AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
A copy of the plea deal can be found in the below Tweet.
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TWEET
Greg Price @greg_price11
BREAKING: Hunter Biden has been charged with two tax misdemeanors and illegal possession of a firearm, pleading guilty to the first two and entering into a pre-trial diversion agreement on the latter, which will undoubtedly keep him out of jail.
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Original Story
After half a decade of investigation, Hunter Biden has been charged with failure to file taxes. According to a court filing, the president’s son will plead guilty to two charges as part of a plea agreement.
As to his illegal possession of a firearm, relating to his lying on a federal form to obtain a gun while on drugs, the younger Biden has agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program, which means the charge will be dropped as long as he doesn’t violate the law again.
Chris Clark, Hunter’s criminal defense lawyer, in a statement, said, “With the announcement of two agreements between my client, Hunter Biden, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”
“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement,” Clark said.
From what we currently know about the plea deal (which is mostly via Hunter Biden’s lawyer), it does not appear Hunter Biden will be charged with tax evasion, a charge that was originally reported as being part of the prosecution. Other charges involving fraud or the more salacious things revealed on his infamous laptop also look to now be off the table.
A misdemeanor failure to file taxes is usually handled with a fine, so it’s probable Hunter Biden never sees the inside of prison at this point. That’s a pretty sharp turnaround from what expectations were given the original seriousness of his crimes.
There’s really no way to spin this other than it looks like Hunter Biden got off easy as far as the charges he received and plead guilty to. At least that’s how many in the general public will see it. As a first-time offender, the deal isn’t unusual (as long as you have top-notch lawyers), but the absurd length of the investigation culminating in a couple of misdemeanors and fines is not going to build any new trust in an already controversial DOJ.
It is worth noting that this investigation and the preceding charges do not deal with anything involving the ongoing Biden bribery scandal. There’s no indication the DOJ and FBI are even looking into that matter, though. Only Republicans in Congress are actively investigating, and any conclusions they draw won’t be backed by the weight of law enforcement.
Most people on the right (and perhaps no small number of independents) are going to see how this played out and see political bias. I don’t blame them for that.
RELATED ARTICLE
Furious Reactions to the Hunter Biden Plea Deal Come in, as James Comer, Jonathan Turley, and Others Push Back
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
As RedState reported, the five-year-long investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax dealings and illegal possession of a firearm culminated in a slap on the wrist on Tuesday.
Per the plea deal, the president’s son will only plead guilty to two misdemeanors for not filing taxes, an offense that typically results in a fine and no jail time. He will also be given pre-trial diversion (i.e. no charges filed) for lying on a federal form to purchase a gun.
Furious responses came in shortly after the news broke. Rep. James Comer had this to say.
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Tweet
Rep. James Comer @RepJamesComer
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.
Read my full statement.
That’s been my reaction as well. The idea that after five years of investigation, the most the DOJ could come up with at this point was two misdemeanors for not filing taxes is laughable. We have all seen the emails from the laptop discussing corrupt dealings and influence peddling along with the pictures of Hunter Biden using drugs and traveling with prostitutes (across state lines in at least one instance, which is a federal offense).
Jonathan Turley also blew the whistle on what this looks like.
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TWEET
RNC Research @RNCResearch
Jonathan Turley on Hunter Biden's plea agreement: "For many, this is gonna look like you ticketed the getaway driver after a bank robbery."
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TURLEY: This plea deal does have all the makings of an avoidance of any jail time, but more importantly, it was an evasion of the more serious allegations facing Hunter Biden and the Biden family. So it is historic in the sense that the president’s son is going to plead guilty to criminal acts. It is going to be very controversial for critics. I think for many this looks like you ticketed the getaway driver after a bank robbery. You know, many people view the influence peddling allegation as being a very serious form of corruption with potential crime, and he’s going to plead guilty to relatively minor charges.
While Hunter Biden’s associates face years in prison, he’s getting off with what looks to be no jail time. As I wrote in the original breaking news story, there’s no way to spin that but him getting off easy. Are we really to believe that after five years, the DOJ still can’t come to a conclusion on the influence-peddling allegations mentioned by Turley?
As to the actual deal given to Hunter Biden, Brett Tolman, a former US Attorney, says it was a sweetheart arrangement that many others have not gotten in similar circumstances.
This counters the idea that what Hunter Biden received was standard fare. Perhaps it has happened before, but I’m not at all convinced it was normal to be treated so kindly. In fact, I was just watching a video the other day laying out exactly how the DOJ has treated other people when it comes to drugs and firearms.
I won’t explain in detail here, but if you use YouTube, you’ve probably heard of FPSRussia (here’s a helpful explainer video), who was sent to prison for possessing weed while owning firearms. The federal government blitzed one of the most popular online figures in the world despite not showing that he illegally owned any of the firearms he had. Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is on video brandishing an illegal firearm while distributing drugs, and he doesn’t even get charged. You can do the math on that.
I’ll end with this clip from CBS News, which suggests that other investigations could still result in more serious charges for Hunter Biden.
With all due respect to Catherine Herridge, and she’s a great reporter, I have no faith that this is just the beginning. I think this is exactly where the DOJ wanted to end up, with being able to claim they enforced the law while not actually pursuing any of the more serious charges against Hunter Biden and his family.
As a political matter, there’s still a lot of fruit that can come from the House investigation into the Biden family’s corruption. As a legal matter, though, I think the fix is in. I’d love to be proven wrong.
