Troubled first son Hunter Biden’s attorneys said Thursday that he wants to enter a guilty plea on charges related to $1.4 million in alleged tax fraud between 2016 and 2019 — possibly signaling an end to the long-running case.
The 81-year-old president played a starring role in his son’s lucrative dealings in countries such as China and Ukraine and the plea could prevent an embarrassing airing of those links during a trial poised to start next week in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors working for special counsel David Weiss indicated they oppose the proposed Alford plea by Hunter, 54, which technically would not admit wrongdoing.
The elder Biden leaves office on Jan. 20 and has insisted he won’t use his pardon powers to help his son, though sources close to the first family tell The Post they suspect he will do so.
Hunter Biden previously was convicted June 11 in Delaware of three federal felonies related to illegal gun ownership.
Here’s the full timeline of the DOJ probe and first son’s recent legal turmoil:
October 2018: An investigation is launched after Hunter’s sister-in-law-turned-lover, Hallie Biden, throws away a handgun that he recently purchased – leading to a search by Secret Service agents and a disclosure of its purchase to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A gun purchase form reveals Hunter – an admitted crack cocaine addict at the time — had answered “no” when asked: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
November 2018: Federal investigators begin looking into whether Hunter Biden and his associates violated tax, lobbying and money-laundering laws during their business dealings in Ukraine and China.
The probe began with a different IRS investigation into online prostitution. IRS case agent Joseph Ziegler, a self-identified Democrat, said bank records showed Hunter hired hookers and spent “lavishly” from his corporate accounts.
April 2019: Hunter Biden drops off three damaged laptop computers at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware. He asks shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac to recover data from their hard drives, but never returns to reclaim them.
December 2019: Mac Isaac alerts the FBI after examining the hard drive and finding evidence of suspicious monetary transactions, as well as a large number of pornographic images.
September 2020: After reading a report by Senate Republican-led committees on foreign influence-peddling by members of the Biden family, Mac Isaac contacts Congress to alert members to the existence of supplemental files.
October 14, 2020: The Post publishes the first in a series of bombshell reports on how Hunter Biden helped his business associates gain access 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 won the 2020 presidential election – that he had received a subpoena as part of the Justice Department’s scrutiny of his “tax affairs.”
The subpoena from Delaware US Attorney Weiss’ office called for information on Hunter’s business dealings with a number of entities, including Burisma Holdings – the Ukraine natural gas company that paid him up to $1 million per year to serve on its board, beginning in early 2014 as his dad took the lead in the Obama administration’s policy toward Kyiv.
Hunter insists he is “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors [sic].”
February 2021: Weiss, appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018 at the urging of the state’s two Democratic senators, is retained by President Biden so he can complete the long-running probe into the first son’s finances.
November 2022: After the GOP clinches the House majority, incoming Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer vows to carry out their own wide-ranging probe into nearly every facet of Hunter’s business dealings and foreign payments.
April 19, 2023: The existence of the initial IRS whistleblower, later revealed to be supervisory agent Gary Shapley, emerges publicly.
An attorney repping Shapley outlines a sweeping alleged coverup by the Justice Department to shield the Biden family and to insulate the president from the pursuit of leads pointing to his own involvement in foreign dealings.
April 26, 2023: Hunter’s attorney meets with federal prosecutors at Justice Department headquarters in Washington
June 20, 2023: Weiss reveals in a court filing that Hunter has agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay federal income tax and enroll in a pretrial diversion agreement on the felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user.
July 26, 2023: Hunter’s attorneys withdraw his guilty plea at a dramatic court hearing after US District Judge Maryellen Noreika’s questioning revealed stark differences in understanding about the terms of the plea deal.
Prosecutor Leo Wise, who had recently joined the case, said the deal didn’t shield Hunter for all past misconduct, such as alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his father.
“Rip it up,” said the first son’s attorney Chris Clark.
Aug. 11, 2023: Attorney General Merrick Garland elevates Weiss to the rank of special counsel, allowing him to unilaterally file charges against Hunter Biden for crimes allegedly committed outside of his Delaware district.
Sept. 14, 2023: Hunter Biden is indicted on three counts by a Delaware grand jury related to lying about his drug use to illegally purchase a gun.
Dec. 7, 2023: The first son is indicted by a Los Angeles grand jury on nine counts related to alleged tax crimes between 2016 and 2019.
Critics note that Justice Department foot-dragging allowed earlier years of non-payment to escape accountability due to statutes of limitation.
Dec. 13, 2023: The Republican-led House of Representatives officially sanctions an impeachment inquiry to President Biden for alleged corruption relating to his relatives’ foreign dealings — hours after Hunter flouted a congressional subpoena for his testimony.
March 1, 2024: President Biden insists he “did not interact” with foreign associates of Hunter Biden and his uncle James Biden — as his role emerges as the central focus of the House impeachment inquiry.
Emails, witness testimony and even photos show Joe Biden encountered his son and brother’s associates from two different Chinese government-linked business deals and others from Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine, in addition to many of their US business partners.
May 15, 2024: Hunter Biden’s “sugar brother” Kevin Morris, a wealthy Hollywood attorney who provided funds to pay off his tax debt and to finance his legal bills and living expenses, is reported to have said he’s “completely tapped out.”
Morris, who first met Hunter at a late 2019 campaign fundraiser for his dad, has loaned him more than $6.5 million.
June 11, 2024: Hunter is convicted of all three gun counts in Delaware following a jury trial.
Aug. 19, 2024: House Republicans accuse Joe Biden of impeachable offenses including abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in a report concluding the investigative phase of the impeachment inquiry.
The report was released after Biden on July 21 abandoned his campaign for a second term, greatly reducing the political focus on his family’s dealings.
Sept. 5, 2024: Hunter Biden indicates he’s interested in pleading guilty in the tax-fraud case in Los Angeles.
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