Hunter Biden reaches deal to plead guilty in tax, gun case

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offenses but avoid a full prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars.

Hunter Biden, 53, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The deal — negotiated with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration — avoids prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions agreed to in court.

The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau. It also averts a trial that would have generated distracting headlines for a White House that has sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department.

While it requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans continued to try to use the case to shine an unflattering spotlight on Joe Biden and to raise questions about the independence of the Justice Department under Biden.

Trump, challenging President Biden in the 2024 presidential race, likened the agreement to a “mere traffic ticket,” adding, “Our system is BROKEN!”

Congressional Republicans are continuing to pursue their own investigations into nearly every facet of Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and say there is evidence indicating corruption involving the first family’s financial ties but that the FBI and Justice Department have not properly pursued it.

“Today’s plea deal cannot be the final word given the significant body of evidence that the FBI and Justice Department have at their disposal. It certainly won’t be for me,” Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst said she was “just grateful that we are starting to see some level of resolution here.”

“And we’ll see what transpires over the course of the next few weeks and months,” she said. “Obviously, if he pleaded guilty, there’s something there.”

Weiss, the lead prosecutor in the case, said the investigation "is ongoing," suggesting that matters beyond the tax and gun issues may still be under scrutiny.

The White House counsel’s office said simply in a statement that the president and first lady Jill Biden “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”

Two people familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend 24 months of probation for the tax charges, meaning Hunter Biden would not face time in prison. But the decision to go along with any deal is up to the judge.

Hunter Biden is to plead guilty to failing to pay more than $100,0000 in taxes on over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018, charges that carry a maximum possible penalty of a year in prison. The back taxes have since been paid, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 Special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user. The rarely filed count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the conditions, the case will be wiped from his record.

“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,” said Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”

The agreement comes as the Justice Department pursues perhaps the most consequential case in its history against Trump, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The resolution of Hunter Biden's case comes just days after a 37-count indictment against Trump in relation to accusations of mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate. It was filed by a special counsel, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to avoid a potential conflict of interest.

That indictment has nevertheless brought an onslaught of Republican criticism of “politicization” of the Justice Department.

The Justice Department investigation into the president's son burst into public view in December 2020, one month after the 2020 election, when Hunter Biden revealed he had received a subpoena. It sought information on his business dealings with a number of entities, including Burisma, a Ukraine gas company on whose board he sat. A federal grand jury in Delaware heard testimony about his taxes and business transactions.

The younger Biden joined the board of Burisma in 2014, around the time his father, then Barack Obama's vice president, was helping conduct the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine. Trump and his allies have long argued, without evidence, that Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration’s policies.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.