Hunter Biden Pleads Guilty To Federal Gun, Tax Evasion Charges; As Investigation Ramps Up Into The Shady Foreign Dealings Of The US President's Family

United States' president Joe Biden's son Hunter will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. He also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David C. Weiss said, according to the tax Information, Hunter Biden "received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018." 

"Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year," Weiss' office said Tuesday. "According to the firearm Information, from on or about October 12, 2018 through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance." 

Weiss' office said if convicted, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges -- a total of two years. There is a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge for which he agreed to a pretrial diversion program. Such programs according to the DOJ website, "divert certain offenders from traditional criminal justice processing into alternative systems of supervision and service" such as mental health or substance abuse treatment. Those who successfully complete diversion programs, the DOJ says, can see "declination of charges, dismissal or reduction of charges, or a more favorable recommendation at sentencing."

"A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors," Weiss' office said in a statement Tuesday. "The investigation is ongoing."

Hunter's criminal counsel, Chris Clark of Clark Smith Villazor, said that "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."

The corrupt president's son has been under federal investigation since 2018. Investigation into his "tax affairs" began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from "China and other foreign nations."

The FBI had subpoenaed a laptop and hard drive purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden in connection with a money-laundering investigation in late 2019.

The firearms charge stemmed from an Oct. 23, 2018 incident, when a gun owned by Hunter Biden was thrown into a dumpster behind a market near a school. outside Delaware, by Hallie Biden.

Hallie Biden the widow of President Biden's late son, Beau, was in a relationship with Hunter at the time.

Reacting to the news of the plea deal, White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement: "The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment."

Questions surrounding Hunter Biden’s shady foreign business dealings came to light in 2019. Former President Donald Trump suggested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launch an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings -- specifically why then-Vice President Joe Biden pressed Zelensky's predecessor to fire a top prosecutor investigating Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, where Hunter Biden held a lucrative role on the board. 

That phone call prompted the first Trump impeachment.

Senators Chuck Grassley(R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson(R-Wis.) began investigating Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings in 2019. Grassley and Johnson released a report out of their joint investigation in September 2020. 

In that report, Grassley and Johnson said they obtained records from the U.S. Treasury Department that showed "potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals." The report also stated that Senate investigators found millions of dollars in "questionable financial transactions" between Hunter Biden and his associates and foreign individuals, including the wife of the former mayor of Moscow as well as individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

In the fall of 2022, Grassley and Johnson flagged to the FBI that they were in possession of whistleblower allegations suggesting the bureau had "significant, impactful and voluminous evidence with respect to potential criminal conduct by Hunter Biden and James Biden" and related to Hunter's work with Burisma Holdings. 

Following the 2022 midterm elections, the House Oversight Committee, led by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., ramped up its investigative work, focusing in on the Biden family and their many corrupt foreign business transactions, and if such dealings put U.S. national security at risk.

Comer and Grassley said the whistleblower claims the document "includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose."

The document, which Comer subpoenaed, an FBI-generated FD-1023 form, allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions.

Critics slammed Biden administration for its two-tiered approach to prosecutions, as justice department prosecutors aggressively target Trump and conservatives, while going easy on corrupt Democrats and violent far-left terrorists and activists.