Hunter Bidenpleaded not guilty to federal misdemeanor charges of failing to pay federal income tax after a judge said she was not ready to accept a plea deal he had initially struck with prosecutors, which would have allowed him to avoid a felony gun charge.
The first plea deal that Hunter — the son ofPresident Joe Biden— had reached with prosecutors would have seen him plead guilty to two tax charges and reach an agreement on the felony gun charges.
But that deal fell apart in court on Wednesday, when U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she had concerns about linking the tax plea agreement to the deal prosecutors reached on Hunter’s gun charge.
Sipa via AP Images
But the investigation reportedly evolved with time, focusing also on Hunter’s income taxes and paperwork he used to purchase a firearm in 2018, on which he denied being “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug or any other controlled substance” despite publicly admitting to struggles with addiction.
Joe and Hunter Biden.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Hunter revealed that federal prosecutors in Delaware were investigating his “tax affairs” about a month after his father was elected president, later tellingCBS Newsthat he was “being completely cooperative” in the investigation.
Hunter has no official involvement in the White House and did not work on his father’s presidential campaign, but was nonetheless a major character in the 2020 face-off between his dad and Trump.
Hunter Biden.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
In that same debate, Trump also attacked Hunter for his “cocaine use.”
“Like a lot of people we know at home, my son … had a drug problem,” the elder Biden responded. “[Hunter] worked on it. He fixed it. And I’m proud of him. But he wasn’t given tens of millions … that is totally discredited.”
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Hunter has five children, including daughtersNaomi,FinneganandMaisywith his first wifeKathleen Buhle, a son Beau with his current wifeMelissa Cohen, and a child he had with a woman in Arkansas that spawned apaternity suit.
Reports have indicated that the woman with whom he fathered a child — Lunden Roberts —testified in the caseagainst him, along with another woman with whom he had previously had an affair.
In June, Biden appeared in an Arkansas state court for a child-support payment hearing regarding the child he had with Roberts. That case was settled later that month.
source: people.com
