UPDATE - Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax, firearms charges

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal charges, including tax evasion and firearms charges, prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday.

The junior Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, and another count of illegal possession of a firearm by a drug user, US Attorney for Delaware David Weiss wrote in a letter to the district court clerk.

The tax charges are misdemeanors, and Weiss wrote that Biden agreed to certain unspecified conditions with respect to the felony firearms charge. Details of the plea agreement were not immediately known but they will have to be accepted by a federal judge.

The gun charge is related to Biden's possession of a Colt Cobra .38 caliber handgun in October 2018, Weiss said in a separate court document. The gun was shipped and transported between states, he alleged.

Republicans pounced on news of the agreement with former President Donald Trump, who is himself set to go to trial on 37 federal charges in August, saying the deal "cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere 'traffic ticket.'”

"Our system is BROKEN!" he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to dozens of counts related to his alleged illegal retention of classified government documents after he left office.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer vowed to continue pressing the panel's probe into the Bidens, deriding the "sweetheart plea deal."

"Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist when growing evidence uncovered by the House Oversight Committee reveals the Bidens engaged in a pattern of corruption, influence peddling, and possibly bribery," he said in a statement.

Biden has a long history of drug abuse and publicly acknowledged his struggle with addiction on multiple occasions during his path to recovery.

Weiss, the prosecutor leading the case, is an appointee of former President Donald Trump. The firearms charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.