Hunter Biden will plead guilty to three federal crimes
Biden will plead guilty to federal crimes as part of a plea deal with the Justice Department to resolve tax and firearm crimes.
Biden, 53, was charged with illegally owning a firearm in 2018 after lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun.
Biden was also charged with failing to file and pay taxes in 2017 and 2018, which are misdemeanor offenses.
Documents from the Justice Department confirm that Biden will enter a pre-trial diversion agreement for the firearm offense.
But the White House has been preparing for any potential political fallout related to charges against Hunter Biden since early May, as lawyers representing Biden met with top federal prosecutors in Delaware in April.
Key events
Chris Clark, the lawyer representing Hunter Biden, has released a statement following charges filed against Biden.
According to a statement shared with CNN, Clark acknowledged that Biden was charged with two misdemeanor tax crimes that were resolved in a plea agreement and one federal firearm charge, that was subject to a pre-trial diversion agreement.
Calling the five-year investigation into Biden “resolved”, Clark added: “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. He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
From CNN’s Manu Raju:
Hunter Biden will plead guilty to three federal crimes
Biden will plead guilty to federal crimes as part of a plea deal with the Justice Department to resolve tax and firearm crimes.
Biden, 53, was charged with illegally owning a firearm in 2018 after lying about his drug use when he purchased a gun.
Biden was also charged with failing to file and pay taxes in 2017 and 2018, which are misdemeanor offenses.
Documents from the Justice Department confirm that Biden will enter a pre-trial diversion agreement for the firearm offense.
But the White House has been preparing for any potential political fallout related to charges against Hunter Biden since early May, as lawyers representing Biden met with top federal prosecutors in Delaware in April.
Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, will plead guilty to three federal crimes on Tuesday, according to Justice Department.
Biden is pleading guilty to two counts of wilful failure to pay income tax and a separate federal firearm offense, reports Reuters.
This story is breaking. Follow the blog for more updates.
It promises to be another very busy week in American political news and we’ll bring you all the developments as they happen.
Here’s what’s also happening:
-
Judge Aileen Cannon, presiding in Donald Trump’s federal criminal case over his keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office and allegedly refusing to return them and obstructing the related investigation, has set a trial date of August 14 this year. Trump was only arraigned on dozens of charges last week.
-
Joe Biden is very much out on the 2024 election campaign trail. He’s in California, where yesterday he spoke about climate action and today he’s speaking about seizing the opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI).
-
Special counsel John Durham, who ran “an investigation into an investigation” at the behest of the Trump administration, reviewing the Trump-Russia inquiry (and finding very little of substance) is due to testify at 3pm ET before the (Republican-controlled) House intelligence committee.
