Hunter Biden

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Hunter Biden: Plea deal for president's son collapses in dramatic court hearing BBC

An agreement expected to see US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, plead guilty to tax charges and admit a gun offence has dramatically fallen apart in court.
The plea deal, negotiated over several weeks, was expected to spare the younger Mr Biden prison time.
But a judge on Wednesday said she could not "rubber stamp the agreement".
The case marks the first time the justice department has charged the child of a sitting president.
It follows a five-year investigation into the finances of Hunter Biden, who arrived on Wednesday morning at the court in Wilmington, Delaware.
In a plea agreement announced last month, the US first son was to be charged with two misdemeanour counts for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.

He was also to admit that he had illegally possessed a gun while being a drug user, and agree to drug treatment and monitoring in lieu of a more serious felony charge and possible jail time.
But during the hearing, US District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned whether the deal would provide Hunter Biden with immunity from crimes he could be found liable for in the future.

Defence lawyers had cast the plea deal as the final chapter in the inquiry into their client's finances, but prosecutors confirmed in court that their probe is "ongoing".
Officials with the justice department are still investigating whether Hunter Biden violated federal laws that required him to register as a foreign agent while working in China and Ukraine during his father's vice-presidency, CNN reported.
Legal teams for both sides were seen negotiating in full view of reporters inside the court in an effort to salvage the deal or carve out a narrower agreement.
But the hearing ended with Judge Noreika, a Trump appointee, declining to sign the deal. She gave the two parties 14 days to hash out a new deal and brief her.

Mr Biden, who initially offered to enter a guilty plea, ended the hearing by pleading not guilty to the allegations against him.
The misdemeanour tax counts are minor charges compared to the more serious allegations against Hunter Biden that congressional Republicans have introduced to committee hearings.

Republicans have alleged that Hunter Biden has been given an unusually lenient plea deal because he is the president's son.
That claim is denied by the US Attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, who led the investigation.
Mr Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump and left in place by the Biden administration to finish the investigation into Hunter Biden.
The prosecutor has offered to testify in front of Congress to address criticism of the inquiry.

The House of Representatives Oversight Committee, which is examining various allegations against Hunter Biden, has already heard testimony from a whistleblower who claimed the justice department had deliberately slow-walked the tax investigation.

Republican congressman and oversight panel member Tim Burchett told the BBC he is disgusted by that assertion.
"Why would you break the rules for a dirt bag like Hunter Biden?" said the Tennessee Republican. "I mean, he's got all this money.
"He is just a despicable human being. And yet, this is the kind of guy that the Democrats want to cover for."
Republicans have focused on a notorious laptop that Hunter Biden apparently abandoned in a computer repair shop in Delaware.

The contents of the computer have been used to try to prove bribery and corruption against the president's son and to attempt to connect his father to illegal business dealings.
But Democrats say it is no coincidence that Republicans are attacking the justice system while Mr Trump faces two criminal indictments and may soon learn of charges against him in two more cases.
Democratic strategist Ashley Etienne said politicians will still be talking about Hunter Biden's laptop right up until next year's presidential election.
She argued that Republicans were trying to create a "false equivalency" between the misdemeanours to which Hunter Biden wants to plead guilty and the crimes with which Donald Trump has been charged.
 
Hunter Biden: Plea deal for president's son collapses in dramatic court hearing BBC

An agreement expected to see US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, plead guilty to tax charges and admit a gun offence has dramatically fallen apart in court.
The plea deal, negotiated over several weeks, was expected to spare the younger Mr Biden prison time.
But a judge on Wednesday said she could not "rubber stamp the agreement".
The case marks the first time the justice department has charged the child of a sitting president.
It follows a five-year investigation into the finances of Hunter Biden, who arrived on Wednesday morning at the court in Wilmington, Delaware.
In a plea agreement announced last month, the US first son was to be charged with two misdemeanour counts for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.

He was also to admit that he had illegally possessed a gun while being a drug user, and agree to drug treatment and monitoring in lieu of a more serious felony charge and possible jail time.
But during the hearing, US District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned whether the deal would provide Hunter Biden with immunity from crimes he could be found liable for in the future.

Defence lawyers had cast the plea deal as the final chapter in the inquiry into their client's finances, but prosecutors confirmed in court that their probe is "ongoing".
Officials with the justice department are still investigating whether Hunter Biden violated federal laws that required him to register as a foreign agent while working in China and Ukraine during his father's vice-presidency, CNN reported.
Legal teams for both sides were seen negotiating in full view of reporters inside the court in an effort to salvage the deal or carve out a narrower agreement.
But the hearing ended with Judge Noreika, a Trump appointee, declining to sign the deal. She gave the two parties 14 days to hash out a new deal and brief her.

Mr Biden, who initially offered to enter a guilty plea, ended the hearing by pleading not guilty to the allegations against him.
The misdemeanour tax counts are minor charges compared to the more serious allegations against Hunter Biden that congressional Republicans have introduced to committee hearings.

Republicans have alleged that Hunter Biden has been given an unusually lenient plea deal because he is the president's son.
That claim is denied by the US Attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, who led the investigation.
Mr Weiss was appointed by former President Donald Trump and left in place by the Biden administration to finish the investigation into Hunter Biden.
The prosecutor has offered to testify in front of Congress to address criticism of the inquiry.

The House of Representatives Oversight Committee, which is examining various allegations against Hunter Biden, has already heard testimony from a whistleblower who claimed the justice department had deliberately slow-walked the tax investigation.

Republican congressman and oversight panel member Tim Burchett told the BBC he is disgusted by that assertion.
"Why would you break the rules for a dirt bag like Hunter Biden?" said the Tennessee Republican. "I mean, he's got all this money.
"He is just a despicable human being. And yet, this is the kind of guy that the Democrats want to cover for."
Republicans have focused on a notorious laptop that Hunter Biden apparently abandoned in a computer repair shop in Delaware.

The contents of the computer have been used to try to prove bribery and corruption against the president's son and to attempt to connect his father to illegal business dealings.
But Democrats say it is no coincidence that Republicans are attacking the justice system while Mr Trump faces two criminal indictments and may soon learn of charges against him in two more cases.
Democratic strategist Ashley Etienne said politicians will still be talking about Hunter Biden's laptop right up until next year's presidential election.
She argued that Republicans were trying to create a "false equivalency" between the misdemeanours to which Hunter Biden wants to plead guilty and the crimes with which Donald Trump has been charged.
The Daily (a podcast by several NYT Journalists) has a really good episode on what happened so far. If the allegations that there was some influencing on the investigation is true and I lean toward that is the case--heads should roll. Link: https://open.spotify.com/show/3IM0lmZxpFAY7CwMuv9H4g
 
I have 0.0 law education. But from my limited viewpoint from watching the news it kind of seems to me like this judge was pissed from the jump that she wasn’t given her due butt kissing in the wording of the plea deal and is making both sides go do some extra homework assignments as a punishment before she eventually OK’s what will basically be the same plea deal.


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would it be possible for hunter and trump to spend prison time at the same facility?! that might make for a good reality show...
 
Wish the media and people in general were putting Jared and Ivanka under a similar microscope. If it’s about taking money from foreigners they’re the clear winner.
 
Hunter’s an immoral, opportunistic, a-hole who has more than likely committed many crimes. But this last second before the opportunity expires indictment is just ridiculous.


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Hunter’s an immoral, opportunistic, a-hole who has more than likely committed many crimes. But this last second before the opportunity expires indictment is just ridiculous.


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Hunter Biden writes of his addiction problems and the politicalization of them. Of course, some people will be unhappy about not a word on how he got that very high paying board job with that Ukrainian company. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opin...bstance-abuse-not-political-ploy/71332255007/
 
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Hunter Biden is indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in a special counsel investigation​



WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax charges in California as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden's son intensifies against the backdrop of the 2024 election.

The new charges filed Thursday — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection.


Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.

Hunter Biden is indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in a special counsel investigation
If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could a maximum of 17 years in prison. The special counsel probe remains open, Weiss said.

In a fiery response, defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure" in the case.

“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said in a statement.


The White House declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.

The charging documents filed in California, where he lives, detail spending on drugs, strippers, luxury hotels and exotic cars, “in short, everything but his taxes," prosecutor Leo Wise wrote.

The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.

No evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes, though questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business.

The separate, long-running criminal investigation into Hunter Biden had been expected to wind down with a plea deal where he would have gotten two years' probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and avoided prosecution on the gun charge if he stayed out of trouble.

The agreement was pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. Trump is facing his own criminal cases, including charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden, a Democrat.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, gave credit for the new charges Thursday to two IRS investigators who testified before Congress that the Justice Department had mishandled and “slow walked” the investigation into the president's son. Justice officials have denied those allegations.

The two IRS employees, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, said the indictment was “a complete vindication of our thorough investigation.”

The new charges against Hunter Biden include filing a false return and tax evasion felonies, as well as misdemeanor failure to file and failure to pay.


The defense signaled that it plans to fight the new charges, likely at least in part relying on immunity provisions from the original plea deal. Defense attorneys have argued those remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.

Prosecutors have disagreed, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.

Lowell said he's also planning to push for dismissal of the gun charges next week, calling them “unprecedented and unconstitutional."

The three federal gun charges filed in Delaware allege Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.

Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse worsened after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, according to court documents and his memoir “Beautiful Things," which ends with him getting clean in 2019.


His gross income nevertheless totaled some $7 million between 2016 and 2020, prosecutors said, pointing to his roles on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and a Chinese private equity fund as well as his position at a law firm.

Hunter did eventually file his taxes in 2020, while facing a child support case in Arkansas, and the back taxes were paid by a “third party,” prosecutors have said in court documents.
 

Hunter Biden is indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in a special counsel investigation​



WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden was indicted on nine tax charges in California as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden's son intensifies against the backdrop of the 2024 election.

The new charges filed Thursday — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection.


Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.

Hunter Biden is indicted on 9 tax charges, adding to gun charges in a special counsel investigation
If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could a maximum of 17 years in prison. The special counsel probe remains open, Weiss said.

In a fiery response, defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure" in the case.

“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said in a statement.


The White House declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.

The charging documents filed in California, where he lives, detail spending on drugs, strippers, luxury hotels and exotic cars, “in short, everything but his taxes," prosecutor Leo Wise wrote.

The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.

No evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes, though questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business.

The separate, long-running criminal investigation into Hunter Biden had been expected to wind down with a plea deal where he would have gotten two years' probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and avoided prosecution on the gun charge if he stayed out of trouble.

The agreement was pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. Trump is facing his own criminal cases, including charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden, a Democrat.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, gave credit for the new charges Thursday to two IRS investigators who testified before Congress that the Justice Department had mishandled and “slow walked” the investigation into the president's son. Justice officials have denied those allegations.

The two IRS employees, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, said the indictment was “a complete vindication of our thorough investigation.”

The new charges against Hunter Biden include filing a false return and tax evasion felonies, as well as misdemeanor failure to file and failure to pay.


The defense signaled that it plans to fight the new charges, likely at least in part relying on immunity provisions from the original plea deal. Defense attorneys have argued those remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.

Prosecutors have disagreed, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.

Lowell said he's also planning to push for dismissal of the gun charges next week, calling them “unprecedented and unconstitutional."

The three federal gun charges filed in Delaware allege Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.

Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse worsened after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, according to court documents and his memoir “Beautiful Things," which ends with him getting clean in 2019.


His gross income nevertheless totaled some $7 million between 2016 and 2020, prosecutors said, pointing to his roles on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and a Chinese private equity fund as well as his position at a law firm.

Hunter did eventually file his taxes in 2020, while facing a child support case in Arkansas, and the back taxes were paid by a “third party,” prosecutors have said in court documents.
Good.
 
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