ARKANSAS, USA — Hunter Biden has reached a deal with federal prosecutors on charges he failed to pay federal income tax and illegally possessed a weapon, according to a letter in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, and will plead guilty to tax offenses but likely avoid time behind bars.
He will plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses as part of an agreement made public on Tuesday. The agreement will also avoid prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. It's somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time charges are filed in court but not unheard of.
In response to Hunter Biden being charged with a gun felony and tax misdemeanors, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders released the following statement:
"Hunter Biden’s crimes are egregious. Any other American would face the full brunt of the justice system. But he’s getting off with a slap on the wrist. This is the two-tier justice system at work: one set of laws for Democrats and their cronies, another system for everyone else."
The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks of distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department.