In a recent display of high-profile socializing, Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden, was seen at a lavish state dinner at the White House, despite facing two federal misdemeanor charges for willful failure to pay federal income tax.
The event, which was also attended by Attorney General Merrick Garland, was held in honor of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to the tax charges and is also entering into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, according to his legal team. The plea agreement is pending approval by a judge.
Earlier on the day of the dinner, House Republicans released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged that the Department of Justice, FBI, and IRS interfered with the investigation into Biden. IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley Jr. testified that Assistant United States Attorney in Delaware, Lesley Wolf, told him that “optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant” at President Biden’s Delaware home in relation to the Hunter Biden investigation.
Attorney General Garland has been under scrutiny for Hunter Biden’s minor penalties and lack of prison time. Senator Rick Scott has demanded that Garland fully explain to the American people why a plea deal was struck between Hunter Biden and the U.S. attorney in Delaware that will spare him from serving any time in prison.
Scott pointed out that in a recent case in Virginia, a mother is facing a prison sentence of up to 24 months because she was using controlled substances while she owned a firearm, and in another case, actor Wesley Snipes received three one-year sentences on tax charges. However, thanks to a plea agreement that the Justice Department agreed to, Hunter Biden will avoid prison time for the tax and firearms charges he faced.
“The reported plea agreement extended to President Biden’s son is a farcical example of precisely that two-tiered approach to criminal justice by the DOJ under your leadership,” Scott wrote to Garland. “What is the American public to take away from the outcome of this five-year investigation and leniency shown to Hunter Biden on both the federal tax violations and firearms offenses he committed?”
