Hunter Biden to Plead Guilty

week on 37 counts for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Christopher Clark, said in a statement that the deal with federal prosecutors will “resolve” the Justice Department’s long-running criminal probe into the President’s son.

client has now “fully paid” his IRS tax debts.

There are other issues surrounding Hunter Biden.

According to a plea agreement struck between Hunter Biden and the U.S. Justice Department, Hunter will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors to resolve a felony gun charge, the Justice Department said on Tuesday in court filings .

As part of the plea agreement, the Justice Department has agreed to recommend a sentence of probation for the two counts of failing to pay taxes in a timely matter for the years 2017 and 2018, according to sources. A judge will have the final say on any sentence.

The plea deal is certain to create massive waves in the political arena considering that former President Donald Trump was federally indicted last

“Hunter will take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments when due pursuant to a plea agreement,” Clark said. “A firearm charge, which will be subject to a pretrial diversion agreement and will not be the subject of the plea agreement, will also be filed by the Government. 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.”

In a brief statement, the White House said the Bidens “love their son.”

“The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment,” said White House spokesman Ian Sams.

Trump criticized the Hunter Biden plea deal on Truth Social

“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!”

Prosecutors had been examining a 2018 incident in which a firearm owned by Hunter ended up tossed by his then-girlfriend into a dumpster in Wilmington. Hunter described in media interviews in 2021 that he was addicted to drugs, which raised the possibility he broke federal law when he bought the firearm.

Federal law prohibits firearms purchases by anyone who uses or is addicted to illegal drugs.

Hunter previously told associates he has paid outstanding tax bills, and according to public records, more than $450,000 in state liens in Washington, DC, were lifted in 2020 – an indication that those liabilities were likely paid off.

Investigators, however, continued to scrutinize the source of the funds that Hunter used to pay his tax bills. In 2018 and 2019, Biden’s debts piled up, even as he received repeated warnings from his bank, his accountant, and others.

He was repeatedly warned about his tax obligations, but his attorney said last year that those years were difficult times for Hunter Biden, given his addiction issues. Clark has said that his

Among the matters under scrutiny in the Justice Department’s probe was Hunter Biden’s efforts, after his father left the vice presidency in 2017, to secure a deal with CEFC China Energy to invest in U.S. energy projects, according to documents released by Republicans from two Senate committees.

The deal ultimately fell through, according to an account Hunter Biden gave in a 2019 New Yorker profile, and the company’s executive was later detained by Chinese authorities amid allegations of corruption.

Additionally, Hunter Biden briefly was the lawyer for the head of an organization backed by CEFC who was later convicted on bribery allegations linked to CEFC.

During the Obama administration, other Hunter Biden business ventures in China raised concerns among White House officials, according to The New Yorker, which reported an equity stake Hunter Biden took in an investment fund involving U.S. and Chinese partners.

Federal investigators also previously examined the Ukraine-linked lobbying work by Hunter Biden as well. Of specific interest was the work the lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies did with Burisma, an energy company whose board Hunter Biden served on from 2014-2019, earning as much as $50,000 a month.

De Blasio Owes NYC $475K

Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, must reimburse the city nearly $320,000 and pay a $155,000 fine for bringing his security detail on trips during his failed presidential campaign, the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board ordered on Thursday.

The fine and repayment are both the highest penalty and the largest amount the board said it has ever issued. The former mayor’s campaign lasted just four months in 2019.

According to the Conflicts of Interest Board, the city spent $319,794.20 in travel-related costs for members of de Blasio’s security detail to accompany either him or his wife, Chirlane McCray, on 31 out-of-state trips related to the campaign. The expenses included airfare, car rentals, overnight lodging, meals and other incidentals.

Shortly before de Blasio launched his campaign, the board — an independent body with five members appointed by the mayor, comptroller and public advocate — told de Blasio that the city could pay for salary and overtime for his security detail. But it advised him that paying for the officers’ travel costs would be a “misuse of city resources,” it said.

But de Blasio did not heed the board’s guidance, it said. His failure to do so was one of several issues addressed in a 47page report by the city’s Department of Investigation, which found that de Blasio misused public resources for both political and personal purposes, including having a police van and officers help move his daughter to Gracie Mansion.

The board, which still has two members appointed by de Blasio, ordered the former mayor to repay the expenses borne by the city and fined him $5,000 for each out-of-state trip.

De Blasio’s presidential campaign reported having just $1,422.76 on hand in its last filing with the Federal Election Commission, in December 2020. A political action committee associated with de Blasio, Fairness PAC, last reported having more than $32,000 in debt and less than $3,000 on hand.

De Blasio did not respond to a message seeking comment. One of his lawyers, Andrew G. Celli Jr., said in a statement that de Blasio’s legal team had already filed a lawsuit to appeal the ruling and block the board’s order. He accused the board of breaking “decades of NYPD policy and precedent” and violating the Constitution. (© The New York Times)