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In a remarkable, six-month turn of events, Hunter Biden, the president’s son, has gone from the cusp of a no-jail-time plea deal to looming trials in Delaware on gun charges and in California on tax charges.
The tax charges filed Thursday build on an uncomfortable narrative about the president’s son – that he was a drug addict who spent large amounts of money on a lavish lifestyle and that he did not pay all of his taxes on time. That he traded on his father’s name was already clear.
While he was able to use his last name to make money, his lawyers now argue he is facing trials that any other American would not. Hunter Biden’s legal battle now seems likely to crescendo with a political campaign in which President Joe Biden is already struggling to convince Americans he should be reelected.
Here’s an overview of the legal jeopardy faced by Hunter Biden and what it could mean for his father:
Two.
Most recent are the tax charges. These include nine counts – three felonies and six misdemeanors – of alleged tax crimes for the tax years 2016 to 2019.
They were filed Thursday in federal court in Southern California by special counsel David Weiss with a scathing indictment handed down by a federal grand jury. Biden is accused of engaging in a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes on income and instead funding a lavish lifestyle of drugs and escorts. Read the full report from Evan Perez, Paula Reid, Marshall Cohen, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand, the CNN team that has been covering this story.
Then there are the three gun-related charges. These were filed in September in Delaware. Biden is accused of making false statements on a federal firearms form and obtaining a handgun and…
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