Another stumbling block for Biden’s campaign: son Hunter faces 9 new federal criminal charges Provider Financial Associated Press

Financial Associated Press, December 8 (Editor Ma Lan)Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will vote next week on whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Joe Biden because his son Biden’s overseas business activities are suspected of illegal activities and the president himself may be involved in related corruption.

The bomb had not yet detonated. On Thursday, the Los Angeles federal court took the lead in announcing nine criminal charges against Hunter. This will put greater pressure on Biden and the Democratic Party, and may even further damage Biden’s 2024 campaign.

Special prosecutor David Weiss charged Hunter with tax crimes between 2016 and 2019, including three felonies and six misdemeanor counts of failure to pay taxes. If convicted of all charges, Hunter faces up to 17 years in prison.

However, the indictment did not provide any evidence to show whether President Biden was involved in or benefited from Hunter’s business activities.

Republicans who are still not satisfied have previously been criminally prosecuted on federal gun charges against Biden’s son Hunter. In July, he agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and to firearms violations, but Hunter did not go to jail because he had not yet been convicted.

Under a July plea agreement, Hunter admitted failing to pay taxes on $2.3 million in income in 2017 and $2.1 million in 2018. In the new tax indictment, prosecutors allege that Hunter had total income of more than $7 million from 2016 to 2020, including income from Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer representing Hunter, criticized the new criminal complaint and said that if Hunter was not a member of the Biden family, he would not be charged. An investigation over the past five years has turned up no new evidence, and prosecutors have filed nine more, two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full and after U.S. prosecutors agreed months ago to settle the matter with two indictments. New charges.

However, this does not interrupt the lawsuit filed by Weiss. The prosecutor pointed out in the 56-page indictment that between 2016 and 2020, Hunter spent taxes on medicines, girlfriends, luxury goods, real estate, etc. In short, everything except taxes.

In this regard, the Republican Party is obviously the most happy to see this happen. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer also added fuel to the fire, saying that the new criminal complaint did not fully take into account President Biden’s alleged involvement in Hunter’s business transactions.

Comer pointed out in a statement that unless Weiss investigates everyone involved in the Biden family’s fraud scheme and profiting from influence, the Department of Justice under Biden is clearly suspected of protecting Biden.

The White House has so far declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment in a Los Angeles court, saying questions should be referred to the Justice Department or Hunter’s personal representative.