Originally published June 20, 2023 6:49 am PDT
In a development that will rock the 2024 presidential race, Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, is set to plead guilty to a trio of federal charges.
The information was disclosed on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in a recent court filing.
The court documents reveal that Hunter, 53, has consented to admit his guilt to a pair of 2017 and 2018 tax misdemeanors at the federal level.
Sources claim the combined tax liability is roughly $1.2 million over those years.
Hunter will also plead guilty to an additional charge related to firearm possession while using crack cocaine.
The younger Biden reportedly lied on a United States government document that he filled out while purchasing a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 special, in 2018, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
This news emerges from a letter filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
Sources claim Hunter will face no jail time, his prosecutors instead planning to recommend a sentence of probation whereby the President’s son will enter a “Pretrial Diversion Program.”
A Pretrial Diversion Program is a form of supervision available only to first-time offenders in order to avoid prosecution and have the charges dismissed.
The deal is apparently the conclusion of a five-year Justice Department investigation into Hunter.
“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,” a lawyer for Hunter said. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
The deal requires Biden to remain drug-free for two years and to never again own a firearm.
His gun charge would be removed from his record at the end of that 24-month period if he successfully meets the program’s conditions.
It was a Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware who reached the agreement.
The attorney, David Weiss, was nominated by President Donald Trump in 2018 and was kept in place by the Biden administration n order to avoid having a U.S. attorney appointed by the president to oversee his own son’s criminal case.
The White House indicated in a statement that the President and First Lady, Jill Biden, “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”
The impending guilty plea bears significant implications on the political landscape, particularly with respect to the forthcoming 2024 presidential contest.
A date has not been fixed yet for the court appearance, during which Hunter is expected to formally plead guilty to these charges.
Following the news, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to broadcast his dissatisfaction with the “broken” U.S. justice system for punishing Hunter with a “mere ‘traffic ticket.'”
“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket,'” he said. “Our system is BROKEN!”
Earlier this month, Trump, a Republican running for president in 2024, predicted the DOJ would cover their legal persecution of him by charging Hunter with “something small” in order to give a false impression of impartiality.
“It’s all about ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “They don’t want to run against me. I ran twice, I did much better the second time, getting millions and millions more votes than the first, a record for a sitting President, and am leading Biden in the polls, by a lot.”
“They are the Party of Disinformation!” he went on to say. “They are using the DOJ & FBI against me to Rigg the 2024 Election. They’ll hit Hunter with something small to make their strike on me look “fair.” Nothing about these Fascists is fair or honest. FIGHT!
Another Republican 2024 presidential contender, Florida Governor Ron Desantis, echoed Trump’s sentiment.
“Looks like Hunter received a sweetheart deal and is not facing any charges on the massive corruption allegations,” he tweeted. “If Hunter was not connected to the elite DC class he would have been put in jail a long time ago.”
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA) agreed, writing in a Twitter post, “If you’re Biden’s leading political opponent, the DOJ will try to put you in prison. If you’re Biden’s son, the DOJ will give you a sweetheart deal.”
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson titled his new “Tucker on Twitter” episode, “Ep. 5 As in most of the developing world, it’s safer to be the president’s son than his opponent.”
