Late Thursday, President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was charged on nine counts relating to unpaid federal taxes on income from overseas enterprises. This marks the second indictment against Hunter Biden this year, an issue that Republicans have centered as grounds for a potential impeachment of President Biden. A California Central District grand jury charged Hunter Biden with three counts each of tax evasion, failure to file and pay taxes, and filing a false tax return, as stated in the 56-page indictment.
According to special counsel David C. Weiss, Hunter Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019.” Weiss initially began investigating Hunter Biden five years back as a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware. This new indictment follows previous charges linked to Hunter Biden’s failure to confirm his drug usage when purchasing a handgun in 2018.
The news arrives amid the Republican-led House’s efforts to formalize its impeachment inquiry into President Biden, largely based on non-confirmed allegations of benefiting from his son’s consulting work for Ukrainian and Chinese companies. The charges against Hunter Biden denote a rare move by Weiss, as they also coincide with the disintegration of a plea deal that might have concluded the investigation without jail time. With these latest charges, Hunter Biden could be facing two federal criminal trials in the midst of a presidential election year.