Hunter Biden indicted for tax crimes in California
President Biden’s son Hunter Biden has been indicted in California on tax charges. The nine-count indictment was filed Thursday in a federal court in a Los Angeles. LiveNOW’s Andrew Craft fills us in.
The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.
Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are focused on at least $1.4 million in taxes he owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction.
The White House also declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.
FILE – Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse on July 26, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
Congressional Republicans have also pursued an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.
The criminal investigation led by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss has been open since 2018, and was expected to wind down with the plea deal that Hunter Biden had planned to strike with prosecutors over the summer. He would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges and would have entered a separate agreement on the gun charge. He would have served two years of probation rather than get jail time.
Prosecutors disagree, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.
Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse had worsened during that period after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, prosecutors wrote in a draft plea agreement filed in court in Delaware.
He did eventually file his taxes in 2020 and the back taxes were paid by a “third party” the following year, prosecutors said.
