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By Miriam Raftery
Photo: Hunter Biden during a 2014 meeting with India's prime minister
June 20, 2021 (Washington D.C.) The son of President Joe Biden, has reached a plea bargain deal with the U.S. Department of Justice. Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of filing his 2017 and 2018 taxes late, according to court documents released today, the New York Times reports. A judge must still approve of the plea deal; Biden is expected to appear in federal court in Delaware for arraignment.
Hunter Biden will not be sent to prison or charged for failing to disclose drug use when he purchased a hand gun in 2018, provided he abides by terms of a two-year probation that includes remaining drug-free and agreeing to never own a gun again. This sentence is consistent with how tax and gun registration misdemeanors are customarily handled for other non-violent first-time offenders, though questions remain over whether or not the Justice Department has dropped or is continuing to investigating questions over Hunter Biden's controversial actions while serving on a Ukrainian energy company's board of directors.
President Biden has avoided commenting on his son’s legal issues. A White House spokesman, Ian Sams, issued a statement which reads, “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is awaiting trial on criminal charges relating to mishandling of classified documents and alleged hush money payments made to a porn star, criticized the deal on social media, claiming, “Our system is BROKEN.”
Some Republicans have criticized the DOJ for not prosecuting Hunter Biden for what they contend are conflicts of interest tied to when he served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, led by an oligarch under investigation for corruption while Joe Biden was Vice President Hunter Biden was earning $10,000 a month for the job despite lacking substantive qualifications, unquestionably profiting off his father’s name, a situation many have viewed as unethical though not by itself illegal.
A Justice Dept. investigation into potential corruption by Hunter Biden, led by Trump’s Attorney General William Barr, failed to find evidence of any crimes. Joe Biden has previously said he’s had no involvement in his son’s business dealings, nor has any evidence emerged to show any profit by Joe Biden financially from his son’s financial or business transactions, though House Republicans are seeking subpoenas bank records.
Some House Republicans have also touted claims by former Trump advisor Rudy Giuliani who asserted without evidence that Hunter Biden was approached about or perhaps offered a bribe, and suggest that Joe Biden may have profited off such action. Giuliana, however, when pressed for evidence, has admitted there is no evidence of a tape (which he earlier asserted existed), and now says the unnamed source he claimed told him about an alleged bribe or bribe attempt has died. Giuliani is also the source of rumors tied to Hunter Biden's laptop computer, which Giuliani claimed to have obtained after it was left at a repair shop and not reclaimed.
Giuliani's credility was found lacking when he lost his law licenses in both New York and Washington D.C. for lying in court by making "demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and the Trump campaign," CNN reported.
Hunter Biden’s failed joint venture with a Chinese tycoon has also drawn scrutiny, during his father's presidency.
It is unclear whether the Dept. of Justice may still be investigating Hunter Biden for any other potential criminal charges. Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Christopher Clark, suggested the matter is at an end. Following the plea deal announcement, he said, “It is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”
However, CNN’s Marchall Cohen reports that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney who led the Hunter Biden probe, has indicated the investigation is “ongoing.”
It would be hypocritical to condemn the actions of Hunter Biden without equal scrutiny to the actions of President Trump’s children and son-in-law, all of whom have profited substantially off his presidency, including some potentially criminal conduct.
Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, served as a White House Senior staffer, as did her husband, Jared Kushner, after Trump intervened to get security clearances for both. Ivanka Trump had zero prior policymaking experience, yet was asked to represent the U.S. at the G20 summit of world leaders and oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants,among other things. Citizens for Responsibility in Ethics and Washington has said she repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by involvement in Trump’s campaign while working in the White House. Ivanka Trump also raised eyebrows for her international business dealings, including a Panamanian a real estate investment deal where her partner was a money launder for organized crime figures and another real estate project in Aerbaijan that was allegedly a money-laundering scheme for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Voice of America has reported. She also had deals with the Chinese that profited her line of fashion while Trump was in the White House.
Kushner oversaw programs during Trump’s administration including managing the nation’s medical stockpile during the COVID-19 pandemic, without disclosing his 25% financial stake in Cadre, which was actively seeking investment opportunities related to the pandemic. While working on Middle East policy for the White House, Kushner’s family business sought loans from a sheikh in Qatar, among many other potential conflicts of interest. His family got $30 million from an Israeli financial institution while he was negotiating a potential Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, Time Magazine reports.
Right after Trump left office, a fund led by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince invested a whopping $2 billion into Kushner’s private equity firm, raising questions over what the Saudis may have gotten in return.
Trump’s two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., continued to run the Trump Organization after Trump’s election. The Washington Post reported that after Trump became president, "Trump's sons have been busy selling assets to foreign individuals, expanding or adding onto their existing deals and investments in foreign countries, and collecting payments in U.S. properties from foreign governments."
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/20/hunter-biden-plea-deal/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/20/hunter-biden-comer-allegations/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/politics/rudy-giuliani-suspended-law-wash...
https://time.com/6279053/hunter-biden-trump-children-scandals/
https://www.vox.com/21527215/hunter-biden-jared-ivanka-eric-don-junior
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