DOJ files new criminal charges against Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden will be indicted in California ‘on criminal tax charges today’: President Biden’s son has been subject of federal grand jury convened by Special Counsel David Weiss

  • The Department of Justice has filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter
  • The scandal-hit first son already faces a weapons charge in Delaware 
  • Special Counsel David Weiss has been using a federal grand jury in Los Angeles to gather testimony and evidence on possible criminal tax charges 

The Department of Justice has filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, CNN reported on Thursday.

The exact nature of the charges wasn’t immediately clear because the court documents had not yet been made public. 

Hunter Biden in October pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied about his drug use while buying a handgun, in the first criminal prosecution of a sitting U.S. president’s child.

Special Counsel David Weiss brought those charges against Hunter Biden after an earlier proposed plea deal unraveled under questioning from a judge. 

Weiss is still investigating whether the younger Biden can be charged for tax law violations.

The Department of Justice has filed new criminal charges against Hunter Biden 

Special Counsel David Weiss (pictured) brought those charges against Hunter Biden after an earlier proposed plea deal unraveled under questioning from a judge

The scandal-hit first son (left) already faces a weapons charge in Delaware

The special counsel investigating Hunter has employed a grand jury in Los Angeles to seek documents and possible testimony from multiple witnesses as part of the federal investigation of Hunter Biden´s business dealings. 

Earlier this week an IRS whistleblower claimed Hunter received a staggering $4.9 million from his ‘sugar brother’ Kevin Morris who helped him settle his tax bill. 

Lawyer Kevin Morris allegedly loaned the president’s son millions of dollars after the pair met at a campaign fundraiser in December 2019. 

IRS agent Joseph Ziegler declared the shocking figure with additional documentation on Tuesday with the House Ways & Means Committee as Hunter faces two charges of tax evasion. 

Morris, a Hollywood lawyer who made a fortune from a South Park TV deal, was dubbed Hunter’s ‘sugar brother’ after he reportedly paid off up to $2.8 million of the First Son’s tax bill in an attempt to placate prosecutors.  

The new figures alleged by Ziegler are a substantial increase on previous reports.

It comes as House Republicans near an expected vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged role in Hunter’s foreign dealings. 

Ziegler, who investigated Hunter’s taxes for five years before he was removed from the case this year, provided legislators with further documents including an email on Tuesday dating to February 2020.

IRS agent Joseph Ziegler declared the shocking figure with additional documentation on Tuesday with the House Ways & Means Committee

Morris (pictured), a Hollywood lawyer who made a fortune from a South Park TV deal, has been dubbed Hunter’s ‘sugar brother’

 Morris pictured alongside celebrity friends actor Courtney Cox and songwriter Johnny McDaid 

The communication reportedly reveals how less than two months after they met, Morris was contacting accountants on Hunter’s behalf and warning them to work quickly to avoid ‘considerable risk personally and politically.’

Ziegler claimed Hunter’s income from Morris, at least some of it described as loans,  reflected Hunter’s alleged practice of trying to avoid paying taxes on other income by describing it as loans.

‘Hunter appeared to follow a pattern of attempting to avoid paying taxes on relevant income. This first started with Hunter not reporting the [Ukrainian gas company] Burisma income in 2014 and allegedly falsely claiming that it was a loan to him,’ Ziegler said in his statement.

‘He, again, tried to claim the millions in [Chinese] income earned from Hudson West III was a loan to him, which was refuted by the evidence and was not allowed by his tax accountants’ he explained. 

Adding: ‘This continued into 2020, 2021 and 2022, in which Hunter received approximately $4.9 million in payments for personal expenses, again in the form of a loan and gift from Democratic Donor Kevin Patrick Morris.’

A Los Angeles grand jury is reportedly considering tax charges against Hunter, the New York Post reported. 

In July Hunter visited Morris, who also bought several pieces of Hunter’s art, which has prices up to $500,000, at his Pacific Palisades home where the lawyer was photographed appearing to smoke from a bong.

While Hunter was at the house, Morris was snapped on a balcony in plain view of the public street appearing to huff from a white bong, in photos exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com.

It is not clear what substance was in Morris’s bong, and recreational marijuana use is legal in California. 

Biden’s son currently faces three felony charges that carry a maximum combined 25 years incarceration and $250,000 fine.

Hunter Biden – seen above with his wife Melissa Cohen – offered to testify in public before Congress in December

Melissa Cohen and Hunter Biden with President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden in Nantucket over the Thanksgiving holiday

House Oversight Chair James Comer claims he’s traced some $20 million from foreign actors into Biden family members’ bank accounts through a series of complex shell accounts designed to minimize scrutiny

The first count is for lying on a 2018 gun purchase form that he was not an illicit drug user, and has a top sentence of 10 years. The second count is for lying to the gun store about it, which could net him up to five years. The third is for possessing the firearm while being an addict, which could land him another 10 years.

Despite hiring top lawyers, they may have a tough time fighting the facts of the case.

In Hunter’s 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, he admitted to his continued ‘full-blown addiction’ to crack cocaine in 2018 – the period he bought the Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver.

The federally required Firearm Transaction Record for the purchase asks: ‘Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?’

Hunter ticked the box for ‘no’ on the form, obtained by DailyMail.com.

The charges against him were set to be held over as part of a plea deal Hunter struck with prosecutors, in which he would admit to tax crimes for deliberately failing to file and pay his tax bill on millions of dollars of income.

But under scrutiny from a federal judge in July, the plea deal spectacularly fell apart in the courtroom over a controversial clause that would give him blanket immunity for other offenses.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s hotshot DC lawyer, has suggested that he may challenge the charges on constitutional grounds related to the second amendment.

More than half of Americans believe Joe Biden is directly implicated in his son Hunter’s business dealings, despite the White House’s insistent denials, according to a new poll.

Sixty percent of respondents said they believed Joe ‘helped and participated in Hunter Biden’s business,’ while 40 percent said they did not think the president helped or participated, according to a new Harvard CAPS-Harris poll.

The president claimed he never talked business with his son or his associates – despite Hunter’s abandoned laptop and congressional testimony from his former business partner Devon Archer saying otherwise.

Archer said that Joe Biden was present at two dinner meetings at Washington, D.C.’s Cafe Milano, along with Hunter’s business partners. A note was also found on the laptop from a Burisma executive thanking Hunter for introducing him to his dad at dinner.

Archer also testified that Joe Biden ‘had coffee’ with Jonathan Li, CEO of Chinese-backed BHR partners where Hunter owned a 10 percent stake.

Hunter Biden’s business dealings have been in the spotlight ever since the first report about the laptop he abandoned at a repair store came out one month ahead of the 2020 election.

In September, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, saying the family had a ‘culture of corruption.’

Since then House Republicans have honed in on the family’s bank records and testimony of the business dealings.

House Oversight Chair James Comer claims he’s traced some $20 million from foreign actors into Biden family members’ bank accounts through a series of complex shell accounts designed to minimize scrutiny.

He has not, however, linked any direct payment to Joe Biden. In uncovered text messages, meanwhile, Hunter complained about having to pay his father’s bills.

In another unearthed text message, Hunter told a Chinese business associate he was ‘sitting’ in a room with his father who ‘would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,’ referring to a payment.

The poll was conducted online November 15-16 with 2,851 registered voters.

House Republicans are now closing in on on the Biden impeachment inquiry, with subpoenas fired off to Hunter and James and interview requests to around a dozen others.

They will then decide whether or not to move forward with a House vote on whether to impeach the president.

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