![]() ![]() While Stefanik and other Republicans have called this a “sweetheart deal” or a “slap on the wrist” for Hunter Biden, some legal experts have said the DOJ did not go easy on him.Īndrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor and FBI general counsel, said that first-time tax offenders “rarely get prosecuted” and it’s “even rarer” for them to be jailed. sentencing guidelines and other factors, Weiss’ office said. The two agreements still have to be approved by a federal district judge and any penalties would be based on U.S. Successful completion of a diversion program could result in criminal charges being dropped or reduced, “or a more favorable recommendation at sentencing.” However, Biden agreed to enter into a not-yet-disclosed pretrial diversion agreement for the gun offense, the court documents say.ĭiversion programs “divert certain offenders from traditional criminal justice processing into alternative systems of supervision and services,” according to a Justice Department manual. The felony gun charge ordinarily carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and other penalties, including fines. Politico reported in March 2021 that when buying the gun, Biden answered “no” to a question on the firearm transaction form that asks, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”īiden had the gun for about two weeks, before his then-girlfriend found it and discarded it in a trash bin that was behind a local grocery store. In his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” Hunter Biden, who struggled with drug use for years, wrote that he relapsed and was regularly using drugs in 2018, the year that he possessed a firearm in Delaware, according to the charging documents. Hunter Biden also was charged separately with a single count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, a felony offense. But news outlets reported that, as part of the deal, the Justice Department plans to recommend a sentence of probation for the tax charges, potentially sparing him any jail time. He paid off his outstanding tax debt in 2021.įor each count, Hunter Biden could face up to one year in prison and a fine of at least $100,000. The prosecutors said Biden made over $1.5 million in taxable income in both 20, but didn’t pay the more than $100,000 in federal income tax he owed by the filing deadline for each of those years. Photo by Kris Connor/WireImage via Getty Images. Hunter Biden speaks during the World Food Program USA’s 2016 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony. attorney for Delaware leading the federal probe. ![]() Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay taxes, according to a June 20 letter from the office of David C. We’ll start with “tax fraud” and the plea deal. “It’s never been more clear that we have a two-tiered system of justice when you have the son of the sitting President of the United States selling our country out to the highest bidder, laundering money, committing tax fraud, accepting bribes, illegally obtaining a firearm, and shamefully avoiding child support.” “This is the epitome of the politicization and Weaponization of Joe Biden’s Department of Justice as they give a slap on the wrist to President Biden’s son – a tax fraud and corrupt pay-to-play criminal,” Stefanik said. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican conference chair, summed up the Republican reaction. In a June 20 statement, the day the agreement was announced, Rep. Hunter Biden also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion program for a felony charge of firearm possession by a user of a controlled substance. The DOJ reportedly will recommend a sentence of probation. ![]() attorney, has led to an agreement by Hunter Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges for not paying federal taxes. The Justice Department investigation, which was ongoing during former President Donald Trump’s term and is headed by a Trump-appointed U.S. Several Republican lawmakers have objected to a plea deal between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden, the president’s son, claiming it was “a slap on the wrist.” We’ll explain the plea and what we know about several other offenses Republicans say Hunter Biden committed, some of which are unsubstantiated. ![]()
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