President Joe Biden introduced that he has issued a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, who was convicted on federal gun expenses and moreover had agreed to plead responsible to 9 tax-related expenses, together with three felonies.
In pardoning his youngest son, the president spared Hunter the opportunity of important jail time stemming from convictions in two federal instances introduced by Particular Counsel David Weiss.
For the tax expenses, Hunter confronted as much as 17 years in federal jail and $1.35 million in fines. His gun-related conviction carried a possible of as much as 25 years in jail.
The president’s son was scheduled to face sentencing for each instances within the coming weeks – on Dec. 12 on the gun-related expenses in Delaware and Dec. 16 on the tax expenses in California.
Here is a timeline of Hunter Biden’s authorized and political scrutiny.
Dec. 10, 2020
A month after Joe Biden wins the 2020 presidential election, Hunter Biden declares that federal prosecutors in Delaware are investigating his “tax affairs.”
A supply with information of the investigation tells ABC Information that the tax probe started in 2018, however that the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Delaware waited to inform Hunter Biden’s authorized staff as a result of sensitivities across the election.
Investigators are trying into Hunter’s enterprise dealings in China and elsewhere, together with scrutinizing whether or not he might have dedicated tax crimes stemming from these abroad enterprise dealings, sources inform ABC Information.
Dec. 21, 2020
Outgoing Lawyer Basic William Barr says he would not intend to nominate a particular counsel to analyze Hunter Biden, as President Donald Trump and others have advised.
April 2, 2021
In a brand new memoir, Hunter Biden addresses lots of the matters that emerged as fodder for his father’s political foes throughout the presidential marketing campaign, together with his struggles with substance habit, his dealings in China, and his seat on the board of a Ukrainian oil and fuel agency throughout his father’s tenure as vp — a task that later led to then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial on expenses that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to analyze Hunter Biden’s place on the board. Trump was subsequently acquitted.
The memoir, titled “Stunning Issues,” additionally affords lurid particulars because it chronicles the youthful Biden’s repeated relapses into drug and alcohol abuse.
March 30, 2022
ABC Information stories that the federal investigation into Hunter Biden over his tax affairs has intensified, in response to sources.
Sources say quite a few witnesses have appeared earlier than a grand jury Wilmington, Delaware, in current months, and have been requested about funds Hunter Biden acquired whereas serving on the board of administrators of Ukrainian pure fuel firm Burisma, in addition to about how he paid off tax obligations in recent times.
Nov. 17, 2022
Contemporary off the GOP regaining management of the Senate within the midterm elections, congressional Republicans say they’re poised to push forward with an investigation into President Joe Biden’s household, together with Hunter Biden, within the coming session.
Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and James Comer of Kentucky, two high-ranking members anticipated to helm highly effective committees when Republicans take management of Congress in January, pledge to “pursue all avenues” of wrongdoing, calling investigations into the president’s household a “prime precedence.”
Dec. 21, 2022
Forward of an anticipated deluge of Republican probes, Hunter Biden retains high-powered protection lawyer Abbe Lowell to assist navigate congressional oversight.
March 1, 2023
Testifying in his annual oversight listening to earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland says that U.S. Lawyer David Weiss has been instructed he has “full authority” to make any charging selections stemming from the Hunter Biden investigation, even when that might contain bringing a case in a district exterior of Delaware.
Garland additionally says he has pledged to Weiss any assets essential to conduct his investigation, and has acquired no stories to date of the his investigation being stymied in any approach by personnel on the fundamental Justice Division.
March 17, 2023
Attorneys for Hunter Biden file counterclaims alleging invasion of privateness in response to a defamation lawsuit introduced by Delaware-based pc repairman John Paul Mac Isaac, who they are saying triggered the notorious laptop computer controversy within the weeks main as much as the 2020 presidential election.
The counterclaim is in response to an ongoing defamation lawsuit in opposition to Hunter Biden and others that was filed in October 2019 by Mac Isaac, who Hunter Biden’s legal professional say obtained and later disseminated knowledge from a laptop computer allegedly belonging to the youthful Biden.
April 20, 2023
ABC Information stories {that a} supervisor on the IRS has instructed lawmakers that he has info that means the Biden administration might be mishandling the investigation into Hunter Biden, in response to sources.
In a letter to lawmakers obtained by ABC Information, the lawyer for the IRS whistleblower says his consumer is an IRS prison supervisory particular agent “who has been overseeing the continued and delicate investigation of a high-profile, controversial topic since early 2020 and wish to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress.”
The letter says that “The protected disclosures: (1) contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee, (2) contain failure to mitigate clear conflicts of curiosity within the final disposition of the case, and (3) element examples of preferential remedy and politics improperly infecting selections and protocols that might usually be adopted by profession legislation enforcement professionals in related circumstances if the topic weren’t politically related.”
Might 3, 2023
ABC Information stories that the GOP-led Home Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena demanding the FBI produce a report associated to an alleged “prison scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a overseas nationwide.”
The subpoena seeks an unclassified FD-1023 doc, which is mostly outlined as a report from an informant. The White Home denounces the contents of the doc as “nameless innuendo.”
Might 16, 2023
Attorneys for the IRS whistleblower inform key members of Congress that their consumer — alongside together with his “whole investigative staff” — has been faraway from the probe into the president’s son. The Justice Division defers remark to U.S. Lawyer David Weiss, who doesn’t touch upon the declare.
Hunter Biden departs federal court docket after a plea listening to on two misdemeanor expenses of willfully failing to pay revenue taxes in Wilmington, Del., July 26, 2023.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, FILE
June 5, 2023
Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer declares his intention to provoke contempt of Congress hearings over FBI Director Chris Wray’s refusal to bodily flip over the FD-1023 doc that Republicans imagine is expounded to President Joe Biden.
June 20, 2023
Hunter Biden agrees to plead responsible to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors and enter right into a pretrial diversion settlement that might allow him to keep away from prosecution on one felony gun cost, probably ending the yearslong probe.
In line with the settlement, the youthful Biden will acknowledge his failure to pay taxes on revenue he acquired in 2017 and 2018, till they had been paid in 2020 by a 3rd social gathering, recognized by ABC Information as legal professional and confidant Kevin Morris. In alternate, prosecutors will suggest probation, that means Hunter Biden will possible keep away from jail time. For the gun cost, he’ll conform to pretrial diversion, with the cost being dropped if he adheres to sure phrases.
June 21, 2023
U.S. District Decide Maryellen Noreika units a court docket date of July 26 for Hunter Biden to make his preliminary court docket look associated to the plea deal he has agreed to.
June 22, 2023
The GOP-led Home Methods and Means Committee releases transcripts of their interviews with two IRS whistleblowers that they are saying present that senior Biden administration officers stymied U.S. Lawyer David Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden. Of their testimony, the whistleblowers declare that senior Justice Division officers blocked prosecutors’ makes an attempt to deliver expenses in opposition to Hunter Biden in Washington and California, and refused to grant Weiss particular counsel standing.
Justice Division officers dispute the declare, saying, “As each the Lawyer Basic and U.S. Lawyer David Weiss have mentioned, U.S. Lawyer Weiss has full authority over this matter, together with duty for deciding the place, when, and whether or not to file expenses as he deems acceptable. He wants no additional approval to take action.”
June 23, 2023
ABC Information stories that Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has been given entry the redacted FD-1023 doc that allegedly incorporates claims about what Comer calls a “prison scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a overseas nationwide regarding the alternate of cash for coverage selections.” However Comer tells reporters that studying the doc was “a complete waste of my time,” as greater than half of the doc was redacted. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the rating Democrat on the Oversight panel, says the Trump-era Justice Division investigated the claims and, “in August 2020, Lawyer Basic [William] Barr and his hand-picked U.S. Lawyer signed off on closing the evaluation.”
Congressional Republicans have additionally seized on a July 2017 WhatsApp message wherein the youthful Biden purportedly threatened a Chinese language enterprise affiliate by invoking his father’s political connections, allegedly writing, “I’m sitting right here with my father and we wish to perceive why the dedication made has not been fulfilled. Inform the director that I wish to resolve this now earlier than it will get out of hand, and now means tonight.”
“And, Z, if I get a name or textual content from anybody concerned on this apart from you, Zhang, or the chairman, I’ll make sure that between the person sitting subsequent to me and each individual he is aware of and my capability to without end maintain a grudge that you’ll remorse not following my course,” the message continues. “I’m sitting right here ready for the decision with my father.”
On the time of the message, Joe Biden’s time period as vp had already ended and he held no political workplace. However Republicans say the message undercuts President Biden’s declare that he by no means mentioned abroad enterprise endeavors together with his son. Ian Sams, a White Home spokesperson, reiterates that “the president was not in enterprise together with his son.”
In the meantime, Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland disputes outright the IRS’ whistleblowers’ declare that Trump-appointed U.S. Lawyer David Weiss had requested to be named a particular counsel however was turned down, saying, “Mr. Weiss by no means made that request to me.”
June 26, 2023
Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy, concerning the IRS whistleblowers’ declare that Garland turned down Weiss’ request to be named a particular counsel within the Hunter Biden probe, tells Fox Information, “If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we will begin impeachment inquiries on the legal professional normal.”
July 12, 2023
ABC Information stories that Weiss has pushed again on the IRS whistleblowers’ allegations, writing in a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham of the Senate Judiciary Committee: “To make clear an obvious misperception and to keep away from future confusion, I want to make one level clear: on this case, I’ve not requested Particular Counsel designation.”
Individually, in an look earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Christopher Wray is requested by Rep. Matt Gaetz, “Are you defending the Bidens?”
“Completely not,” Wray solutions.
July 13, 2023
Hunter Biden’s legal professional Abbe Lowell sends a cease-and-desist letter to Trump’s authorized staff claiming that Trump’s rhetoric on social media and elsewhere “might result in [Hunter Biden’s] or his household’s damage.”
“This isn’t a false alarm,” Lowell writes. “It is best to clarify to Mr. Trump — you probably have not carried out so already — that Mr. Trump’s phrases have brought on hurt previously and threaten to take action once more if he doesn’t cease.”
July 19, 2023
In congressional testimony, the 2 IRS whistleblowers — 14-year IRS veteran Gary Shapley and IRS investigator Joseph Ziegler, who has beforehand been unidentified — reiterate their claims that Justice Division officers stymied Weiss’ probe of Hunter Biden.
“It appeared to me, primarily based on what I skilled, that the U.S. Lawyer in Delaware in our investigation was consistently hamstrung, restricted and marginalized by DOJ officers,” Ziegler says. “I nonetheless suppose {that a} particular counsel is important for this investigation.”
July 20, 2023
In an uncommon transfer, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, releases the FD-1023 doc containing a confidential FBI informant’s unverified declare that, years in the past, the Biden household “pushed” a Ukrainian oligarch to pay them tens of millions of {dollars}.
The doc cites an unnamed supply who says that in 2015, Mykola Zlochevsky, the chief govt of Burisma — the Ukrainian vitality agency that employed Hunter Biden as a board member in 2013 — claimed that he was “compelled” to pay Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million every, apparently in alternate for orchestrating the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor named Viktor Shokin who was purportedly investigating Burisma on the time.
The assertion that the elder Biden, who was then vp, acted to have Shokin eliminated in an effort to guard Burisma has been undercut by widespread criticism of the previous Ukrainian prosecutor that led the U.S. State Division itself to hunt Shokin’s ouster.
A White Home spokesperson, responding to the doc’s launch, says “congressional Republicans, of their eagerness to go after President Biden whatever the reality, proceed to push claims which have been debunked for years.”
July 24, 2023
Underneath questioning from reporters, White Home spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre reiterates that President Biden “was by no means in enterprise together with his son.”
July 26, 2023
Hunter Biden seems earlier than U.S. District Decide Maryellen Noreika to formally conform to the plea deal negotiated in June — however throughout a contentious listening to, Decide Noreika defers the deal after taking problem with the construction of the association.
Noreika requests extra briefings from the events earlier than she’ll decide subsequent steps. Within the meantime, Hunter Biden enters a plea of not responsible.
July 31, 2023
Former Hunter Biden affiliate Devon Archer testifies earlier than the Home Oversight panel, telling legislators that Burisma, by Hunter Biden, benefitted by its affiliation with the so-called “Biden model” — however that Hunter Biden solely offered the “phantasm of entry” to his father and didn’t focus on his enterprise dealings with him, in response to committee members who participated within the closed-door listening to.
Aug. 3, 2023
Home Republicans launch the whole transcript of Devon Archer’s testimony earlier than the Oversight panel, which embrace his recollection that Hunter Biden put his father on speakerphone or referenced his father being on the cellphone in entrance of enterprise associates “possibly 20 instances” within the 10 years that Archer and Hunter Biden had been enterprise associates — which included a interval when Biden was vp — however that Joe Biden’s interactions with Hunter Biden’s associates had been “not associated to industrial enterprise” and that Joe Biden had no involvement with Burisma or took any actions to learn Burisma or Hunter Biden, in response to the absolutely transcribed interview with the committee.
Archer confirms that he was not conscious of any wrongdoing by President Biden, in response to the transcription.
Aug. 11, 2023
Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland appoints Delaware U.S. Lawyer David Weiss as particular counsel in his investigation of Hunter Biden, after the Trump appointee requested Garland to be appointed particular counsel within the case.
Weiss says in court docket paperwork filed inside minutes of his appointment that plea negotiations have reached “an deadlock” and that he intends to drop the misdemeanor tax expenses in opposition to Hunter Biden in Delaware and as an alternative deliver them in California and Washington, D.C., the place prosecutors say the alleged misconduct occurred.
Aug. 14, 2023
Attorneys for Hunter Biden say in a court docket submitting that federal prosecutors reneged on the plea deal that might have resolved tax and gun expenses in opposition to Hunter Biden.
Regardless of their acknowledgement that the plea settlement on tax expenses is “moot,” attorneys for Hunter Biden argue that the second a part of the deal — a diversion settlement on a separate gun cost — stays in impact, since it’s a separate contract negotiated and entered into by the events exterior the choose’s purview.
Aug. 15, 2023
In court docket filings, prosecutors for Weiss push again on Hunter Biden’s assertion that they “reneged” on the ill-fated plea deal, and dispute protection counsel’s declare that the diversion settlement on a gun possession cost stays “legitimate and binding.”
Sept. 6, 2023
Courtroom paperwork filed by particular counsel David Weiss say that Weiss intends to deliver an indictment in opposition to Hunter Biden by the top of the month, pertaining to the felony gun cost that was beforehand introduced beneath the pretrial diversion settlement brokered by the 2 events.
Hunter Biden’s authorized staff argues that the pretrial diversion settlement stays in impact.
“We imagine the signed and filed diversion settlement stays legitimate and prevents any extra expenses from being filed in opposition to Mr. Biden,” says Abbe Lowell, an legal professional for Hunter Biden. “We anticipate a good decision of the sprawling, 5-year investigation into Mr. Biden that was primarily based on the proof and the legislation, not exterior political stress.”
Sept. 14, 2023
Hunter Biden is indicted by particular counsel David Weiss on felony expenses that he lied on a federal kind when he mentioned he was drug-free on the time that he bought a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in October 2018. His authorized staff maintains that the pretrial diversion settlement from July stays in impact, although Weiss’ staff says it is null and void.
“As anticipated, prosecutors filed expenses right this moment that they deemed weren’t warranted simply six weeks in the past following a five-year investigation into this case,” Hunter Biden legal professional Abbe Lowell says in an announcement. “We imagine these expenses are barred by the settlement the prosecutors made with Mr. Biden, the current rulings by a number of federal courts that this statute is unconstitutional, and the information that he didn’t violate that legislation, and we plan to show all of that in court docket.”
Sept. 18, 2023
Hunter Biden information a lawsuit in opposition to the IRS over alleged “illegal disclosures” made by the pair of whistleblowers who accused authorities prosecutors of mishandling their investigation into him.
Sept. 19, 2023
Hunter Biden’s legal professional information court docket papers searching for to have his consumer’s arraignment, scheduled for Oct. 3 in a Delaware court docket, happen by way of video convention as an alternative of in individual.
Sept. 20, 2023
A choose denies Hunter Biden’s effort to keep away from showing in individual at his arraignment on federal gun expenses, ordering him to seem at a listening to scheduled for Oct. 3.
The identical day, Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland, testifying for 5 hours earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee, is grilled by GOP lawmakers about his division’s dealing with of prison probes into Hunter Biden and others. Garland pushes again on GOP claims that he is taken any directives from the White Home, saying, “I’m not the president’s lawyer. I’m not Congress’ prosecutor. The Justice Division works for the American individuals. Our job is to comply with the information and the legislation, and that’s what we do.”
Sept. 26, 2023
Hunter Biden information a lawsuit in opposition to Rudy Giuliani, accusing the previous Trump legal professional of pc fraud over his position in acquiring and sharing the alleged contents of the notorious laptop computer. In an announcement responding to the swimsuit, Giuliani adviser Ted Goodman says, “I am not stunned he is now falsely claiming his laptop computer laborious drive was manipulated by Mayor Giuliani, contemplating the sordid materials and potential proof of crimes on that factor.”
Oct. 3, 2023
Hunter Biden, showing in the identical Delaware courthouse the place his federal plea take care of prosecutors fell aside over the summer time, formally enters a plea of not responsible to the three felony gun expenses that had been a part of the unique plea settlement.
Nov. 3, 2023
ABC Information stories that Hunter Biden is urging the Justice Division to analyze his former enterprise affiliate Tony Bobulinski over claims that Bobulinski lied to federal investigators throughout an interview within the weeks main as much as the 2020 presidential election when he alleged that the Bidens had lied to the general public in regards to the nature of then-candidate Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s proposed abroad enterprise ventures.
Nov. 8, 2023
Hunter Biden is subpoenaed by Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to seem earlier than the committee, alongside together with his former enterprise affiliate Rob Walker, President Biden’s brother James Biden, and different members of the Biden household.
Nov. 15, 2023
Hunter Biden’s attorneys file a movement searching for court docket approval to problem subpoenas to former President Donald Trump, former Lawyer Basic William Barr, and two ex-Justice Division officers for paperwork they are saying might make clear whether or not the federal gun expenses Hunter Biden is dealing with had been the results of “a vindictive or selective prosecution arising from an unrelenting stress marketing campaign starting within the final administration.”
Nov. 16, 2023
ABC Information stories that particular counsel David Weiss is utilizing a Los Angeles-based federal grand jury to pursue the investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs, in response to sources. The grand jury has issued a subpoena to James Biden, the brother of President Joe Biden, as a part of the probe, a supply says.
Nov. 28, 2023
Responding to his subpoena to seem earlier than the Home Oversight Committee, Hunter Biden, in a letter from his legal professional to Republican lawmakers, says he’s prepared to testify earlier than the panel — however solely in a public discussion board.
Dec. 7, 2023
Particular counsel David Weiss information 9 tax-related expenses in opposition to Hunter Biden, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2020. The indictment alleges that the youthful Biden earned tens of millions of {dollars} from overseas entities and “spent tens of millions of {dollars} on an extravagant life-style on the similar time he selected to not pay his taxes.”
Hunter Biden’s legal professional, Abbe Lowell, claims the 56-page indictment contains “no new proof” and says, “Primarily based on the information and the legislation, if Hunter’s final title was something apart from Biden, the costs in Delaware, and now California, wouldn’t have been introduced.”
Dec. 11, 2023
Attorneys representing Hunter Biden ask a federal choose to dismiss three felony gun expenses he faces in Delaware. The president’s son pleaded not responsible to all three expenses in October, after Weiss indicted him on the costs in September.
Dec. 13, 2023
As GOP lawmakers convene to depose Hunter Biden in a closed-door session that he has knowledgeable them he will not attend, he addresses members of the media exterior the U.S. Capitol and slams Home Republicans for refusing to permit him to reply questions in a public discussion board, saying, “I’m right here to testify at a public listening to right this moment, to reply any of the committees’ legit questions.”
Jan. 10, 2024
Hunter Biden makes a shock look at a listening to of the GOP-led Home Oversight Committee on whether or not to carry him in contempt of Congress for refusing a subpoena to testify earlier than the committee behind closed doorways. The committee approves a decision recommending he be held in contempt for his refusal of present closed-door testimony.
Jan. 11, 2024
Hunter Biden, showing in federal court docket in Los Angeles, enters a plea of not responsible to the 9 felony and misdemeanor tax expenses in particular counsel David Weiss’ December indictment.
Jan. 16, 2024
Particular counsel David Weiss’ workplace points a biting rebuttal to Hunter Biden’s try to have the three felony gun expenses in opposition to him thrown out, calling his selective prosecution declare “a fiction designed for a Hollywood script.”
The submitting comes on the identical day that the Justice Division information a movement searching for to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed by Hunter Biden in opposition to the Inner Income Service over its alleged failure to guard his tax info from disclosure by the 2 whistleblowers who accused the Biden administration of mishandling the probe into the president’s son.
Jan. 18, 2024
Hunter Biden, after weeks of back-and-forth with the Home Oversight and Judiciary committees, agrees to take a seat for a closed-door deposition on Feb. 28, avoiding the specter of contempt of Congress expenses.
Jan. 30, 2024
A longtime enterprise accomplice of Hunter Biden, Eric Schwerin, tells the Home Oversight Committee in a closed-door interview that he’s “not conscious of any monetary transactions or compensation” that then-Vice President Joe Biden acquired associated to enterprise carried out by this relations.
Feb. 13, 2024
Tony Bobulinski, the onetime enterprise affiliate of Hunter Biden who has change into a critic of the Biden household, testifies earlier than the Home Oversight Committee, reiterating claims he made throughout the 2020 election that Joe Biden was “an enabler” of a number of of his household’s abroad enterprise schemes that “bought out to overseas actors who had been searching for to achieve affect and entry to Joe Biden and the USA authorities.”
Feb. 15, 2024
Particular counsel David Weiss indicts Alexander Smirnov, an FBI confidential supply who offered derogatory details about President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, on felony false assertion and obstruction expenses. Smirnov is identical person who Republicans have known as “a extremely credible FBI supply” and have used to say Joe Biden is corrupt, a number of senior congressional sources inform ABC Information.
Feb. 20, 2024
Attorneys for Hunter Biden transfer to dismiss the tax-related expenses introduced by particular counsel David Weiss in California, accusing prosecutors of selectively focusing on the youthful Biden, violating a statute of limitations, and submitting duplicative expenses on three counts of failure to pay and tax evasion.
Feb. 21, 2024
In a court docket submitting, particular counsel David Weiss says that one-time FBI informant Alexander Smirnov had high-level Russian contacts and that, following his arrest the week earlier than, Smirnov instructed the FBI that “officers with Russian intelligence had been concerned in passing a narrative” about Hunter Biden.
Feb. 28, 2024
A measured and defiant Hunter Biden addresses a litany of allegations throughout six hours of closed-door testimony earlier than the GOP-led Home Oversight and Judiciary committees. The deposition seems to incorporate no main bombshells as he repeatedly invokes his struggles with drug and alcohol habit — telling the committee he’s “embarrassed” by a few of his conduct on the time — whereas vehemently and repeatedly denying that his father had any involvement in his enterprise life.
March 7, 2024
Per week after Hunter Biden’s closed-door testimony on Capitol Hill, Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer invitations him to seem for a public listening to on March 20.
March 11, 2024
Particular counsel David Weiss information his rebuttal to efforts by Hunter Biden to have his 9 tax-related expenses in California dismissed, slamming his arguments in court docket filings as a “conspiracy concept,” a “home of playing cards,” and “shapeshifting claims.”
March 13, 2024
Per week after his closed-door look earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee as a part of their impeachment inquiry, Hunter Biden, by his legal professional, declines an invite by congressional Republicans to testify in public — however suggests he would attend a listening to on overseas affect peddling if lawmakers additionally invited members of former President Donald Trump’s household.
The event comes on the identical day that the choose overseeing Hunter Biden’s felony gun case in Delaware tentatively schedules his trial for June 3 — simply weeks earlier than his Los Angeles-based tax trial is scheduled to start on June 20.
March 27, 2024
Decide Mark Scarsi, the federal choose overseeing Hunter Biden’s tax case in California, hears a number of protection motions to dismiss the costs and says afterward that he’ll problem a ruling by April 17.
April 1, 2024
Decide Scarsi denies all eight of Hunter Biden’s motions to dismiss his nine-count tax indictment in California, paving the way in which for a June 20 trial.
April 12, 2024
U.S. District Decide Maryellen Noreika denies makes an attempt by Hunter Biden to dismiss the three federal gun expenses he faces, all however guaranteeing he’ll stand trial in June.
April 30, 2024
Attorneys representing Hunter Biden threaten to sue Fox Information for violating “revenge porn” legal guidelines and publishing since-discredited bribery allegations as a part of a scheme to “paint him in a false mild,” in response to a letter obtained by ABC Information.
Might 20, 2024
Particular counsel David Weiss’ workplace suggests in court docket papers that they may name a number of girls who had relationships with Hunter Biden to testify in his upcoming felony gun trial, together with his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, Hallie Biden.
Might 22, 2024
Prosecutors say in a court docket submitting that they plan to make use of Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop computer as proof in his upcoming felony gun trial to assist them show that he unlawfully obtained a firearm in 2018.
The event comes on the identical day that U.S. District Decide Mark Scarsi grants Hunter Biden’s request to postpone his Los Angeles trial on tax expenses till Sept. 5 — elevating the chance {that a} jury might be deliberating whether or not to convict the president’s son on a number of felony counts within the waning weeks of the 2024 election.
June 3, 2024
A jury of six girl and 6 males is sworn in on Day 1 of Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial in Delaware, the place the president’s son is accused of mendacity on an ATF kind when he mentioned he was not utilizing medicine on the time of his gun buy in 2018.
June 4, 2024
Prosecutors enter Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop computer as proof on Day 2 of the trial, with an FBI particular agent testifying that investigators had been in a position affirm the laptop computer was his by matching its serial quantity to his iCloud account.
Prosecutors cite messages discovered on the laptop computer to argue that Hunter Biden was hooked on medicine on the time of his 2018 gun buy, and likewise play audiobook excerpts from his 2021 memoir wherein he discusses his previous drug use. However the FBI witness acknowledges beneath cross-examination that she can’t confirm that his drug use was steady throughout that interval.
June 5, 2024
Prosecution witnesses Kathleen Buhle and Zoe Kestan, Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, testify on Day 3 of the trial about Hunter Biden’s drug use to bolster the federal government’s argument that he was utilizing medicine on the time he bought the gun in Delaware in October 2018.
Kestan, nonetheless, concedes on cross-examination that she had “no concept” what Hunter Biden was as much as from Sept. 23, when he left California for Delaware, till November, when the 2 reconnected.
June 6, 2024
Hallie Biden, the widow of President Joe Biden’s late son Beau Biden who was romantically concerned with Hunter Biden on the time he bought the gun on the heart of the case, testifies on Day 4 of the trial about how she found the firearm in Hunter Biden’s car on Oct. 23, 2018, and, in a panic, disposed of it in a trash receptacle exterior a neighborhood grocery store.
She tells jurors that she additionally discovered “remnants” of crack in Hunter Biden’s car on the time she found the gun — however acknowledges beneath cross-examination that she didn’t see Hunter Biden abusing medicine or alcohol for a lot of the month of October, probably undercutting the prosecution’s competition that he was utilizing medicine on the time he bought the gun on Oct. 12.
June 7, 2024
After the federal government rests it case, Hunter Biden’s daughter Naomi Biden, testifying for the protection, tells jurors on Day 5 of the trial that her dad “appeared nice” simply days after he bought the Colt revolver on the heart of the case — however her testimony beneath cross-examination means that drug remnants present in his truck by his then-girlfriend Hallie Biden 11 days after the gun buy possible got here from him.
June 10, 2024
The protection rests its case with out Hunter Biden taking the stand on Day 6 of the trial.
Prosecutors inform the jury in closing arguments that Hunter Biden “knew he was utilizing medicine” when he mentioned in any other case on the gun-purchase kind, whereas the protection argues that prosecutors didn’t “fill within the gaps” about Hunter Biden’s drug use across the time of the gun buy “as a result of they do not have the proof.”
June 11, 2024
Hunter Biden is discovered responsible on all three counts in his federal gun case: two counts of constructing false statements for saying on a federal kind that he was not hooked on medicine on the time he bought the firearm on the heart of the case, and a 3rd rely of illegally acquiring the firearm whereas hooked on medicine.
President Joe Biden says he’ll settle for the result of his son’s case and that he’ll “proceed to respect the judicial course of as Hunter considers an enchantment.”
June 13, 2024
President Biden tells reporters that he wouldn’t commute any sentence handed all the way down to his son Hunter Biden following the youthful Biden’s federal gun conviction.
June 24, 2024
Attorneys for Hunter Biden request a brand new trial in his federal gun case, arguing that his “convictions ought to be vacated” as a result of the trial commenced earlier than a circuit court docket formally issued a mandate denying his enchantment.
July 1, 2024
Hunter Biden sues Fox Information and its mother or father firm over their manufacturing of the fictional miniseries “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which his attorneys name “an effort to harass, annoy, alarm, and humiliate him, and tarnish his status.”
July 9, 2024
Attorneys for Hunter Biden withdraw their bid for a brand new trial in his federal gun case, conceding in court docket papers {that a} movement they filed final month misunderstood a technicality within the district court docket’s capability to hold out a trial.
July 18, 2024
Attorneys for Hunter Biden, citing a choice by a federal choose in Florida to dismiss the categorized paperwork case in opposition to Donald Trump, file a pair of motions in California and Delaware searching for to dismiss each federal prison instances in opposition to him.
July 21, 2024
Hunter Biden drops his lawsuit in opposition to Fox Information and its mother or father firm over the fictional miniseries “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” with the intention of refiling it in opposition to new defendants.
Aug. 2, 2024
The choose overseeing Hunter Biden’s federal gun case schedules sentencing for Nov. 13, per week after Election Day.
Aug. 7, 2024
In a court docket submitting in Hunter Biden’s federal tax case, particular counsel David Weiss accuses him of accepting funds from a Romanian businessman who was making an attempt to “affect U.S. authorities companies,” whereas his father Joe Biden was vp. Hunter Biden’s attorneys name the declare an “inflammatory and incomplete, and due to this fact deceptive, characterization.”
Aug. 13, 2024
Hunter Biden’s legal professional Abbe Lowell confirms stories that Hunter Biden, whereas his father was vp in 2016, tried to enlist the assist of the U.S. ambassador to Italy for a potential enterprise deal in what Lowell says was a “regular and correct apply.”
Aug. 19, 2024
The choose overseeing Hunter Biden’s federal tax case rejects Hunter Biden’s newest try to dismiss a number of of the costs in opposition to him, all however guaranteeing that the case will go to trial in September as scheduled.
Aug. 27, 2024
The choose overseeing the case of the previous FBI informant charged with mendacity about Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s abroad enterprise ties rejects an effort to problem the legitimacy of particular counsel David Weiss’ appointment on the identical grounds {that a} federal choose dismissed Donald Trump’s categorized paperwork case.
Sept. 5, 2024
As potential jurors collect for jury choice in Hunter Biden’s federal tax trial, the president’s son, in a shock transfer, says he’ll search a plea association — then finally pleads responsible to all counts. The plea, which avoids a prolonged and probably embarrassing trial, implies that he’ll withstand 17 years in jail when he’s sentenced on Dec. 16.
Sept. 19, 2024
U.S. District Decide Maryellen Noreika, the choose overseeing Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun expenses, agrees to push again his sentencing date three weeks, from Nov. 13 to Dec. 4, to permit extra time for Hunter Biden’s authorized staff to collect supplies for the sentencing memorandum.
Sept. 26, 2024
Decide Maryellen Noreika once more agrees to push again Hunter Biden’s sentencing date in his gun case, from Dec. 4 to Dec. 12, as a result of scheduling battle with particular counsel David Weiss’ case in opposition to former FBI confidential supply Alexander Smirnov.
Nov. 7, 2024
Chatting with reporters a day after Donald Trump wins reelection over Vice President Kamala Harris, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says that President Joe Biden doesn’t plan to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, after the youthful Biden is sentenced on separate tax and gun expenses in December.
Dec. 1, 2024
In pardoning Hunter Biden, 54, the president spared his son the opportunity of important jail time stemming from convictions in two federal instances introduced by Particular Counsel David Weiss.
Hunter was scheduled to face sentencing for each instances within the coming weeks — on Dec. 12 on the gun-related expenses in Delaware and Dec. 16 on the tax expenses in California.
Forward of President Biden’s announcement of the pardon, Hunter’s authorized staff launched a 52-page memo chronicling what it characterised as a seven-year political persecution of the president’s son.
