Team News Riveting
Washington, June 20
President Biden’s son Hunter has reached a tentative agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two minor tax crimes and admit to the facts of a gun charge under terms that will likely keep him out of jail.
Any proposed plea deal would have to be approved by a federal judge. Both the prosecutors and the defense counsel have urged a court hearing at which Hunter Biden, 53, can enter his plea.
The younger Biden’s attorney said the deal means the long-running criminal investigation involving the president’s son “is resolved”. But Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the lead prosecutor in the case, said the investigation “is ongoing”, suggesting that matters beyond the tax and gun issues are still under scrutiny.
Hunter has long been the focus of attacks by Trump and other Republicans, who have accused him of wrongdoing relating to Ukraine and China
The probe was opened in 2018, during the administration of President Donald Trump. Since 2020, Republican politicians have repeatedly accused Hunter Biden of broad wrongdoing in his overseas business deals, and predicted the Biden administration would be reluctant to pursue the case. The terms of the proposed deal — negotiated with Weiss, a holdover from Trump’s administration — were quickly dismissed Tuesday by congressional Republicans, who vowed to continue investigating the Biden family.
According to court filings, Hunter Biden received taxable income in excess of US$1.5 million in 2017 and 2018, but he did not pay income tax those years despite owing in excess of US$100,000. The two counts are misdemeanours.
