business dealings and drug addiction.
And there have been other controversies. While his father was vice president, Hunter joined the Naval Reserve and was discharged after testing positive for cocaine in his system, later revealing a years-long struggle with addiction.
In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, Trump supporters used the existence of a laptop they said was connected to Hunter Biden — and the emergence of someone who claims to have had business conversations with him — to raise questions about Joe Biden’s knowledge of his son’s activities in Ukraine and China. President Biden has said he did not discuss his son’s international business with him and has denied taking money from a foreign country.
WHAT ARE THE POLICY?
News of the plea deal comes days after Trump appeared in federal court on charges related to his withholding of classified documents. In the wake of those 37 charges, Republicans across the country have lashed out at the Biden administration, accusing the Justice Department of “politicization” and attacking Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
Trump’s charges came from a special counsel, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to conduct an independent investigation to avoid any potential conflicts of interest at the Justice Department. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s charges were filed by Trump-appointed Delaware US Attorney David Weiss.
Some of the Republicans vying to potentially face Biden in the 2024 general election wasted no time in making their criticism of the plea deal public.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump said Tuesday that “Biden’s corrupt DOJ just cleared hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted Tuesday that it’s “no coincidence that Hunter Biden’s ‘plea deal’ comes right after Trump’s impeachment,” calling it “the perfect fig leaf to pretend that” no one is above the law”, although it absolutely puts the word. certain people above the law”.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in a tweet, also denounced the “sweetheart deal,” saying that if Biden “wasn’t connected to DC’s elite class, he would have been in jail a long time ago.”
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Associated Press writers Lindsey Whitehurst and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
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Meg Kinnard can be contacted at
