Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty to tax evasion charges in court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, but the likely end of a five-year Justice Department investigation of his affairs could be a blow to a Republican probe of his father, President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden agreed a plea deal in June that will see him plead guilty on Wednesday to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay federal income tax and he will admit to the facts in a firearms charge that will likely allow him to avoid jail time.
House Republicans have expressed anger at the deal, with Republican Representative James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee, calling it a "sweetheart deal" for Hunter Biden. The GOP has also suggested Hunter Biden's actions are much more serious than the current charges.
The White House will likely use Wednesday's plea to try to draw a line under the legal case against Hunter Biden and it could put a dent in House Republicans' ongoing probe of the president and his son.
Comer said in a statement last month that Biden's guilty plea would not affect the work of the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating the Biden family's business dealings for months.
Newsweek has reached out to Comer's office for further comment.
Hunter Biden's court appearance also comes after Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy said on Monday that the GOP probe of the president "is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed."
Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, tweeted on Monday in response to McCarthy's comments about impeachment.
"Instead of focusing on the real issues Americans want us to address like continuing to lower inflation or create jobs, this is what the @HouseGOP wants to prioritize. Their eagerness to go after @POTUS regardless of the truth is seemingly bottomless," Sams said.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for further comment.
Hunter Biden's Plea Deal
The president's son made an agreement with prosecutors last month to plead guilty to the tax charges and he also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program that could see a felony charge related to his possession of a firearm dropped.
He allegedly purchased the firearm at a time when he was abusing cocaine but denied using drugs or having a drug problem in paperwork he filed for the gun, leading to a criminal charge. The pretrial diversion program is likely to mean he will not plead guilty to that charge. Prosecutors are expected to recommend probation for the tax charges.
In a statement on June 19, Comer strongly criticized the plea deal, saying: "Let's be clear: the Department of Justice's charges against President Biden's son Hunter reveal a two-tiered system of justice."
"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. These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the Oversight Committee's investigation. We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden's involvement in the family's schemes are revealed," the statement said.
The official Twitter account of the House Judiciary GOP tweeted on June 20: "Hunter Biden should be looking at a minimum of five years in prison. But since he's a Biden, he gets a slap on the wrist."
House Republicans have been probing Hunter Biden's business dealings and any alleged involvement his father had with them. President Biden and the White House have consistently denied he was in business with his son.
The Republican Probe
Two Republicans at the forefront of attempts to investigate the Biden family, Comer and Senator Chuck Grassley, initially requested documents from the FBI related to what they described as a "criminal scheme" involving President Biden in May.
The New York Post reported this week that a former business partner of Hunter Biden's, Devon Archer, is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone during business calls on multiple occasions.
That committee previously heard from two IRS whistleblowers who claim that the Department of Justice (DOJ) gave Hunter Biden preferential treatment but the investigation has faced a number of obstacles.
Democrats on the House Oversight committee previously pointed to testimony that directly contradicted claims accusing Biden of assisting Burisma Holdings, a natural gas company that his son was a board member of between 2014 and 2019, with any business deals or meetings while he was vice president.
A key witness in the probe, whom Republicans described as "missing," was revealed to be Gal Luft, who has been charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, trafficking in arms, and making false statements to federal agents among other matters.
Luft was arrested in Cyprus in February and is currently a fugitive, having fled after being released on bail.
Republicans are pressing ahead with the investigation, which the White House and Democrats have repeatedly criticized.
Taking the Heat Off Biden
The White House could see potential in Hunter Biden's court appearance and his guilty plea, according to Mark Shanahan, an associate professor in politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., co-editor of The Trump Presidency: From Campaign Trail to World Stage.
"Hunter Biden's tribulations with the law are a distraction and nothing more," Shanahan told Newsweek.
"The GOP's 'whataboutism' in going after someone who holds no elected office and has no prior criminal record but is related to the current president is all about false equivalence," he said.
He added that Republicans want to turn "conservative media away from the actions of Donald Trump". Former President Trump has been indicted in two separate cases and recently said he expects to be indicted as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation of January 6, 2021.
"Democrats will be hoping Biden junior's plea deal will take the heat-by-association off the president, but the 2024 election campaign remains set to be dirty and ruthless," Shanahan said.
"Republicans will continue to look for any stick with which to beat the president—and that includes family, friends and associates," he went on. "But pushing for maximum penalties on wrong-doings, and for misdemeanors to be upgraded to felonies may backfire on conservative legislators. When it comes to gun offenses and tax affairs, thoughts of stones and glasshouses come to mind."
Thomas Gift, founding director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, U.K., told Newsweek that Republicans may not be discouraged from their investigations despite Hunter Biden's guilty plea.
"Hunter Biden could accept a lifetime sentence for capital murder, and critics would still complain he got off with a slap on the wrist. So it's hard to imagine that even acceptance of a plea deal would take any wind out of the sails of the GOP-led investigation," Gift said.
