Amna: Welcome to "The newshour."
The president's son is admitting
to gun and tax crimes but is
unlikely to spend time behind
bars after reaching a deal.
Jeff: Hunter Biden is set to
plead guilty to a pair of
federal misdemeanors after
failing to pay taxes.
The agreement also calls for him
to admit to felony gun
possession.
He won't face prosecution as
long as he remains drug-free for
two years and doesn't commit
other crimes.
But the political drama is far
from over.
To tackle the legal and
political implications, we
welcome in legal correspondent
Carrie Johnson, and Adam and
his, a a correspondent for "The
New York Times."
This investigation was in the
works for five years.
President Biden captain in place
the trump appointed U.S.
Attorney who oversaw the probe
to avoid the appearance of
interference.
Remind us what prompted the
investigation and how we got to
this point.
>> There were a number of
reports in 2018 that prompted
the to launch an investigation
into hunter Biden.
David Weiss, opened up the
probe.
This covers a period in hunter
Biden's life when he was in the
throes of drug addiction and
making poor decisions in his
life, including poor decisions
with his finances.
Geoff: I want to talk about that
in a minute, but first, Donald
Trump and Republicans are
suggesting that hunter Biden got
special treatment.
Here is how house speaker Kevin
Mccarthy spoke about it this
morning.
>> It continues to show the
two-tiered system in America.
If you are the president's
opponent, the doj tries to put
you in jail.
If you are the president's son,
you get a sweetheart deal.
Geoff: How does this plea deal
compare with what any other
American accused of similar
wrongdoing might get?
>>>> One of the messages we hear
constantly from the justice
department's they want to treat
like cases alike.
In this case, it is unusual for
the justice department to bring
these tax charges against
somebody who has repaid their
tax bill, as hunter Biden has,
and it is unusual to bring an
unlawful possession of a weapons
charge against somebody addicted
to drugs absent some other
pattern of lawbreaking.
If you look at the record and
consider what the supreme court
did in upending the system of
gun regulation in the country,
allies of hunter Biden and
former prosecutors suggest that
this plea deal is somewhat
harsher on hunter Biden than it
might be on somebody else with
hisrather than being an unduly
favorable plea deal, it could be
somewhat harsher in part because
of who he is and the political
environment we face.
Geoff: The white house released
a statement that reads this way
-- the president and first lady
love their son and support him
as he continues to rebuild his
life.
We will have no further,.
Hunter Biden is 53 years old.
Addiction has haunted him for
much of his life.
What was happening with him
during this period that was
subject to this doj
investigation?
>> What happens is that hunter
has been struggling with
alcoholism since the early to
thousand's, but his brother beau
would always take him to rehab
and make sure he went to the aa
meetings.
His brother dies in 2015, and
after that, the safety net
disappears.
Hunter doesn't have his brother
beau anymore, so hunter goes
into a deep depression, and
during this period, the
alcoholism comes back, and he
tries crack cocaine and is
instantaneously addicted to it.
That is the context here.
You have to understand what is
going on with Joe Biden at this
point.
He had just lost his son beau,
and the way hunter spoke to
family members and friends was
scary.
He would say things like, you
all think the wrong son died.
The context is this fear within
the family that hunter himself,
they were afraid for his future,
so that is the context.
He is trying to make money to
pay for a lifestyle's family had
that they couldn't afford, so he
is getting into business deals
that raised ethical questions
and made personal decisions
about himself and what he was
doing that reflected his state
of mind.
The tax charges and the gun
issue are all at this terrible
moment when he cannot keep track
of anything in his life.
Geoff: Let's talk about the
politics.
Republicans trying to win the
white house and try to link
hunter Biden's legal problems
with his father and suggest that
they are both in on these
illegal deals in China and
Ukraine.
Does anything in your reporting
or anything from this
investigation support that?
>> There is this rule in the
family that goes back before
hunter -- it involved Joe
Biden's brother Jimmy who is
also in business -- where they
would not talk about business
with Joe, the senator.
Hunter would not tell his dad
about what he was doing.
When he joins the board of
burisma in Ukraine, he doesn't
join his dad.
His dad finds out from reading
the clips that were sent to him
from AIDS at the white house,
and he calls his son after this
and says, I hope you know what
you are doing, son.
Hunter responds by saying, I do.
That's it.
There was no more discussion.
Geoff: In the meantime,
Republicans are promising to
step up their investigations
into the Biden family.
How will the case affected that
effort?
>> We heard from Jim Jordan,
chairman of the house judiciary
committee, and James comer, head
of the house oversight
committee.
They said they are full speed
ahead on these Biden
investigations.
They've been pressing the FBI
for documents in these Biden
family investigations.
We don't know where it is going
to end.
Hunter Biden's attorney Chris
Clark says he hopes things are
at an end, but we don't know how
much longer this investigation
might go on.
It was interesting to see
federal prosecutors from
Baltimore signed on to these
plea documents.
Lawyers who have prosecuted
corrupt police officers in
Baltimore.
It could be a clue as to the
ongoing nature of this
investigation.
Geoff: Carrie Johnson and Adam
entes, thank you both.
♪♪