June 20, 2023

Hunter Biden Will Plead Guilty to Misdemeanor Tax Charges

The president’s son, who also faces a gun charge, is unlikely to serve any prison time as part of the deal.

Patrick Semansky/ AP

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Hunter Biden has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, finally ending a five-year investigation into the 53-year-old’s failure to pay $1 million in federal taxes and his illegal purchase of a firearm, according to news outlets. After a probe overseen by the Trump-appointed US Attorney of Delaware, the current president’s son was charged him with possessing a handgun while a being a user of drugs—a felony. According to a court document released Tuesday, Hunter Biden agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion program related to the gun charge, which means that charge will be dropped if he successfully completes the program. According to Politico, prosecutors have agreed to recommend probation for the tax charges, meaning that Biden is unlikely to serve any prison time. 

Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed during Trump’s administration, was permitted to continue overseeing Hunter’s case after Joe Biden took office. Republicans have long accused President Biden of refusing to legally hold his second oldest son accountable and have railed against everything from Hunter’s leaked sex tapes to his history of addiction.

You can read the the prosecutor’s letter detailing the plea agreement here. 

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

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Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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