The charges brought against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden are rarely prosecuted, legal experts say.
Under a plea deal reached with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware — an office headed by Donald Trump appointee David Weiss — Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay taxes, which he later reimbursed. Biden also faces a felony gun charge — possession of a firearm by a person who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” — but it is likely to be dismissed if he meets certain conditions under the plea agreement, according to court documents.
The federal gun charge, which makes it unlawful for a drug addict to possess a weapon, is a rarely used statute that is facing legal challenges and has recently been used as a catch-all charge against white supremacists.
Like the gun charge, the tax charges are rarely brought against first-time offenders and even more rarely result in jail time, Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI general counsel and NBC News contributor, tweeted Tuesday. "This is if anything harsh, not lenient," he wrote.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
For more on this story, go to NBC News.
