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Published: June 20, 2023, 8:09 p.m.

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President Joe Biden\\u2019s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offences but avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars.

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Hunter Biden, 52, will plead guilty to the misdemeanour tax offences as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will also avoid prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. It\\u2019s somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time charges are filed in court but not unheard of.

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The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden\\u2019s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks of distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department.

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While it requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans are likely to continue to try to use the case to shine an unflattering spotlight on Joe Biden and his family business dealings and to raise questions about the independence of the Biden Justice Department.

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Trump, in a post on his social media platform, likened the Hunter Biden deal to a \\u201cmere traffic ticket\\u201d, adding, \\u201cOur system is BROKEN!\\u201d

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President Joe Biden, Jill Biden and children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden at the University of Pennsylvania on May 15, 2023. Photo / Patrick Semansky, AP, File

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The White House counsel\\u2019s office said in a statement that the President and first lady Jill Biden \\u201clove their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life\\u201d.

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Two people familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend probation for the tax charges, meaning Hunter Biden will not face time behind bars. But the decision to go along with any deal is up to the judge. The people were not authorised to speak publicly by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.

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He is to plead guilty to failing to pay more than US$100,000 in taxes on over US$1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018. That charge carries a maximum possible penalty of a year behind bars.

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The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 Special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user. The count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the terms of the agreement, the case will be wiped from his record.

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Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, said in a statement that it was his understanding that the five-year investigation had now been resolved.

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\\u201cI know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,\\u201d Clark said. \\u201cHe looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.\\u201d

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Hunter Biden has acknowledged struggling with addiction since the death of his brother in 2015. Photo / Patrick Semansky, AP, File

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The agreement comes as the Justice Department pursues perhaps the most consequential case in its history against Trump, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The resolution of Hunter Biden\\u2019s case comes just days after a 37-count indictment against former President Trump in relation to accusations of mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate, a case with even more significant political implications.

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That indictment has brought an onslaught of Republican criticism of \\u201cpoliticisation\\u201d of the Justice Department and a renewed crescendo of questions about Hunter Biden\\u2019s business dealings. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans continue to pursue their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden\\u2019s business dealings, including examining foreign payments.

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Republicans on Tuesday called the federal charges an example of \\u201ca two-tiered justice system\\u201d.

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Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the younger Biden is \\u201cgetting away with a slap on the wrist\\u201d, despite investigations in Congress that GOP lawmakers say show \\u2014 but have not yet provided evidence of \\u2014 a pattern of corruption involving the family\\u2019s financial ties.

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Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee called the charges \\u201clow-hanging fruit\\u201d and vowed not to let \\u201cfull accountability fall by the wayside\\u201d.

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Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, on the other hand, said the case was thoroughly investigated over five years by US Attorney David Weiss, a Delaware prosecutor judge appointed by Trump.

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Resolution of the case, Coons said, \\u201cbrings to a close a five-year investigation, despite the elaborate conspiracy theories spun by many who believed there would be much more to this\\u201d.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was scheduled to campaign with the president Tuesday evening, reaffirmed his support for Biden\\u2019s reelection after the plea deal was announced. Over the weekend, Newsom told The AP \\u201cnot on God\\u2019s green earth\\u201d would he launch a primary challenge against Biden.

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\\u201cHunter changes nothing,\\u201d Newsom told The AP on Tuesday

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The Trump charges came from a special counsel, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to conduct an independent investigation to avoid any potential conflict of interest in the Justice Department.

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The Justice Department investigation into the President\\u2019s son burst into public view in December 2020, one month after the 2020 election, when Hunter Biden revealed that he had received a subpoena as part of the department\\u2019s scrutiny of his taxes. The subpoena sought information on the younger Biden\\u2019s business dealings with a number of entities, including Burisma, a Ukraine gas company on whose board he sat.

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Hunter Biden said in a statement at the time that he was \\u201cconfident 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 advisers\\u201d.

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Since then, a federal grand jury in Delaware has heard testimony related to his taxes and foreign business transactions.

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In February 2021, the department sought the resignation of most Trump-era US attorneys but made a point of noting that it was leaving Weiss in place as a way to ensure continuity in the probe.

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At a congressional hearing last August, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that the investigation remained active out of the bureau\\u2019s Baltimore field office and said it was a matter that \\u201cI expect our folks to pursue aggressively\\u201d.

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Garland pledged not to interfere in the probe at another hearing in March. An unnamed IRS special agent, though, later alleged mishandling of the investigation in a letter to Congress in which he sought whistleblower protection.

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The younger Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then Barack Obama\\u2019s vice president, was helping conduct the Obama administration\\u2019s foreign policy with Ukraine. Trump and his allies have long argued, without evidence, that Hunter Biden\\u2019s work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration\\u2019s policies toward the East European nation.

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Years before the case was brought, Hunter Biden surfaced as a central character in the first impeachment case against Trump, who in an apparent bid to boost his own reelection bid had asked Ukraine\\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a telephone call to announce an investigation into the younger Biden.

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Joe Biden\'s son Hunter has opened up about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. Photo / CBS, File

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Republicans later sought to make Hunter Biden\\u2019s business dealings in Ukraine a prominent issue during the 2020 presidential election.

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In October of that year, the New York Post reported that it had received from Trump\\u2019s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved.

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The story was greeted with scepticism due to questions about the laptop\\u2019s origins, including Giuliani\\u2019s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the November election. No evidence has emerged of any Russian connection to the laptop or to the emails found on the advice.

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- Lindsay Whitehurst, AP

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