The long-awaited revelation that federal prosecutors had reached a plea deal with first son Hunter Biden on tax and gun crime prices marks the possible finish of a five-year Justice Department investigation that has dogged the presidential household.
The deal will possible maintain President Biden’s 53-year-old son out of jail and spare him a trial — primarily a slap on the wrist following the long-running probe specializing in cash he obtained from abroad enterprise pursuits.
Here’s the complete timeline of the DOJ probe and first son’s latest authorized turmoil:
2018: Federal investigators start wanting into whether or not Hunter Biden, or his associates, violated any tax and money-laundering legal guidelines throughout their enterprise dealings in Ukraine and China.
October 2018: A separate investigation is initiated after Hunter’s sister-in-law-turned-lower, Hallie Biden, throws away his handgun – resulting in a search by Secret Service brokers for the weapon and a disclosure of its buy to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A gun buy type reveals Hunter – an admitted crack cocaine addict on the time – had answered “no” when requested: “Are you an illegal person of, or hooked on, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or another managed substance?”
April 2019: Hunter Biden drops off three broken laptop computer computer systems at a restore store in Wilmington, Delaware. He asks store proprietor John Paul Mac Isaac to get well information from their arduous drives, however by no means returns to reclaim them.
December 2019: Mac Isaac alerts the FBI after inspecting the arduous drive and discovering proof of suspicious financial transactions, in addition to a lot of pornographic photographs.
October 14, 2020: The Post publishes the primary in a collection of bombshell experiences on how Hunter Biden traded on his identify to assist his enterprise associates achieve entry to his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden.
December 9, 2020: The investigation bursts into public view as Hunter reveals – one month after his father gained the 2020 presidential election – that he had obtained a subpoena as a part of the Justice Department’s scrutiny of his “tax affairs.”
The subpoena from Delaware US Attorney David Weiss’ workplace known as for info on Hunter’s enterprise dealings with various entities, together with Burisma Holdings – the Ukraine pure fuel firm whose board he joined in 2014.
Hunter insists he’s “assured {that a} skilled and goal evaluate of those issues will display that I dealt with my affairs legally and appropriately, together with with the advantage of skilled tax advisors [sic].”
February 2021: Weiss, appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, is retained by President Biden so he can full the long-running probe into the primary son’s funds.
November 2022: After the GOP clinches the House majority, incoming Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer vows to hold out their very own wide-ranging probe into practically each side of Hunter’s enterprise dealings and international funds.
April 26, 2023: Hunter’s lawyer meets with federal prosecutors at Justice Department headquarters in Washington
June 20, 2023: Weiss reveals in a court docket submitting that Hunter has agreed to plead responsible to 2 misdemeanor prices of failing to pay federal revenue tax and enroll in a pretrial diversion settlement on the felony cost of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug person. A decide nonetheless has to log out on the deal.
