After a five-year inquiry, US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, is anticipated to enter two misdemeanour tax pleas and admit to illegally carrying a gun while abusing drugs.
Documents submitted by the US Attorney in Delaware indicate that a plea bargain has been reached.
He will probably avoid jail time thanks to the provisions of the agreement. It has been referred to as proof of a “two-tiered system of justice” by leading Republicans.
According to a statement from the justice department, the president’s son still has a maximum sentence of one year in prison for each tax accusation and ten years in prison for the weapons charge.
As part of the proposed agreement, he is anticipated to consent to drug monitoring and treatment.
According to a “pre-trial diversion agreement” that is independent from the plea bargain, he will acknowledge to having a firearm while in a felony, according to his attorney Chris Clark.
“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,” continued Clark. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
The terms of Clark’s client’s probation, he told MSNBC, American news-based television channel, were “up to the court,” but he anticipated Biden would be released from custody after his court appearance. He declared, “I think the judge is going to do what’s fair and I think what’s fair is my client gets on with his life.”
53-year-old Hunter Biden has worked as a lobbyist and a lawyer in the past, including in China and the Ukraine. After being found a cocaine user in 2014, he was released from the US Navy.
The guilty agreement closes a protracted inquiry by the justice department into whether he accurately declared his income and made fraudulent claims on documents used to buy a gun in 2018.
The failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes in both 2017 and 2018 led to the two misdemeanour tax charges. According to a former justice department source who spoke to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, most of the clients would be charged with misdemeanors but “in the jail time range.”
The younger Biden acknowledged using crack cocaine heavily at the time in a book published in 2021.
He apparently replied “no” when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance” on a federal form. On these forms, lying might result in jail time.
Conservatives have long criticised Hunter Biden, claiming that his business dealings abroad reveal a pattern of corruption.
Make America Great Again Inc. supporter Karoline Leavitt referred to the pact as a “sweetheart deal” that enables the justice department to “turn a blind eye” to corruption. For his part, Trump described the agreement as “mere traffic.”
The White House said in a brief statement that Joe and Jill Biden “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.” We won’t be commenting further.
