Here’s What’s Next In Federal Probes of Hunter and Joe Biden

One shoe dropped in the Biden investigatory front on Tuesday when federal prosecutors filed court documents indicating Hunter Biden is expected to strike a deal with prosecutors on tax and gun charges.

But it's far from clear whether anything else of legal consequence will come next.

This much is known: President Joe Biden and his son remain the subject of ongoing investigative scrutiny that is expected to grow more politically intense as the 2024 White House election approaches.

A federal special counsel continues to investigate classified records found at properties tied to Joe Biden, though the prosecutors' powers are hamstrung by the same limits that prevented Robert Mueller from seeking charges against then-President Donald Trump. The GOP-led House of Representatives isn’t letting up on its investigations centering on both the president and his son, though Democratic critics are also well positioned to rebut any off-kilter claims.

Here is a look at what’s next in the major investigations related to the president and his family:

Hunter Biden charges

Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax and one firearm offense while avoiding prosecution for a gun purchase if he meets certain pre-trial conditions, according to documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The charges – two federal misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income taxes and one count of possessing a firearm while knowing that he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance – stem from a Justice Department investigation into his personal taxes. 

The federal prosecutor who brought the charges, U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware David Weiss, said in a statement Tuesday that the tax charges stem from Hunter Biden’s failure to pay income taxes in 2017 and 2018.

As part of the deal, which must first be approved by a federal judge, Hunter Biden is expected to avoid jail time.

Prosecutors and lawyers for Hunter Biden on Tuesday offered slightly different versions of the status of the probe.

“With the announcement of two agreements between my client, Hunter Biden, and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved,” one of Biden’s lawyers, Chris Clark, said in a written statement on Tuesday. 

“The investigation is ongoing,” Weiss’ office said in a Tuesday statement.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the docket in the Delaware federal court where the charges were filed did not yet reflect upcoming court hearings or deadlines on the schedule for the case.

Special Counsel probe

In November 2022, lawyers for Joe Biden discovered classified documents at the Penn Biden Center in Washington D.C., where Biden housed records from his time as senator and vice president.

Joe Biden’s attorneys reported the November discovery to the National Archives, which retrieved them the next day. Subsequent searches in December and January discovered additional documents in Biden’s Delaware home, which were also turned over to federal authorities.

In January, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Special Counsel Robert Hur to investigate a number of classified documents found at properties tied to Joe Biden, which were voluntarily returned to the federal government. 

Hur previously served as U.S. attorney for the district of Maryland from 2018 to 2021 following his nomination by Trump.

The scope of Hur’s probe includes “possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.”

Garland’s order appointing Hur authorizes him to “prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters” as well as to refer discrete prosecutions arising from his probe to other federal prosecutors. 

If the investigation were to determine that Joe Biden committed a crime, Hur’s options may be limited by longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting president may not be federally indicted — a policy that came into focus during the presidencies of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Trump.

Federal regulations concerning special counsels also state that, at the conclusion of a special counsel’s work “he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions.”

Hur’s probe is ongoing, and has provided few public indications of its expected conclusion date.

House investigations

Congressional panels in the Republican-led House of Representatives continue to investigate matters related to both Hunter and Joe Biden.

Since January, the House Oversight Committee has been investigating the discovery of classified records at properties tied to Joe Biden. The oversight panel has also been engaging in wide-ranging investigative activities related to both the president and his son.   

Following news of Hunter Biden’s plea deal on Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., vowed to continue digging.

“These charges against Hunter Biden and sweetheart plea deal have no impact on the Oversight Committee’s investigation,” Comer said. “We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”

As part of the probe, Comer, along with the House Oversight Committee’s top-ranking Democrat, Jamie Raskin, D-Md., viewed FBI documents on Tuesday stemming from bribery allegations against President Biden and his family. 

"This time... with the FBI was a complete waste of my time," Comer said after viewing the documents. "Because so much of the documents were redacted and they didn't have the right dates that match the footnotes from the original document."

The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has been conducting oversight of Justice Department activities related to both Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.

In January, Jordan wrote a letter to Garland requesting all documents and communications between or among the Justice Department, FBI, or White House related to classified documents held at properties tied to the president. In a letter last month, Jordan asked the Justice Department to produce an unredacted copy of the memorandum spelling out the scope of Hur’s probe.

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, also chaired by Jordan, has been busy looking into Biden-related matters too. It's probing an October 2020 letter by dozens of former intelligence officials stating that emails found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation” – even though experts were later able to determine that at least some of the emails in question were authentic.

The House-led oversight investigations into the Bidens are expected to continue at least through the 2024 election season.