In his farewell address to the US nation on Wednesday, Joe Biden listed the accomplishments of his presidency but acknowledged "it will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together".

The outgoing president opened his 17-minute speech by stressing that the new ceasefire deal in Gaza had been "developed and negotiated by my team". It remains to be seen if this tentative truce will be a lasting legacy of Biden's term but his administration's support for Israel "at every turn", despite its "relentless outpouring of violence", has left an "indelible moral stain", said Stephen M. Walt in Foreign Policy.

Presidential legacies are "complicated matters", said The Atlantic, but, as Biden leaves The White House, he seems "less a transformational figure than a historical parenthesis". His four years in office will be remembered for his failure both to "grasp the political moment" and to achieve "the essential mission of his presidency": to "preserve democracy by preventing Donald Trump's return to power".

Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Biden's "first misstep as president came half a world away", with the shambolic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, said the BBC's North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher. Backing the Trump-negotiated end to "the forever war", Biden promised there would be no "a hasty rush to the exit" but "we'll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely".

The reality was anything but, as "scenes of chaos at Kabul airport dominated world news", said The Guardian. Despite the majority of Americans backing the US exit plan, the chaotic and hurried withdrawal painted a picture of a great power in decline, and Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee claimed it "degraded" US national security.

For a president who prided himself on his foreign-policy experience, it was a particularly disastrous moment. Biden's Gallup approval rating dipped below 50% for the first time – a mark it would never reach again.

Inflation hitting hard

On the domestic front, Biden "has much to point to", said The Washington Post, perhaps most notably "an economic recovery out of the pandemic" that is "the envy of other countries".

Biden's landmark "American Rescue Plan" delivered nearly $2 trillion in new government spending, and was quickly followed by a trillion-dollar bi-partisan infrastructure investment bill. But rampant inflation – due, in some part, to these policies – proved stubborn to shift, and voters came to blame Biden's presidency for the high prices in stores.

The fault lay with Biden's focus on policies that took too long to translate into economic benefits for the average American worker. By the summer before the 2024 presidential election, the monthly inflation numbers had dropped below 3%, economic growth was steady, unemployment rates low, and "the US had outperformed the world's other industrialised nations" but "voters continued to have a pessimistic view of the economy," said the BBC's Zurcher. And "they did not forgot nor forgive" at the ballot box.

"The time horizon" associated with Biden's major pieces of legislation was "way out of sync with the exigencies of the presidential election," Brent Cebul, associate professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, told the BBC.

Support for Ukraine

The Biden administration was quick to support Ukraine following Russia's invasion in February 2022. And Biden's continued support, including $183 billion in military aid, "has been critical to Ukraine's effort to repel the Russian invasion, and has inspired Nato allies to do the same", said international security expert Dafydd Townley on The Conversation.

But fierce fighting "continues on the frontlines with no clear plan for a peace deal", said CBS News.

Biden also faced criticism early in the conflict "for holding back on sending the most lethal weapons", and then, later, Republicans attacked him for "spending too much money on Ukraine aid".

The White House was pursuing a "Goldilocks strategy," said Phillips Payson O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, in The Atlantic. Biden and his aides were "hoping to help Ukraine fight without provoking Putin too much".

What this meant in practice is that the Biden administration "has treated the Ukraine conflict like a crisis to be managed, not a war to be won".

Decision to run in 2024

Biden ran for president in 2020 as a transition candidate – an "implicit but clear pledge that he intended to serve a single term", said The New York Times. Yet, despite record low approval ratings, voters' concern about his age and clear signs of physical and mental decline, Biden made the decision to run again in 2024, claiming that he was the only person capable of beating Donald Trump.

A disastrous first presidential debate in June led to pressure from Democrat big-hitters for him to stand down but the damage to the party's re-election hopes had already been done. His replacement, Kamala Harris, had only 100 days to introduce herself to the electorate as presidential candidate, and distance herself from Biden's more unpopular policies.

While history may judge Biden's record more favourably with the passing of time – as it has fellow one-term president Jimmy Carter – the fact that he ran again in 2024 "in the face of voters' broad discontent and on top of the specific concerns they had about his age" will surely "be a part of" his legacy, said The Washington Post.

"He'd like his legacy to be that he rescued us from Trump," Democratic strategist Susan Estrich told the BBC's Zurcher. "But sadly, for him, his legacy is Trump again. He is the bridge from Trump One to Trump Two."

The Hunter pardon

Having repeatedly vowed not to pardon his son Hunter, who was convicted of three felony gun charges, Biden did just that, only weeks after Trump was voted back in. His decision was widely criticised by both Republicans and Democrats, with The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait branding it the "hypocrisy of fatherly indulgence".

Biden said he would "abide by the results of the justice system as a matter of principle", Chait wrote, but "in breaking his promise" and "issuing a sweeping pardon of his son for any crimes he may have committed over an 11-year period", he has prioritised "his own feelings over the defence of his country".

The Hunter pardon put Democrats in the "almost impossible position of demanding equal treatment under the law for convicted felon Trump, while trying to excuse Biden's whitewashing of his son's own criminal record", said Time.

"A father’s love is admirable; a president's lie is not," said The New York Times, "In one of his last major political acts in office, Joe Biden forgot who he was." And the consequence? "History won't be kind."

What happened

Alexander Smirnov, a former FBI informant, pleaded guilty Monday to falsely claiming that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter were involved in a bribery scheme with Ukrainian energy company Burisma. His bogus 2020 allegation that the Bidens were each paid $5 million by Burisma formed the basis of stalled Republican efforts to impeach Biden. Smirnov also admitted to evading taxes on $2 million in income.

Who said what

Smirnoff, motivated by "bias" against Biden, spun his "routine and unextraordinary business contacts" with Burisma into "fabrications" about bribery, prosecutors said in their indictment. According to court documents, the BBC said, Smirnov "had ties with Russian intelligence" and used his "$2 million in unreported income to buy a Las Vegas condominium," lease a Bentley and spend heavily on clothes and jewelry.

Smirnov's indictment was brought by special counsel David Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney "who also prosecuted Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges," The Associated Press said.

What next?

Smirnov is scheduled to be sentenced next month. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed to recommend four to six years in prison.

What happened

President Joe Biden Sunday night pardoned his son Hunter for any offenses he "committed or may have committed or taken part in" since early 2014. The pardon, which spares the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for felony gun and tax convictions, reversed the president's repeated promise he would not grant his son clemency.

Who said what

Hunter was "selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted" for offenses that are rarely charged, "only because he is my son," Biden said in a statement. "I believe in the justice system," but "I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice."

Republicans and some Democrats criticized the pardon. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) said Biden "put his family ahead of the country" and set a "bad precedent that could be abused by later presidents." Donald Trump, who pardoned several political allies and his in-law Charles Kushner right before leaving office in 2021, called it "an abuse and miscarriage of justice."

What next?

Sunday's pardon came as Trump "made it clearer than ever that his second term would be focused on retribution and revenge" against Biden, The New York Times said, "with Hunter Biden as a prime target."

What happened

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges yesterday, surprising prosecutors and the judge overseeing the case in Los Angeles.

Who said what

"I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment," Biden said. He added that decisions by U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi meant the jury "would never had heard" how his former crack cocaine addiction contributed to his tax evasion "or that I had paid every penny of my back taxes including penalties."

"Tax evasion is common," The Washington Post said, "but criminal charges for tax evasion are rare" and sentences are typically light. Before pleading guilty, Biden offered an Alford plea — accepting the charges while maintaining his innocence — but prosecutors strongly objected. The "atmosphere in the courtroom" was "tense, clamorous and chaotic," The New York Times said, but "much of the legal drama" was "drained of its national significance" the moment Biden's father, President Joe Biden, "withdrew from the 2024 race in July."

What next?

Scarsi, a Donald Trump appointee, cautioned Biden that without a plea deal, he faces up to 17 years in prison and $1.35 million in fines when he is sentenced Dec. 16. A federal judge in Delaware will sentence Biden for his June gun conviction on Nov. 13. The White House affirmed that the president will not pardon his son or commute any sentence.

Hunter Biden is hardly the first presidential relation to have their personal struggles and legal challenges turned into national news and fodder for their family's political opposition. Nevertheless, the younger Biden's three felony convictions this week are a particularly notable entry in the long history of first family challenges. It comes after years of conservatives pointing to both Hunter's history of addiction and various business dealings as evidence of his father's alleged — and to date unsubstantiated — criminality. That Hunter now potentially faces hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fines and an extended prison sentence for having lied on federal firearm purchasing forms would presumably be occasion for celebration from the same Republicans who have long sought to prosecute the first family.

Hunter's conviction is a "step toward accountability" House Oversight and Accountability Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement. Still, until the Justice Department pursues "everyone involved in the Bidens' corrupt influence peddling schemes," Comer said, "it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden."

Comer's heavily qualified approval offers a glimpse into how conservatives have responded to Hunter Biden's conviction — and highlights why this particular guilty verdict is not the political slam dunk many had hoped for. 

'Deep State's sacrificial lamb'

For many of the GOP's most vocal Biden critics, Hunter's conviction is merely a distraction — or worse, a deliberately engineered diversion — from his family's allegedly more serious crimes. "Don't be gaslit," former top Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller said on X. The younger Biden's gun-related charges are merely a "giant misdirection," and an "easy op for DOJ to sell to a pliant media that is all too willing to be duped." In being convicted, Hunter "became the Deep State’s sacrificial lamb to show that Justice is 'balanced' while the other Biden crimes remain ignored," agreed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

Republican arguments that the DOJ "treated President Joe Biden's son with kid gloves while zealously prosecuting Trump" have been "hurt by the Biden-led Justice Department prosecuting the president's son," U.S. News and World Report said. In making the argument that the Biden DOJ is targeting political opponents, those same Republicans "may be trying to deflect from Trump's own stated intentions to wield the criminal justice system against opponents if he returns to the White House." Given that "truth rarely matters" in the Trump-era, and "inconvenient facts never [penetrate] the echo chamber that dominates Republican politics and conservative media," the former president's allies have used Biden's conviction to "conjure a new round of falsehoods and conspiracy theories," CNN's Stephen Collinson said. 

'Backfire in the court of public opinion'

Republicans "can't agree on how" to prevent Hunter Biden's convictions from "undermining their argument that the judicial system is being weaponized against Donald Trump," Politico said. In part, that's a byproduct of the nature of Biden's crimes themselves and the role his well-publicized drug use played in his criminal actions. Addiction is a topic "both sensitive and salient for millions of American families," ABC News said. Attacks on that front "could backfire in the court of public opinion" where Americans are "looking for leaders who sympathize and have solutions."

Moreover, the political realities of Biden's conviction for illegally purchasing and owning a firearm presented a unique dilemma for Republicans who, as a whole, "favor far more relaxed laws than Democrats," The Guardian said. However bad the verdict is for Hunter Biden himself, it's similarly "bad news for the Second Amendment," said Fox News' Greg Gutfeld. 

That the "prevailing reaction among Republicans" after Biden's convictions was "not so much hailing the verdict as claiming that this case was a smokescreen" suggests that the GOP understands that most voters "aren't particularly concerned about this case," The Washington Post said. Fervent MAGA Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) offered a similar, if blunter, assessment: 

At the same time, the Post said, there is still a risk that some may see Biden as "having gotten off somewhat easy." While his three counts carry up to 25 years of prison time, Biden, as a first-time offender, likely wouldn't get "anywhere near the maximum sentence," The Associated Press said. 

'People hate traffic. They also hate this great idea to clear it.'

Megan McArdle at The Washington Post 

New York City recently paused its congestion pricing program, and if it "can't be done in Manhattan, it seems safe to say it can't be done anywhere else in America, either," says Megan McArdle. "This is a pity" because "when roads are 'free,' we are forced to fall back on a more costly and inefficient strategy: sitting in traffic." It is "far better to charge a modest price ... until supply and demand are balanced and traffic flows easily."

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'The Acolyte' bastardizes 'Star Wars'

Armond White at National Review 

"The Acolyte," a new "Star Wars" series, "proselytizes a changeover from a patriarchal to a matriarchal world system, and that has got fanboys in a tizzy," says Armond White. For some fans it means that George Lucas and "all he once stood for, is as good as dead." The series has an "easy-to-read political allegory" that promotes diversity, and the "latest generation of fans is being persuaded to change their ethical and audience-reception values."  

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'This trial was too sad for the right to properly politicize' 

Molly Olmstead at Slate 

Hunter Biden's conviction "has been met with a surprisingly muted response from the right," says Molly Olmstead. This is because "Republicans won't want to risk looking opposed to gun access," but also because "Hunter Biden's struggle with addiction may have proved too sad and, for so many Americans, too relatable to be politically useful." So despite a "felony conviction for one of their party's greatest villains, Republicans could not figure out a way to celebrate the victory."

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'Population decline isn't the problem. Hungry kids are.'

F.D. Flam at Bloomberg

There is a population boom, but "maybe instead of focusing on the number of children people are having, policymakers should focus on the fact that too many children worldwide aren't getting adequate nutrition, education or medical care," says F.D. Flam. It is "impossible to know all the unintended consequences of trying to engineer the population to grow, or shrink, but there's no downside to taking better care of the children we already have."

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What happened

Hunter Biden was convicted Tuesday on three felony counts stemming from his purchase of a handgun while addicted to crack cocaine. Jurors in Delaware found President Joe Biden's son guilty of lying about his drug use to buy the firearm and illegally possessing the gun for 11 days in October 2018.

Who said what

Hunter Biden said he's "disappointed" about the verdict but "more grateful today for the love and support" he received from his family during the trial.

"I am the president, but I am also a dad," President Biden said. "Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today." He reaffirmed he "will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal." Biden flew to Delaware after the verdict, en route to a G7 summit in Italy.

The verdict left Republicans "scrambling to prevent Hunter Biden's conviction" from "undermining their argument that the judicial system is being weaponized against Donald Trump," Politico said. "Many Trump allies had been secretly rooting for an acquittal," The New York Times added.

What next?

Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in October, but the odds he gets prison time are "pretty low," former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Brown said to Politico. He faces another trial on separate tax charges in September. 

Joe Biden faces a moment of "searing personal anguish" today when his son, Hunter, goes on trial for allegedly lying about illegal drug use while purchasing a handgun.

Four days after Donald Trump became the first president convicted in a court of law, Biden Junior will become the first child of a US president to face a criminal trial, a development that will further "deepen the election's legal entanglement", said CNN.

What is Hunter Biden accused of?

In September, prosecutors said they had indicted 54-year-old Biden on three gun charges related to his purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver handgun in October 2018, two months after a stay in rehab. 

Two of the counts relate to Biden allegedly lying about his drug use on a federal application form he filled in to buy the weapon, with a third charge of possessing an illegally obtained firearm for 11 days in October 2018. Biden has pleaded not guilty.

A plea deal, which had been expected to lead to Biden admitting to a series of tax and gun offences in order to avoid prison time, fell through last summer, after Republicans argued Biden was receiving a "sweetheart deal", and tax investigators said politics had hampered their probe.

The trial, which is expected to take between three and five days, will be held in Delaware "within walking distance" of his father's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, said The New York Times (NYT). 

Two of the charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while the third carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. But non-violent first-time offenders "rarely get serious prison time for the charges", said the NYT.

Does this relate to the laptop saga?

Hunter Biden's notorious laptop has "become a symbol of the legal and political controversy surrounding the president's son in recent years", said ABC News, and prosecutors hope to use its contents as evidence in the firearms trial.

The "seedy contents" of the laptop, left by Hunter at a Delaware repair shop, featured prominently in the 2020 presidential campaign, said the BBC. It has already "provided proof" of Hunter's considerable earnings from his work in China and Ukraine, which are "stoking the nascent impeachment inquiry" into President Biden.

And what about that tax case?

In December, federal prosecutors filed nine new tax charges against Biden, claiming that he avoided paying at least $1.4 million (£1.1 million) in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for between 2016 and 2019.

Announcing charges that include failure to file and pay taxes, false tax return and evasion of assessment, the prosecutors claimed that, instead of paying what he owed, Biden splashed his money on "drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature".

They said he "individually received more than $7m in total gross income" between 2016 and mid-October 2020, but "wilfully failed" to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time. He belatedly paid all his taxes and fines in 2020.

What impact might the gun trial have on the election?

The hearing will "hand a political weapon" to Republicans "desperate for a distracting issue" in the wake of Donald Trump's 34-count conviction last week, said The Guardian.

But the Democrats could try and turn it to their favour, said CNN, as the trial could "blunt claims by the GOP" that the Justice Department targets only Republicans, particularly at a time when a Democratic senator, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, is also on trial in New York.

The White House has ruled out a pardon for Hunter, but the president insists his son did nothing wrong. In a "symbolic show of support", the president was seen with his son on a bike ride near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, over the weekend.

What happened

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, warned Fox News that he plans to take legal action "imminently" against the network for its coverage of him, according to an April 23 letter made public Monday.

Who said what

Fox News is perpetrating a "conspiracy and subsequent actions to defame Mr. Biden and paint him in a false light," Biden's lawyers wrote. And "while routinely defaming and disparaging" him, Fox violated multiple "revenge porn" laws and "sought to profit by the unlawful exploitation" of Biden's "image, name and likeness for commercial purposes and reprehensible dissemination of salacious photographs."

The commentary

The letter is the "latest salvo in the president's son's more aggressive legal and press strategy over the past year," Axios said. That stance has "at times created friction" with the White House. Hunter Biden's legal plans were inspired in part by voting machine company Dominion's successful suit against Fox, NBC News said.

What next?

Hunter Biden is scheduled to stand trial on gun charges in Delaware on June 3.

What happened?

Special counsel David Weiss late Thursday unsealed charges accusing FBI informant Alexander Smirnov of falsely claiming Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden, were each paid $5 million protection bribes by Ukrainian energy company Burisma in 2015 or 2016. Smirnov, 43, was arrested Wednesday at the Las Vegas airport. Weiss is prosecuting Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges.

The commentary

The indictment is a "stinging setback" for House Republicans who featured Smirnov's "explosive story" in their push to impeach Joe Biden, The New York Times said. It is "rare for the FBI to charge one of its informants with lying," The Washington Post said, but Republicans forced the issue by making Smirnov's claims a "kind of cause célèbre."

Who said what?

Smirnov "transformed his routine and unextraordinary" 2017 Burisma business contacts "into bribery allegations" against Biden after "expressing bias" against him during the 2020 campaign, the indictment said. "Republicans have built their conspiracies about Hunter and his family on lies told by people with political agendas, not facts," Hunter Biden's lawyer Abbe Lowell said. Now "the air is out of their balloon."

What next?

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said his committee will "continue to follow the facts" to "determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted." Smirnov faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted.

The House voted 221 to 212 on Wednesday to formally open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, "pushing forward with a yearlong GOP investigation that has failed to produce evidence of anything approaching high crimes or misdemeanors," The New York Times reported. Republicans are mostly trying to link Biden to the overseas business dealings of his son Hunter Biden.

The impeachment inquiry resolution, passed along party lines, doesn't accuse President Biden of any wrongdoing, but House Republicans say they need the imprimatur of an authorized impeachment investigation to enforce subpoenas and overcome other legal obstacles. Democrats denounced the vote as a political stunt designed to harm Biden in next year's presidential election and sate former President Donald Trump's calls for avenging his own two impeachments.

Republicans will decide as soon as January whether to file articles of impeachment. A handful of House Republicans have said they don't see any impeachment-worthy activity by the president.

The House approved the inquiry after voting to allow whole milk in school lunches and to condemn a handful of university presidents over their testimony on antisemitism on campuses. "Instead of doing their job on the urgent work that needs to be done, they are choosing to waste time on this baseless political stunt that even Republicans in Congress admit is not supported by facts," Biden said in a statement.

Hours before the impeachment inquiry vote, Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance outside the Capitol, underscoring his willingness to testify publicly before House impeachment investigators but not behind closed doors. House Republicans, who had subpoenaed him for a private deposition on Wednesday, said they will pursue contempt of Congress charges.

"I am here," Biden said. "Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business." He acknowledged making bad decisions while addicted to drugs — he's fighting federal tax and gun charges from that time period. But House Republicans have "ridiculed my struggle with addiction; they belittled my recovery; and they have tried to dehumanize me — all to embarrass and damage my father," Biden added. "They have taken the light of my father's love for me and done their best to turn it into darkness."

President Biden, who still checks on Hunter regularly, is worried about how his last living son is holding up under the scrutiny and concerned he could even backslide into addiction, five aides and confidantes told Politico.

'The U.N. has largely lost the confidence of youth climate advocates'

Michael E. Mann and Susan Joy Hassol in the Los Angeles Times

The selection of "a petro-state, the United Arab Emirates, to host" the COP28 climate summit was a "bad sign," said Michael E. Mann and Susan Joy Hassol in the Los Angeles Times. Climate activists were probably not surprised when negotiators dropped mention of "a 'phase out' of fossil fuels" from the meeting's statement. The COP process is "broken." We must "seize this moment" to fix it before the world barrels farther "down the road to ruin." 

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'Offering sliver of mercy'

Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times

Abortion ban exceptions are a sham, says Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. That's clearer now after a Texas mother of two, Kate Cox, had to leave the state to get an abortion, even though doctors said her "much-wanted pregnancy was doomed due to a severe genetic disorder," and her "future fertility" was in jeopardy. Right-wing politicians "would rather inflict unimaginable suffering on women than relax the tiniest bit of control over their medical decisions."

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'Intelligence collection is a political responsibility of the government'

National Review editorial board

Congress must reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, says the National Review editorial board. The long-standing statutory provision, which lets the government monitor non-U.S. citizens abroad to protect national security, could use some reforms. The FBI has an "alarming record of misconduct and noncompliance with FISA rules." But this is the only framework we've got. "We cannot afford to shut it down in a dangerous world until we have something better."

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'President Biden has the perfect reason to bow out'

Albert R. Hunt in The Messenger

President Joe Biden has the "perfect" excuse to "bow out of the presidential race," says Albert R. Hunt in The Messenger. He can say he needs "to come to the aid of his troubled son, Hunter, who was just indicted for tax evasion." This would take "the punch" out of Republicans' "investigative witch-hunts" and cheer up Democrats "who are scared not only that Biden may lose but also that he might take them down with him."  

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'Why did the Democrats fail to run a serious primary opponent to Biden?'

Harold Meyerson in The American Prospect

Joe Biden has "been an excellent president," says Harold Meyerson in The American Prospect. He got Congress to approve "landmark legislation" on "mitigating the climate crisis" and "restoring the nation's sagging infrastructure." But polls show "even Democratic base voters" give former President Donald Trump higher approval ratings. Why stick with such a weak candidate? Historians might one day ask why so many Democrats were "sleepwalking while the nation clearly teetered on the brink of authoritarian rule."

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'Hunter Biden's story—and that of his agonized family—is a human one'

Kim Wehle in The Bulwark

Hunter Biden's tax evasion case is an unusual mix of "international business dealings, a lavish lifestyle, massive tax troubles, and a political family," says Kim Wehle in The Bulwark. But it involves scenes "painfully familiar to millions of families struggling with substance abuse, like the story of Joe Biden chasing Hunter down the driveway after a family intervention attempt." Don't forget that the story of Hunter Biden's troubles and his family’s pain "is a human one." 

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'An affront to free expression'

Shadi Hamid in The Washington Post

"Cancel culture is back," says Shadi Hamid in The Washington Post. Only this time it's the right trying to silence political views on the left. Republican officials and right-wing commentators are using "reprehensible" statements by student groups excusing "Hamas's grisly attacks on Israeli civilians" to "more broadly delegitimize pro-Palestinian sentiments." Republican lawmakers are trying to punish any pro-Palestinian speech, and accusing "anyone who is insufficiently supportive of Israel's war in Gaza with antisemitism." 

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'Tariffs are a sign of weakness'

Andy Kessler in The Wall Street Journal

Tariffs are all the rage this election cycle, says Andy Kessler in The Wall Street Journal. The Republican presidential front-runner, former President Donald Trump, "has proposed 10% tariffs on all imports," even though U.S. industrial capacity is near an all-time high. The White House says there's a consensus on U.S. "industrial strategy." But tariffs "are for losers." They drive up prices and stifle innovation. The markets, "not vote-buying politicians," should decide how businesses allocate their capital. 

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As 2023 winds inexorably down, Republican lawmakers are wasting little time telegraphing plans to intensify their ongoing investigations into both President Joe Biden and his son Hunter in 2024 for alleged — and to date largely unsubstantiated — allegations of corruption, raising the prospect of an election-year impeachment proceeding against the incumbent president during his bid for a second term in office. 

On Thursday, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong introduced a 14-page resolution to codify the impeachment effort announced this past summer by then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy by bringing it forward for a full House vote in the coming days. In essence, the resolution is a parliamentary affirmation of what has already been happening across several congressional bodies, by directing the House Oversight, Ways and Means, and Judiciary committees to "continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry" into whether there are grounds for impeachment. 

Stressing during a press conference this week that the resolution and forthcoming vote is not, in and of itself, an impeachment of the president, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued that the move is necessary so that when any efforts to compel testimony or provide documents are "challenged in court, it will be at the apex of our constitutional authority."

Currently, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and Hunter Biden are engaged in a contentious negotiation over whether the president's son will testify publicly, as Biden has offered, or behind closed doors according to Comer's demands. To date, House Republicans have held just one public impeachment hearing, which one GOP aide described as an "unmitigated disaster" for Comer and his fellow Republicans. 

'Sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone's time'

The Biden administration brushed off the pending resolution vote, calling it a "baseless stunt" that's "not rooted in facts or reality" in a statement from spokesperson Ian Sams on Wednesday. The White House had previously argued against the inquiry's constitutionality thus far "because it had not been formalized with a vote of the whole House," The Hill reported. Sams later shared a link on X, formerly Twitter, to an article in the conservative Daily Caller highlighting Fox News host Brian Kilmeade's characterization of the impeachment inquiry as a "waste of time." In his statement, Sams agreed, describing the push as "sad, pathetic, and a waste of everyone's time." 

Earlier this week, Kilmeade's fellow Fox News reporter Chad Pergram similarly asserted that the renewed push for formalizing the impeachment inquiry was fueled in part by the Republicans' "need to put a GOP win on the table for the base."

The effort to formalize the impeachment inquiry also comes as moderate Republicans start "warming to the idea" where once they were skeptical, according to The New Republic. While McCarthy's unilateral declaration of an impeachment investigation may not have swayed them this summer, they can now "cite the Biden administration's recalcitrance as their reason to vote to open an inquiry next week."

'This is not a political decision'

Predicting that the impeachment inquiry resolution will get "every vote that we have" from Republicans, Johnson has also "toiled in recent weeks to ingratiate himself" with his party's rightmost flank, particularly after he worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown in mid-November, The New York Times reported. But despite Johnson's assurances, as well as the apparent softening of some moderate Republicans, the inquiry vote will ultimately be a "major test of party unity, given the GOP's narrow 221-213 majority," according to PBS News Hour. That narrow majority is set to grow even smaller in the coming year, thanks to several high-profile early GOP retirements, including former speaker McCarthy.

Johnson himself worked to diffuse the situation this week, explaining that at this stage of the process "whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now," and that "moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision." Still, moderate Republicans currently "ready to vote for an impeachment inquiry now may be more hesitant to back actually impeaching Biden" if and when that becomes a reality, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Hunter Biden offered Tuesday to testify publicly in the House Republican impeachment inquiry targeting his father, President Joe Biden. Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is overseeing that nebulous investigation as chair of the House Oversight Committee, rejected Biden's offer, saying Republicans expect him to testify behind closed doors on Dec. 13, as demanded in a Nov. 8 subpoena. "Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules," Comer wrote. "That won't stand with House Republicans." He added that Biden can "testify in a public setting" after the deposition. 

Biden's offer came in a blistering three-page letter from his lawyer, Abbe Lowell. "We have seen you use closed-door sessions to manipulate, even distort the facts and misinform the public," Lowell told Comer. "If, as you claim, your efforts are important and involve issues that Americans should know about, then let the light shine on these proceedings." He quoted Comer publicly inviting Biden to "come in front of the committee" anytime, and accused him of manipulating "Hunter's legitimate business dealings and his times of terrible addiction into a politically motivated basis for hearings to accuse his father of some wrongdoing."

Public testimony by Hunter Biden would be a "dramatic and high-profile showdown carrying risks for both sides," The Washington Post reported. Biden is not only the central figure in House Republicans' so-far-fruitless efforts to tie President Biden to questionable private business dealings by his son and brother; he's also fighting federal gun charges. Hunter Biden's offer to testify publicly is part of an aggressive counterpunch strategy that started when he hired Lowell last year, Politico reported Tuesday and Politico's Jonathan Lemire recapped on MSNBC.

House panels do typically "insist on a private deposition before allowing a public appearance," Politico reported. "The Jan. 6 select committee denied several requests to testify publicly, including one from Rudy Giuliani." 

But Democrats noted pointedly that Comer's only public Biden impeachment hearing so far didn't go well for him. "The reason GOP don't want a public hearing on Hunter Biden," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote, is that "they're scared of getting humiliated for not having an actual case (again), so they need to hide."

The top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (R-Md.), called the GOP's rejection of Biden's offer to testify publicly "a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case."

Hunter Biden made history last week by becoming the first child of a sitting US president to be indicted on federal criminal charges. 

The indictment is brief, said Andrew Prokop on Vox, because the facts are quite simple. When Hunter bought a handgun in 2018, he filled in a form stating that he wasn't a user of illegal drugs. In reality, he was hooked on crack cocaine at the time. It was "a seemingly clear case of an open-and-shut crime", yet prosecutors initially had no plans to charge him for it. 

Under a deal agreed in June, Hunter was set to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanours, while the gun case would be dropped provided he kept his nose clean for two years. But a judge dismissed that plea deal on technical grounds, and talks to revive it collapsed. Whether because they belatedly concluded that the initial deal was too generous, or whether they were pressured by Republicans, prosecutors "have now decided to go after Hunter more aggressively".

'Trust in the rule of law'

Hunter's legal team has had the nerve to complain that he's the victim of political meddling, said The Wall Street Journal. That's a joke. The prosecutors' mistake "was not treating his case like any other from the start". Maybe America can now "begin to regain trust in the rule of law", said The New York Post.

But it's an added problem for Joe Biden, who is now also facing an impeachment inquiry into whether he illegally profited from business deals involving his son. The president "routinely crusades on the need for tough gun laws like the ones that could now send his son away for a decade or more".

'If he wasn't a Biden he wouldn't be charged'

It's not true to claim that Hunter is finally being treated like anyone else would be, said Harry Litman in the Los Angeles Times. These sorts of gun felony charges are only ever pursued in cases where the firearms are used to commit other crimes, or where defendants are known to be particularly dangerous. "This indictment over an isolated lie by a relatively harmless firearm applicant seems to be without precedent."

If Hunter's surname weren't Biden, he probably wouldn't be facing these charges, agreed David A. Graham in The Atlantic. Then again, without his famous name, he also wouldn't have made a fortune as a board member of a Ukrainian gas company – a job he was singularly unqualified for – or subsequently "sold his novice paintings for six-figure prices". Hunter has done very well from his proximity to his father, but "the bill is coming due now".

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, was indicted on Thursday by a Delaware grand jury and faces three federal charges stemming from his 2018 purchase of a firearm while he was addicted to a controlled narcotic. 

The indictment comes less than two months after a planned plea deal between the younger Biden and federal prosecutors fell apart at the last minute, and coincides with an intensifying effort by Republican lawmakers to investigate — and potentially impeach — President Biden for allegedly profiting off his son's various business deals, despite no evidence to support those claims. 

Hunter Biden faces charges of making false statements, including in writing, as part of his 2018 firearm purchase, knowing that as a narcotics user he was federally barred from possessing a gun. If found guilty, Biden could face "up to 25 years in prison" and significant fines, according to Politico, which also noted that "sentences are often issued below" the maximum.

The indictment is signed by David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who handled the botched plea deal, and was subsequently elevated by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as Special Counsel for the matter in mid-August. While the Biden plea deal had initially covered allegations of tax crimes as well, Thursday's indictment is focused solely on the firearms violations. Further charges may be forthcoming, however, as Weiss' team has indicated they are continuing to investigate "other elements of Mr. Biden’s business activities" according to The New York Times. 

The younger Biden's foreign business entanglements have been at the heart of a longstanding GOP effort to link the president with his son's potentially criminal activities, culminating this week in House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into the matter. Earlier this spring, the White House stood by Hunter, with the president saying "I trust him. I have faith in him."

The launch of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his son Hunter's foreign business dealings has raised questions about Republican political prowess.

The House of Representatives has previously voted to impeach just three presidents: Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, who was impeached twice. But the move by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to impeach the current president is "a risky political gamble", said the Financial Times (FT), that "may be as much about preservation of his own political power as the merits of the case".

A tax and firearms case against Hunter Biden does exist and federal prosecutors are reportedly confident they have enough evidence to indict him. However, said the Los Angeles Times, "despite their best efforts", congressional Republicans have "failed to develop credible evidence" that Biden as vice president profited from his son's business dealings. The Biden impeachment inquiry is "so thin you can see right through it", the paper's editorial board added.

The true motivation is personal, a top former Republican congressional and White House staffer told the FT. "Speaker McCarthy had to do this for his conference – and to keep his job." 

What did the papers say?

McCarthy's decision to unilaterally announce an impeachment investigation with no formal House vote "appeared to be a bid to quell a brewing rebellion among ultraconservative critics", said The New York Times (NYT).

McCarthy claims he has unearthed a "culture of corruption" surrounding the president. The inquiry will focus on whether Biden benefited from the charges of improper business dealings levelled against his son Hunter.

Months of investigations by Republicans, however, "have yet to unearth any concrete evidence of misconduct by Mr Biden, and the allegations have been widely panned by Democrats", said the BBC.

The true motivation for the inquiry, according to the NYT, appears to be that McCarthy is "working to appease far-right lawmakers who have threatened to oust him if he fails to accede to their demands for deep spending cuts that would force a government shutdown at the end of the month".

The apparent lack of evidence is problematic for both the case and the nation, according to two impeachment experts who spoke to Time magazine.

"This is very disturbing for people who study past impeachments, because impeachment is really a very extreme measure," said constitutional scholar Philip Bobbitt, a professor at Columbia Law School and expert on the history of impeachment. "I honestly don't know that there is any evidence tying the president to corrupt activities when he was vice president or now."

Frank Bowman, professor emeritus at the University of Missouri school of law and author of a book about impeachment, agreed, adding "Biden's Republican pursuers have got exactly zero, zip, bupkis, on any matter that might be impeachable."

What next?

Some Republicans have expressed doubts about the wisdom of bringing impeachment proceedings against the president. 

Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor running for president in 2024 who managed Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings in 1998, said that despite a "lot of smoke" the impeachment inquiry "seems premature". Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor also running in the Republican primary, said he didn't "see evidence yet that would support impeaching Joe Biden". He added: "I think we're cheapening impeachment by doing that kind of thing."

Talking to Time, impeachment experts Bowman and Bobbitt echoed this sentiment.

"This is supposed to be the most extreme sanction in American politics, and if you reach for it every time you think it'll help you in the polls, I fear it will become degraded," Bobbitt said. "It just becomes one more very divisive, poisonous event in a Congress that is already deeply divided and alienated."

Brendan Buck, a former Republican congressional aide, said it could have even worse impacts for Republicans, given Democrats could weaponise the matter against their political rivals.

"Certainly it will rile up the base," Buck said in the FT, “but absent some bombshell… this is something of a gift to the president politically."

Former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, who launched Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings 25 years ago, said that if Republicans "go too fast, it could backfire".

Clinton was "widely seen to have benefited politically, including with a better than expected performance in that year's midterm election", the FT said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has named Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as special counsel in the Hunter Biden case after a plea deal with the president's son fell apart. Hunter Biden unexpectedly pleaded not guilty to tax and gun charges after a judge objected to the terms of his agreement with prosecutors, which would have allowed him to avoid jail time in exchange for guilty pleas and granted him broad immunity from future charges. Weiss' office now says negotiations on reviving the plea deal are at an impasse.

Hunter Biden's lawyers on Sunday accused Weiss of reneging on a key part of the deal — his agreement to participate in a diversion program for gun offenders. The allegation was the latest sign of an escalating dispute over Hunter Biden's finances and personal life that "Republicans have made a central prong in their attacks on President Biden," according to The New York Times.

Despite the clash between Hunter Biden's legal team and Weiss' office, many Republicans are complaining about Garland's appointment of Weiss, whom then-President Donald Trump appointed to investigate Hunter Biden in 2018. Russell Dye, a spokesperson for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said Garland had chosen Weiss "to whitewash the Biden family's corruption." But the Justice Department says this is all about transparency and ensuring a fair investigation. Is Hunter Biden being treated fairly, or is he being singled out for special treatment?

Garland is trying to sweep this under the rug

Garland isn't getting tough with Hunter Biden by naming a special counsel, said Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. He and Weiss "desperately want to bury this matter as quietly as possible" by salvaging Hunter Biden's sweetheart plea deal. Their goal is to keep the president's son out of prison "and quash any more efforts to pry open the Bidens' bank records." Weiss didn't renege on the deal as Biden's lawyers claim. The House Oversight Committee raised "a stink" about it, and a judge rejected it. Weiss and Garland want to make "a dressed-up version of the old plea deal more credible." Weiss is hinting at a change of venue, which means the plan is to try again with a more sympathetic judge.

Weiss has already shown he's not seriously investigating the Bidens, said the National Review in an editorial. IRS whistleblowers have testified to Congress about the slow-walking of the investigation, "on Weiss' watch." Weiss has already spent five years on the Hunter Biden case and all he has to show for it is a "highly irregular, extremely generous plea agreement" that would have let Hunter Biden off with "a couple of misdemeanor tax charges." That "blew up on its first contact with a judge," sending Garland back to the drawing board. He picked Weiss because he can trust him to "make a politically inconvenient case go away" while the "statute of limitations has begun to lapse on a crucial period of Hunter's overseas 'work.'"

Garland is doing the right thing

It's hard to argue that Garland is going easy on the Bidens, said the Houston Chronicle in an editorial. In January, the attorney general appointed a special counsel to investigate Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents, and now he's assigning Weiss to "continue probing Hunter Biden's drug use, taxes and foreign business dealings." Garland is showing the kind of independence the nation needs from an attorney general. That "firewall between politics and justice can sometimes have drastic consequences, such as when FBI Director James Comey announced an investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton weeks before the 2016 general election." And the Hunter Biden investigation might have a "similar drag" on his father's reelection prospects. But boosting Joe Biden's campaign isn't Garland's job. "Prosecuting Hunter Biden for alleged federal crimes is."

Appointing a special counsel "was the right move," said The Washington Post's editorial. It shows the public "that the process will be independent and transparent and, therefore, that it is more likely to be fair." That's crucial now that the original plea agreement has fallen apart under a judge's "scrutiny," justifying complaints that it might have "given special treatment" to the president's son. The IRS whistleblowers' complaints revealed "political sensitivities" that justify granting Weiss "the formal independence that comes with being a special counsel." The goal in this case should be to "treat Hunter Biden, as far as possible, like any other defendant" — not tougher or more gently than anybody else. As a special counsel, Weiss will have "all the independence and resources he needs" to do just that.

Like Erwin Schrodinger's eponymous cat, former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer's closed-door congressional testimony this week offered a masterclass in the powers of perception — and their limits — as House Republicans and Democrats each scrambled to stake their divergent narrative claims in the wake of his highly anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill. For conservative lawmakers, Archer's testimony offered further damning evidence in their ongoing, and thus far unsuccessful, attempt to link President Biden to his son's questionable business dealings. For Democrats, Archer's appearance was not so much a silver bullet of impeachable criminality as it was a chunk of fool's gold — shiny, but ultimately worthless.

"Joe Biden was 'the brand' that his son sold around the world to enrich the Biden family," House Oversight Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) crowed, following Archer's claims that the younger Biden had occasionally put his father on the phone with various potential business partners over the years. Not so, countered Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who said that although Hunter seemed to have sold the "illusion of access" to his father, Archer had nevertheless stressed "over and over and over again that President Biden never discussed any business dealings or interests with Hunter or anyone else" in all that time. "To the extent that Hunter Biden used his father ... in any furtherance of any of his business dealings, it was not in consultation or collaboration with his father," Goldman told Axios following Archer's testimony. "Did he want to have the appearance of influence" to his various business associates, Goldman conceded. "Yes, I think he did. And that was ill-advised," he continued.

By providing both Democrats and Republicans with enough grist for their respective mills, Archer's testimony is now being simultaneously touted as a major bombshell for some, and a major dud for others. Is it really one or the other, or could it be a little bit of both?

What are the commentators saying?

"Will the president have to apologize for misleading the public during the 2020 debates, when he categorically denied his son's influence-peddling overseas?" The Wall Street Journal's William McGurn asked following Archer's testimony. Ceding that Archer's testimony "doesn't prove Joe Biden discussed business terms or shared in any profits," McGurn stressed that "at the very least, it exposes Mr. Biden's gaslighting of the American people in 2020" when pressed about Hunter's business dealings during that year's presidential elections.

"As the layers of this onion get peeled back, it's starting to smell incredibly bad," former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Fox News, claiming that Democrats have remained quiet following Archer's appearance because "most of these people in the House on the Democrats side impeached Donald Trump for asking [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to look into this exact situation."

"Archer's interview on Monday didn't seem to provide the smoking gun [House Republicans] were looking for," The Daily Beast contended. Rather, Archer "reportedly provided no evidence that directly connected Joe Biden" to Hunter's business machinations.

House Republicans "keep promising bombshell evidence," agreed White House Spokesperson Ian Sams. "But over and over, they can't produce any."

"Republicans have claimed repeatedly — and so far without proof — that the investigations implicate the president in corruption and crimes," the New York Times wrote, cautioning that nevertheless, "Mr. Archer's testimony underscored that Mr. Biden had made false or misleading statements regarding his family members' finances."

"Hunter Biden's constant stream of scandals and his history of being a brazen nepo baby have made him a perfect political target for the GOP," MSNBC's Zeeshan Aleem wrote shortly before Archer appeared before the House panel. That "constant stream" has ultimately helped conservatives create "a false symmetry between Joe Biden and the Trump clan's systematic exploitation of political connections for personal gain."

What comes next?

For the immediate time being, the GOP effort to pursue and exploit Hunter Biden's legal challenges and alleged business practices seems guaranteed to continue apace.

"Now that we have proof that Joe Biden is on record lying," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told Axios. "That is a very, very big deal in regards to impeachment inquiry" of which she herself has become a leading proponent. "It's highly unlikely that Hunter wanted to talk with his father about the weather," The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote after Archer's testimony concluded. "He knew what he was selling, and we'll see what else we learn as the House keeps looking."

Meanwhile, House Republicans have begun probing the younger Biden's recently derailed plea agreement over tax and firearm allegations, with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Miss.) and Comer jointly asking the Justice Department to clarify the "unusual" nature of Biden's deal. That plea agreement has been temporarily paused for a month while Justice Department attorneys and Biden's legal team work to file new paperwork in the hopes of moving ahead as initially planned.

Archer himself seems content for now to back out of the political spotlight, and focus on his own legal challenges. "We are aware that all sides are claiming victory following Mr. Archer's voluntary interview today," his attorneys stated after he'd left the committee hearing. "All Devon Archer did was exactly what we said he would: show up and answer the questions put to him honestly and completely. Mr. Archer shared the truth with the Committee, and we will leave to them and others to decide what to do with it."

One month ago, Hunter Biden's long legal drama seemed poised to end, not with a bang, but with a whimper, as federal prosecutors prepared to accept a plea deal over federal tax evasion charges and allegations that the president's beleaguered son purchased a firearm while addicted to a controlled substance. In a statement at the time, Biden attorney Christopher Clark hailed the pending deal as a sign that "the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved," and that his client "looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward."

This week, that process of "moving forward" skidded to an unexpected halt, after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika placed a hold on Biden's plea deal in a dramatic courtroom showdown that "revealed a disconnect between Biden's lawyers and prosecutors over the terms of the plea deal," Axios said. At issue was the scope of the tax evasion agreement; its relation to a separate "pretrial diversion agreement," which would see Biden avoid jail time for the gun charges under certain conditions; and disagreement over whether the deal would insulate the president's son against future charges. Noreika also questioned the constitutionality of the firearms diversion agreement, in which her participation may result in a separation-of-powers breach. At the close of Wednesday's hearing, Biden pled "not guilty" to the various charges against him, although he "will be able to withdraw the not guilty pleas he entered on Wednesday" if Noreika ultimately accepts a revised version of the deal, Politico wrote. "He would then replace them with guilty pleas on the tax charges, and DOJ would defer prosecution on the gun charge."

Given the raucous courtroom drama on display this week, is this just a speed bump in the closing act of Hunter Biden's long legal saga, or have the president's son's hopes for a quiet resolution been derailed altogether?

What are the commentators saying?

The plea deal breakdown "heightened the legal peril for President Biden's son and could give the president's political opponents fresh ammunition in their scrutiny of the first family," The Wall Street Journal reported, contrasting Wednesday's drama with the "carefully choreographed way most plea deals roll out."

"You all are saying, 'Just rubber stamp the agreement,'" Noreika reportedly told the court at one point during the hearing. "I'm not in a position to accept or reject it. I need to defer." To that end, the judge has given both Biden's legal team and the DOJ prosecutors 30 days to file revised paperwork to address the constitutionality of the firearm deal in particular, after which she "could schedule another hearing ... to further flesh out the complex constitutional questions at hand," CNN explained. She could also "issue a written ruling accepting [the legal teams'] explanations and agreeing to move forward with the guilty plea."

Meanwhile, as part of Wednesday's proceedings, attorneys for the president's son and the Justice Department agreed to be "more explicit in what Biden was immune from in the future," Axios reported, adding that the reconfigured deal "still could be tweaked in the coming weeks."

All this comes as House Republicans continue to zero in on Hunter and explore his business dealings in hopes of uncovering malfeasance on the part of his father, as well. The day before the hearing, GOP Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri attempted to intervene in the since-paused plea deal, filing a brief to convince Norieka to reject the agreement outright. The effort comes as part of a broader push to frame the deal as being "marked by favorable treatment from the Justice Department in his father's administration," despite former President Donald Trump having appointed both the prosecutor and judge involved, The New York Times said.

What's next?

"Even if the charges against Biden are settled in the next month, the Justice Department has indicated its investigation of him is ongoing," Axios reported — a crucial detail given the newly narrowed scope of the pending plea agreement to focus strictly on Biden's tax, gun and drug charges. "In court on Wednesday, prosecutors said there was still the possibility of additional charges against the younger Biden under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, which requires anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government to file reports on their activities with the Justice Department," the Journal said, noting that "foreign business activities by the children of prominent politicians isn't itself illegal."

Republicans who have focused on the Bidens were meanwhile quick to capitalize on the legal upheaval. "At least there is some scrutiny going on," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told CNN. "The plea deal, as we saw, as it started, was garbage. We have people that are in jail right now for far less." And the party will likely have plenty more opportunities to showcase its anti-Hunter efforts during the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. The Justice Department has already begun working with Congress to arrange a time for David Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor heading the DOJ's Hunter Biden investigation, to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, and longtime Biden associate Devon Archer is set to appear before the House Oversight Committee in the coming weeks, as well. But perhaps most importantly, both Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) "have made clear they intend to talk about Hunter Biden and his business dealings to go after President Biden in the general election," Axios added.

In a shock reversal, Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to tax crimes after a plea deal between the president's son and the Justice Department fell through, at least for the time being.

Things unraveled when U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika on Wednesday expressed multiple misgivings about the terms of the agreement, which Republicans have repeatedly characterized as a "sweetheart deal." Under this arrangement, Hunter was expected to plead guilty to two tax offenses in exchange for a recommendation of probation, and would also avoid charges relating to how he lied about his drug use when purchasing a gun.

But that's what not happened on Wednesday. Rather, Noreika said "she needed more information" on the plea agreement "before deciding whether to sign off on it," The Wall Street Journal summarized. "These agreements are not straightforward and they contain atypical provisions," she said. "I'm not in a position where I can decide to accept or reject a plea agreement and I need to defer it." She added that she did not want to "rubber stamp" an arrangement.

The hearing later ended with Hunter, who "appeared agitated and worried" during the proceedings, per CNN, pleading not guilty. Judge Noreika also asked both legal teams to file additional briefs further explaining the structure and legal merits of the plea deal. Additional proceedings have been postponed, "likely for a month or more," according to Politico.

Hunter Biden reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors this week, agreeing to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses and avoiding jail time. Biden will be sentenced to probation for failing to pay his 2017 and 2018 taxes on time. He also will avoid being charged with lying about his drug use when he bought a gun, as long as he complies with rules set by the Justice Department. He has to remain drug-free for two years, and can never own a gun again.

Republicans immediately accused the Justice Department of going easy on President Biden's son, letting him off with a "slap on the wrist" while aggressively prosecuting former President Donald Trump over his handling of classified documents. Trump likened the deal to a "mere 'traffic ticket." "If you're Biden's leading political opponent, the DOJ will try to put you in prison," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted. "If you're Biden's son, the DOJ will give you a sweetheart deal."

But some legal experts said Hunter Biden was treated fairly. "The laws were enforced as if it had been anybody else," Maggie Abdo-Gomez, a Miami tax attorney and former IRS lawyer, told Politico. "I would say probably a little stricter, because failure to pay is very common." Attorney General Merrick Garland said he kept his promise to "leave this matter in the hands of the United States attorney who was appointed by the previous president," Trump, and gave him "full authority to decide the matter as he decided was appropriate." Did the Justice Department go easy on Hunter Biden, or treat him like anyone in his situation?

DOJ is protecting the Bidens

This deal "reeks of political favoritism," said Margot Cleveland at The Federalist. Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss announced this sweetheart deal for Hunter Biden "only weeks after Americans learned that a 'highly credible' confidential human source had reported that the Ukrainian owner of Burisma paid the father-son duo each $5 million in bribes." It seems "like an obvious attempt to quell the growing scandal that threatened to engulf the president." Hunter Biden's failure to pay taxes on two years of income, and his illegal gun purchase, were slam dunks. Weiss should have filed these charges in 2019, before President Biden's election, but he didn't, because of "politics." This kind of "weaponization and political favoritism of the DOJ and FBI" has to stop.

"Must be nice," said the Boston Herald in an editorial. This cushy deal really put "the perks of being a fortunate son" on "full display." It's true that a deal this good, sparing someone who admittedly broke serveral laws any jail time, "isn't unheard of." But it's not the kind of free pass that's available to "ordinary people." The gun charge — felony possession of a firearm by a drug user — can carry a penalty of 10 years in prison. But "nepo babies, especially those with political clout," get special treatment. "What's particularly galling about Hunter Biden's deal is that his dad Joe continues to talk tough about guns."

Hunter Biden got no special treatment

President Biden "appears to have been true to his promise that he wouldn't interfere in the probe," said The Washington Post in an editorial. The president and his attorney general let Weiss — who was appointed by Trump — "make his own prosecutorial decisions at the end of a five-year investigation, and a federal judge still needs to approve the agreement." And even though Hunter Biden won't spend any time behind bars, this is "by no means exoneration." Hunter Biden is admitting misdemeanors and now prosecutors won't have to pursue "a smorgasbord of charges that might or might not have stuck." And he's "still under scrutiny" for lots of "questionable behavior" that came to light when his abandoned laptop became public, including his "dealings with a Chinese energy company."

Republicans are the ones playing politics by trying to conflate Hunter Biden's case with Trump's, said Matt Ford at The New Republic. "Misappropriating national secrets and showing them to random Mar-a-Lago guests is, generally speaking, a graver offense than failing to pay taxes." But the "deeper truth about Republican frustration over the Hunter Biden plea agreement" is that the GOP is pushing investigations not to "actually find evidence of criminal activity, as much as they would have welcomed it, but to create an aura of corruption and criminality around the 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate in much the same way they did against the party's 2016 nominee. To their immense frustration, Republicans haven't yet succeeded in that enterprise against Biden."

Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax evasion charges, and will likely avoid prosecution for having illegally purchased a gun while addicted to a controlled substance, the Justice Department disclosed on Tuesday. Biden's agreement, while still subject to approval from a federal judge, is a sign "that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved," his attorney Christopher Clark said in a statement.

Biden's addiction to crack cocaine, as well as his various financial ventures, have been the focus of a longstanding inquiry on the part of both federal prosecutors, as well as Republican lawmakers eager to capitalize on any insinuation of criminality on the part of the first family. On his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump raged against the reported deal, alleging that "the corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere 'traffic ticket.'" House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) on Twitter claimed Tuesday's announcement would have no impact on his committee's questionable investigation into the Biden's alleged criminality, vowing he will "not rest until the full extent of President Biden's involvement in the family's schemes are revealed."

GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee similarly insinuated without evidence that Tuesday's announcement was the result of nefarious meddling by the president:

The White House has offered a brief statement in support of Biden, affirming that "the President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life."

According to Biden's attorney, the agreement made between Hunter and U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, means that Biden will "take responsibility for two instances of misdemeanor failure to file tax payments" alongside a separate forthcoming arrangement over his having illegally purchased a gun while addicted to crack cocaine.

"Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life," Clark added. "He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward."

The Department of Justice's investigation into Hunter Biden appears to have reached its conclusion after years of probing into President Biden's son's personal and professional history. On June 20, U.S. Attorney David Weiss announced that Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion, and would likely avoid prosecution for having illegally purchased a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine. The disclosure by Weiss, a Trump administration appointee, came eight months after The Washington Post first reported that Justice Department officials believed they had enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden on several related counts.

Because of his father's position, any move against Hunter Biden could have political consequences, especially as the elder Biden has recently launched his campaign for reelection. The president, though, has been steadfast in his support of his son, saying in a brief statement after the agreement was disclosed that he loves his son and will "support him as he continues to rebuild his life." Republicans, who have made investigating disparate allegations of Hunter Biden's foreign corruption a feature of their legislative agenda, have nevertheless vowed to continue probing the Biden family in spite of the Justice Department agreement. Politico notes that the White House has been "bracing for the political fallout" after being convinced "that Republicans will attack them over it whether President Biden's son is criminally indicted or not."

What did Hunter allegedly do wrong?

The president's son, 53, has had well-publicized troubles with drug addiction, which play a part in the potential charges. The gun charges, for example, stem from a period when he was, "by his own account … smoking crack cocaine," the Post reports. That was in 2018, when Hunter Biden purchased a handgun and allegedly answered "no" to a question about whether he had unlawfully used drugs.

The younger Biden's taxes have also been under scrutiny for years, The New York Times reported in March. That investigation began during the Obama administration but "widened in 2018 to include possible criminal violations of tax laws, as well as foreign lobbying and money laundering rules." The paper reported that Hunter paid off his tax liability, which he told friends amounted to more than $1 million, but that might not save him from legal trouble. Prosecutors argue that "the crime happens when the return is falsely filed or not filed at all."

Are there other problems?

Hunter Biden has arguably been drifting toward trouble for much of his adulthood — "the guy who even into his 40s keeps needing dad to send the search-and-rescue party," Matt Yglesias wrote for Vox in 2020. He has made a living as a lawyer, a lobbyist and, more recently, an artist, but it's not clear he could have done much of that work over the years without his dad's name and connections. In addition to his drug problems, he also attracted attention when in 2014 he joined the board of Burisma, a controversial Ukrainian oil and gas company. "Hunter had no apparent qualifications for the job except that his father was the vice president and involved in the Obama administration's Ukraine policy," wrote Yglesias. When President Donald Trump was impeached in 2019, it was because he pressed Ukraine's president for dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden and withheld U.S. military aid to give him leverage.

Hunter also made a cameo appearance at the end of the 2020 presidential campaign, when a Delaware computer shop owner emerged with a report that Joe Biden's son had abandoned his laptop computer at the shop, which Slate's Mary Harris recently described as containing "a whole lot of selfies, some homemade pornography, and email messages hinting at cozy relationships between him and businesspeople from China and Ukraine." The circumstances seemed improbable enough that Twitter and Facebook put the kibosh on the story, and Republicans have used this incident to suggest the media and Big Tech helped elect Joe Biden. But it now seems likely to be legit, and it may also play a role in the federal investigation.

What are Republicans doing?

Republicans have long been planning a congressional investigation of Hunter, and this began once Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. It's clear they want to use this investigation not just to take down Hunter Biden but also to damage his father. "I think the American people are going to be shocked with what they find out the Biden family's been doing to profit off Joe Biden's name over the past decade," Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) told Fox Business. However, as many pundits have noted, the investigation has so far been unable to move the needle, though pressure on the president's son by the GOP is continuing to mount. Following Hunter's plea deal, Comer renewed his commitment to investigating the Bidens, vowing in a statement to "not rest until the full extent of President Biden's involvement in the family's schemes are revealed."

What's going to happen next?

In spite of Hunter's agreement with the Justice Department to effectively wind down their investigation into his past, the concurrent Republican investigations mean this story probably isn't going to go away for the next few years, especially as the presidential election inches closer. However, given public polling, it is possible that criminal charges against Hunter Biden wouldn't have a devastating effect on his father's campaign. Jennifer Palmieri, who served as former President Barack Obama's communications director, tells Politico that "Republicans have failed, both in the 2020 campaign and in their 2023 congressional hearings, to have questions about Hunter Biden impact public opinion, and I don't think they will succeed now."

Updated June 20, 2023: This story has been updated throughout.

President Biden told CNN in a wide-ranging interview Tuesday that he doesn't believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is irrational enough to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, suggested Saudi Arabia will face "consequences" for siding with Russia in OPEC+ oil production cuts, predicted the U.S. is heading for at worst a "very slight recession," and said he has "no intention" to meet with Putin at next month's G20 summit, unless it were to talk about something like releasing WNBA star Brittany Griner.

Biden also addressed reports that federal agents believe they have enough evidence to charge his son Hunter with tax violations and lying about drug use on a 2018 application to purchase a firearm. "This thing about a gun — I didn't know anything about it," Biden said, noting that his son has been open about his struggles with addiction. "So, I have great confidence in my son," he said. "I love him and he's on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple years now. And I'm just so proud of him."

Biden apparently relayed that message directly to Hunter Biden, too, according to leaked voicemails highlighted Monday by Fox News.

On Russia, CNN's Jake Tapper asked Biden if he believes, as other world leaders and former U.S. officials speculate, Putin has become unhinged and irrational in recent years. Biden said Putin's expectations for what would happen when he invaded Ukraine were "irrational," but as for Putin, "I think he is a rational actor who miscalculated significantly."

Biden said he doesn't think Putin will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, "but I think that it's irresponsible for him to talk about it" and "Armageddon" really is a slight possibility if something goes awry. "Once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations," he said, and if things spin out of control, it "could end in Armageddon." Biden declined to say what the U.S. will do if Putin crosses a "red line" in Ukraine. "It would be irresponsible of me to talk about what we would or wouldn't do," he noted.

Biden also told Tapper he wouldn't get into specifics of how the U.S. will respond to Saudi Arabia's oil cut, but it is time to "rethink" America's relationship with its Saudi aillies. "There's going to be some consequences for what they've done with Russia," he said. Watch the full interview below.

After a four-year probe, federal agents investigating President Biden's son Hunter believe they have gathered enough evidence to charge him with tax crimes and making a false statement related to a gun purchase, people familiar with the case told The Washington Post.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss, a Trump appointee, will now have to decide whether to charge Hunter Biden, the people said. The investigation began with agents looking into Biden's finances in relation to his consulting work overseas, and over time began focusing on whether he reported all of his income and lied about his drug use on gun purchase paperwork in 2018, people familiar with the matter told the Post.

In a statement to the Post, Hunter Biden's lawyer, Chris Clark, said it is "a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a grand jury investigation such as this one. Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has committed such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors." Clark also said Biden's legal team believes "the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense."

Former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have long questioned Hunter Biden's business ventures, particularly those overseas, and Trump's first impeachment was tied to his July 2019 phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he pressured him to investigate both Joe and Hunter Biden.

A group of Republican senators has signed a letter petitioning Attorney General Merrick Garland to extend "special counsel authorities and protections" to the attorney investigating Hunter Biden's foreign business practices, the New York Post reports.

The letter was organized by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and signed by a third of the U.S. Senate, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). In the letter published on Monday, the senators listed the "politicization" of the Department of Justice, a deficiency of trust in public authorities, and recent allegations of an FBI coverup of evidence that could implicate the first son. The senators also state that they believe evidence points to multiple federal crimes committed by Hunter Biden, including "tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations."

"Given that the investigation involves the president's son, we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney [David] Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence," the letter states.

U.S. Attorney for Delaware Weiss has been investigating Hunter Biden, who recently used a loan or gift from attorney Keven Morris to allegedly make a $2 million payment to the IRS for back taxes to avoid prosecution.

The Republican senators sent the letter the day after President Biden said his son's foreign business deals in China, Russia, and Ukraine did not constitute a conflict of interest for him in an interview for the CBS program 60 Minutes.

Hunter Biden, President Biden's remaining son, is living in a rented four-bedroom "resort-style" home in Malibu, California, and the nearest property his Secret Service detail could secure was a $30,000-a-month six-bedroom mansion with ocean views and a "castle-like tower to the master retreat with wet bar," ABC News reports, citing the mansion's listing and sources familiar with the matter.

That's "the cost of doing business for the Secret Service," former agent Don Mihalek told ABC News. "Typically, wherever a protectee sets up their residence, the Secret Service is forced to find someplace to rent nearby at market value," he added. "The Service has had to do this in past administrations, and unfortunately, the housing market right now has driven the prices."

"The cost of protecting first families has raised eyebrows in the past," ABC News notes. "In the first year of Donald Trump's presidency, the Secret Service requested $60 million of additional funding to protect Trump and his family, with about $27 million of that going to protecting them at their private residency at the Trump Tower in New York City," and the Secret Service paid at least $1.2 million at various Trump properties while protecting the Trump family, including $17,000 a month for a cottage at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey, The Washington Post found.

The Secret Service needs to protect the president's family, but "Ivanka [Trump] and Jared [Kushner] should have opened up their house to the Secret Service, just as Hunter Biden should do at his Malibu residence," Craig Holman at progressive good-government group Public Citizen told ABC News. "Hunter should recognize the exorbitant cost of his own protection in the exclusive Malibu neighborhood, and cooperate with the Secret Service to bring down the expenses."

There was an amusing delicacy to the way a Washington Post reporter phrased the paper's confirmation Wednesday of the authenticity of a large number of Hunter Biden's emails. "Thousands of emails purportedly from the laptop computer of Hunter Biden are authentic communications that can be verified through cryptographic signatures from technology companies," tweeted Matt Viser as he promoted a story analyzing the messages.

The Hunter Biden laptop controversy has grown bigger than just a story about emails belonging to the president's son, though. Conservatives see pervasive liberal media bias and the suppression of information that was potentially harmful to a Democratic presidential campaign. Prominent public figures confidently asserted that the computer and its contents were Russian disinformation. "If we are right," wrote more than "50 former senior intelligence officials" in a well-publicized letter, "this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."

Since then, Americans have become aware that the laptop is playing a role in the Merrick Garland-led Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden's sketchy business dealings. But not before the election year stories about this device were memory-holed by the big social media platforms and ignored or dismissed as a Russian and/or right-wing stunt by most of the media.

Newsrooms can point to reasons for their skepticism besides liberal bias. The laptop just being left at a computer shop seemed suspicious. Rudy Giuliani's involvement in its discovery likewise did not instill the confidence it might have 20 years ago. Former President Donald Trump was impeached over his Hunter dirt-digging excursions, which haven't exactly ceased since leaving office.

But there was also some degree of regret over how Hillary Clinton's emails were covered in 2016, with the belief that it redounded to Trump's electoral benefit. There was real — if often sloppily defined — Russian interference in that election (though that has also turned out to be a more complicated story than much of the reporting initially made it out to be). And even now, much about Hunter Biden's laptop remains unverified, along with the bolder claims about the president's place in these events.

All this could lead to some genuine journalistic qualms, though it was also clear that many in the media thought Trump's win was a bad thing. Insofar as Hunter Biden's emails are more than the Steele dossier of Trump-Russia fame, conservatives have a legitimate beef.

A Washington Post report published Wednesday shed new light on Hunter Biden's dealings with a Chinese energy firm and confirmed several details found on the hard drive of a laptop he allegedly abandoned in a Delaware repair shop.

CEFC China Energy, which has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and People's Liberation Army, paid entities controlled by the then-cash-strapped Hunter Biden or his uncle James Biden $4.8 million over the course of 14 months beginning in 2017, according to The Washington Post.

The New York Post began publishing stories based on information found on the laptop hard drive in September 2020. Due to concerns about the laptop's provenance and warnings from current and former intelligence officials that the laptop might be a Russian disinformation operation, social media sites suppressed the story until after the election.

Now, the New York Post is arguing that social media users' inability to share the Hunter Biden laptop story "helped swing the election to Biden."

Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that emails recovered from the laptop had been "authenticated." Wednesday's Washington Post report adds further weight to that authentication.

The Hunter Biden story may not have propelled former President Donald Trump to victory in 2020, but he's hoping it might help him win in 2024. In an interview broadcast Tuesday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin "should release" any dirt he has on Hunter Biden and that Putin would probably "be willing" to provide it, since he's currently "not exactly a fan of our country."

Hunter Biden remains under federal tax investigation by a grand jury. According to The Washington Post, the investigation once sought to determine whether "he failed to account for income from China-related deals," though "it is unclear whether that is still a focus."

Former President Donald Trump appears to have given up on Ukraine releasing dirt on Hunter Biden, President Biden's sole living son — an effort that got him impeached (though not convicted) in 2019 after it emerged he was withholding U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to get such information.

So now he wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to unearth dirt on the Bidens. "I think Putin now would be willing to probably" release it, "as long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country," he told John Solomon on Real America's Voice in an interview broadcast Tuesday. Putin is not "a fan" of the U.S. right now, of course, because the Biden administration is arming Ukraine in its unexpectedly strong defense against Putin's invasion.

Russian state TV, very likely trolling or baiting the U.S. media, is happy to oblige Trump. One host, Evgeny Popov, called for Russia to encourage "regime" change in the U.S. "and to again help our partner Trump to become president."

And "last Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry released a colorful diagram, purporting to demonstrate that President Joe Biden's son Hunter is secretly bankrolling the Pentagon's biolabs in Ukraine," Julia Davis reports at The Daily Beast. "The allegation was preposterous and was squeamishly avoided by the responsible mainstream media, but Tucker Carlson immediately latched on to it."

"Kremlin propagandists see the Hunter biolab material as just the right kind of toxic waste that can bury his father's chances of re-election in 2024," Davis writes. Carlson's and Trump's translated comments appear frequently on Russian state TV.

Hunter Biden is still under investigation for tax issues by a Delaware federal prosecutor President Biden declined to replace from the Trump administration, The Wall Street Journal reports. But Trump's claim that Elena Baturina, a wealthy Russian businesswoman married to late Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhvov gave Hunter Biden $3.5 million stems from a controversial Senate Republican report released in September 2020 that said Baturina paid a $3.5 million "consultancy" fee in 2014 to a firm called Rosemont Seneca Thornton, which may or may not have ties to Rosemont Seneca Advisors, a company Hunter Biden co-founded and led.

Hunter Biden denies having an stake in Rosemont Seneca Thornton, and "the GOP report does not support the allegation that Hunter Biden personally accepted money from Baturina," Politico reports. Curiously, "Trump himself sought to do business with Luzhkov's government in the late 1990s."

Several prominent Republicans criticized Big Tech after a New York Times report published Wednesday said emails recovered from a laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a repair shop in Delaware have been "authenticated."

In September 2020, The New York Post published the contents of that laptop, which purportedly showed that Hunter Biden and his father, then-candidate Joe Biden, had engaged in corrupt activities involving Ukrainian and Chinese corporations.

Per the Times article, a grand jury is continuing to investigate Hunter Biden's international business dealings. The 25th paragraph of that article contained a reference to emails between Hunter Biden and an associate that were "obtained … from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop." The article goes on to explain that the "email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation."

Due to questions about the laptop's provenance, social media sites suppressed the story in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election, according to The Washington Post. Fox News declined to run the story, and even at The New York Post, the decision to publish material from the laptop was contentious.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) told The New York Post on Saturday that Congress must "rein in Big Tech censors," while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said "Big Tech leaders who participated in censoring the truth should answer to Congress and the American people in sworn testimony."

Former President Donald Trump released a statement Friday claiming the Times had "admitted that it participated in an effort to rig the election for Joe Biden." In 2020, the Times cast doubt on the veracity of the laptop story but played no direct role in suppressing it.

The New York Times has sued the State Department to gain access to U.S. embassy emails mentioning Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, Insider reported Tuesday, citing court filings.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, requests access "to emails sent by officials at the U.S. embassy in Romania between 2015 and 2019 that contain keywords including 'Hunter Biden,'" Insider writes. Lawyers for the Times claim the State Department is stalling in responding to several Freedom of Information Act requests made by Times reporter Kenneth P. Vogel in June. Vogel had also asked for emails mentioning attorney Rudy Giuliani and Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden. Vogel covered the president's son throughout the 2020 presidential campaign, often drawing ire from team Biden, adds Politico, who first reported the lawsuit's existence.

One of the goals of the lawsuit seems to be "finding out whether embassy officials did any favors on behalf of private businesses (including, presumably, that of the president's son) that would raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and corruption," Politico writes.

"As a routine part of their reporting, New York Times journalists regularly seek potentially newsworthy information from a variety of sources, including from the U.S. government through FOIA requests," a Times spokesperon told Insider regarding the lawsuit. "We're hopeful the government will promptly release any relevant documents, and as always we are prepared to pursue our request through a lawsuit if necessary."

A previous GOP-led investigation into Hunter Biden's business dealings in China and Ukraine found no evidence of wrongdoing by the president's son, notes Insider.

After the election, it appeared the saga of Hunter Biden — including his work for a Ukranian energy company Burisma and a leak of material from what was allegedly his laptop — might fade away. Instead, President Biden's son has "remained in the headlines," writes Politico, muddying ethical waters once again when it was revealed he would begin selling his artwork at starting prices as high as $500,000. The painting venture — alongside new information regarding the laptop material and "emerging evidence" about the dealings of other family members — suggests the issue of Hunter Biden is not going away, and could "threaten to complicate the White House's efforts to position Biden as a global anti-corruption crusader," writes Politico.

"Even though this administration isn't corrupt on the same level as the previous administration, which seemed to embrace the corruption," said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert, "the public has reason to be concerned." The president has said he does not discuss with relatives' their business dealings.

The case for "close scrutiny" of an administration who has contended to have the "highest ethical standards of any ... in history" only "grows stronger" the more the situation is analyzed, writes Politico. Left unaddressed, the first son's dealings might frustrate the president's "intention to restore public confidence in the executive branch."

Even with attention moving toward Hunter Biden's artwork (and the criticized arrangement set up to accomodate its sale), earlier incidents, like the laptop and work for Burisma, "remain murky," writes Politico, and could undermine a White House global anti-corruption push if not "aired out."

"Hiding the ball," said Clark, in reference to the White House's approach to the sale of paintings, "is not the way to protect the public trust." Read more at Politico.

Jimmy Kimmel introduced Hunter Biden as "probably the most famous board member of a Ukrainian energy company of all time," but they spent most of their conversation on Thursday's Kimmel Live discussing addiction, as described in Biden's new book, Beautiful Things. "I have to tell you, after reading the book, I'm impressed that you're alive," Kimmel said. "I feel like I learned a lot about crack."

"I wrote about it in vivid detail because, you know, I think the question that most addicts have a really hard time answering, and what everybody that's a non-addict wants the answer to, is why?" Biden said "There's a simple answer, and that's because it works — at first, until it doesn't." With every drug, you're always trying to chase that first high, he explained. Alcohol is actually "the most insidious drug for me," but "crack brought me to place that I'd never been to before," both high and low, Biden said. "It was an absolutely awful experience at the end, and it was an awful experience throughout. After that first time, all you do is live in a lot of guilt and a lot of shame."

Biden said he wrote the book "to humanize people suffering from addiction," but "more than anything it's a love letter to the people that are loving someone that's struggling with addiction. Because it's so hard for them to understand why it is that their love just can't get through. ... I hope that this provides some people some real hope that if they're just persistent, and they continue, that when that person's ready to reach for that love, maybe they'll be able to find their way out of that deep, dark hole." "Yeah, boy was your dad persistent," Kimmel said.

Biden said he was well-qualified for the Burisma board position, bad optics notwithstanding. "Does it make you crazy when you hear someone like Donald Trump Jr. saying that the only reason he does is because he's a Biden, and because of his last name? And how just wildly comical that is?" Kimmel asked. "It is wildly comical, that's putting it lightly," Biden laughed. But "what I've learned is this, is that I don't spend too much time thinking about them." "I do, I think about it all the time," Kimmel said. Watch the full interview, including Biden's thoughts on "sad" Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), below. Peter Weber

President Trump is reportedly interested in appointing a special counsel to investigate unfounded allegations of election fraud and Hunter Biden's business and financial dealings, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Trump has reportedly directed advisers to look for candidates, and he reportedly wants to act quickly as lawsuits brought by his presidential campaign and his allies have fizzled in courts at all levels.

Ultimately, though, the appointment of a special counsel would have to be made by Attorney General William Barr, and his associates told the Journal he's unlikely to name anyone to the post, especially after he tapped Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to lead a separate investigation into the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia investigation.

The president already appears angry with Barr — the attorney general has recently said his department has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and he also prevented an existing federal investigation into Hunter Biden from being publicly exposed, which reportedly set Trump off at a meeting Friday. Trump continued to express his disappointment about the latter situation Saturday morning on Twitter, raising speculation about whether Barr's job is in jeopardy. Clashing with Trump over a special counsel appointment, if that turns out to be the case, could add to that uncertainty. Read more at The Wall Street Journal. Tim O'Donnell

Twitter has reversed its decision to block users from sharing an unsubstantiated article from the New York Post about former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter, The New York Times reports.

The company had previously stopped users from being able to post the story about alleged emails between a Ukrainian energy executive and Hunter Biden, citing its policy against sharing private information and against distributing "content obtained without authorization." But after facing backlash especially among Republicans including President Trump, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Friday that blocking links to the story "was wrong," and the company altered its policies so that it "will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them," per BuzzFeed News.

When Twitter announced changes to its policy on hacked materials on Thursday, the Hunter Biden article was still being blocked because Twitter said it violated its policies against sharing personal information, as The Washington Post reported. But as of Friday, users can now share the article again, with the Times reporting the company made this decision "because the information had spread across the internet and could no longer be considered private."

When Twitter previously changed its hacked materials policy in response to the criticism, The Washington Post had already dubbed this a "stunning policy reversal."

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) considers himself "a straight shooter" who "calls them as I see them." That's why he says he's leading an investigation into former Obama officials for allegedly unfairly targeting President Trump and his associates during the presidential transition period in 2016, as well as a probe into Hunter Biden's time on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma, which faces corruption allegations.

Unsurprisingly, Johnson's Democratic colleagues aren't buying the idea that the investigations are nonpartisan, instead viewing them as efforts to boost Trump's re-election bid against Hunter Biden's father, former Vice President Joe Biden. But several Republicans are also privately concerned about Johnson's efforts, Politico reports, including Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Romney, who sits on the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs which Johnson leads, did vote for his fellow senator's subpoena authorizations targeting former Obama officials. But he declined to say if he thinks Johnson is doing a good job leading the investigation, and added that it's "apparent on its face" that the Biden probe is politically motivated, considering the elder Biden is the Democratic nominee, Politico reports. Read more at Politico.

Have you found President Trump's impeachment trial boring so far? If so, Saturday Night Live's latest cold open provided its audience with a look at what might've been.

Saturday evening's episode opened with a disinterested Chief Justice John Roberts (played by Mikey Day) presiding over the Senate trial as he's doing in real life, only to be quickly replaced by Kenan Thompson's Judge Greg Mathis, who injected some enthusiasm into the previously listless proceedings. Thompson's Mathis called witnesses to the stand, including Cecily Strong's drama-loving, Harry Potter fan fiction-writing John Bolton, and Pete Davidson's hoverboarding Hunter Biden.

Alec Baldwin then returned as Trump, who served as his own defense. Watch the full clip below. Tim O'Donnell

During the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing on Thursday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) tried to shift the focus away from President Trump to former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden.

Gaetz introduced an amendment to the articles of impeachment that would refer to the "corrupt" hiring of Hunter Biden by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Hunter Biden has a history of alcohol and drug abuse, which Gaetz gleefully mentioned. "It's a little hard to believe that Burisma hired Hunter Biden to resolve their international disputes when he could not resolve his own dispute with Hertz rental car over leaving cocaine and a crack pipe in the car," he said.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) was next to speak, and without uttering any names, he reminded the entire room that Gaetz himself was arrested for driving under the influence (the case was later dropped). "I would say the pot calling the kettle black is not something that we should do," Johnson said. "I don't know what members, if any, have had any problems with substance abuse, been busted in a DUI, I don't know, but if I did, I wouldn't raise it against anyone on this committee. I don't think it's proper." As Johnson spoke, CSPAN's cameras zoomed in on Gaetz, who looked pained. Watch the video below. Catherine Garcia

If Rudy Giuliani keeps digging into Hunter Biden's past, he's going to find someone familiar.

After Biden joined the Ukrainian company that Giuliani has such a problem with, he spent time in Romania defending a real estate mogul accused of corruption. There's no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden in Romania, but there's definitely a bit of awkwardness considering Giuliani ended up defending the same man, NBC News reports.

Biden began working with Romanian businessman Gabriel "Puiu" Popoviciu in 2016, the same year Popoviciu was convicted for "abusing his position" to engage in corrupt land deals, NBC News writes. Biden was brought on to help Popoviciu's appeal, along with former FBI Director Louis Freeh. NBC News says it's "unclear" just how much work Biden did, and Popoviciu ultimately lost his case.

Yet even after Popoviciu went to jail, Freeh kept working for him. And last year, "he tapped Giuliani, his longtime friend, to assist in his Romanian work," NBC News writes. That essentially amounted to Giuliani "working on the same side as the younger Biden in Romania," NBC News continues. Giuliani's work included writing a letter to Romania's president and prime minister asking them to tamper down their corruption fight — the opposite of the message former Vice President Joe Biden gave when he visited the country and gave a speech in 2014.

This report comes just after Giuliani said he'd start focusing on Hunter Biden's work in Romania soon. Read more about the unlikely connection at NBC News.

Former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko might be a bit closer with Rudy Giuliani than President Trump's team might like.

In an interview with NBC News aired Friday, Lutsenko, who left his position late last month, addressed his now-recanted skepticism of the Biden family over the dismissal of previous prosecutor Viktor Shokin. "I don't know any possible violation of Ukrainian law" by either Joe Biden or his son Hunter Biden, Lutsenko said — though it seems Giuliani did push him to find one.

Lutsenko served as Ukraine's top prosecutor after Shokin, who then-Vice President Biden and other western officials accused of letting corruption slide. But Shokin had previously investigated Burisma, an energy company Hunter Biden worked for, leading Lutsenko to speculate Joe Biden's dislike of Shokin had something to do with that. Both Giuliani and Trump seemed to agree, and Giuliani had made investigating the Bidens his near-singular focus for the past year. Lutsenko told NBC News he was not in "regular contact" with Giuliani, but he did speak to him "maybe 10 times" about the Bidens and "other political issues."

Yet even after Lutsenko reversed his Biden speculation in a May interview with Bloomberg, Trump still seemed to praise him in a July phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump did not mention the name of the "very good prosecutor" who was looking into Biden, so it could've been Lutsenko or Shokin. A whistleblower complaint about the call specifically said Trump was asking Zelensky to keep Lutsenko on as a prosecutor.

Like he said in the NBC News interview, "from the perspective of Ukrainian legislation," Hunter Biden "did not violate anything," Yutsenko told The Washington Post on Thursday.

Joe Biden's 2020 campaign is severely underreacting to what should be a Democratic home run.

The White House on Wednesday released a memorandum from a call between President Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, which shows Trump pushed Zelensky to investigate Biden's son Hunter Biden, likely aiming to use the information for campaign attacks. Even though Trump admitted to much of what the transcript shows earlier on Tuesday, a Biden fundraising email suggests the former vice president's campaign didn't seem to think it was such a big deal.

The email starts out with some "bad news:" that "Trump is using the Oval Office to pressure a foreign power into interfering in the 2020 election." But there's something "even worse," it continues: recent polls show him losing his frontrunner status. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday morning shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has pulled ahead in Iowa.

The poll simply displays an ongoing trend: Warren is on the rise, while Biden is slightly slumping. What is new is the fact that the House is officially pursuing an impeachment inquiry into Trump, and that it has a whole lot to do with Biden himself.

Ukraine is expected to re-open the corruption case against the Burisma gas company, where former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, was a board member, The Daily Beast reports. But it's not because President Trump allegedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into doing so, or because Ukraine wants to meddle with the elder Biden's presidential election chances.

Instead, it's part of Zelensky's plan to root out corruption, one of the key components of his presidential campaign. Valentin Nalyvaichenko, the former head of Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency and now a member of the country's parliament, told The Daily Beast that Ukraine wants to discover the truth about corruption in the country, which in the case of Burisma, means investigating whether its founder paid off investigators who were looking into the way he acquired gas licenses.

In recent years, many corruption cases in Ukraine sputtered after prosecutors were allegedly paid off, The Daily Beast reports. Zelensky and his government want to reverse that and speed up the country's reform process by reinvigorating the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. Now, a new team of independent prosecutors will reportedly dive back into the Burisma investigation, as well as other cases.

The phone call scandal may continue to wreak havoc in the U.S., but Ukraine, lo and behold, is its own country with its own priorities, and Kyiv will seemingly move forward as it sees fit. Read more at The Daily Beast.

President Trump, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and members of Trump's Cabinet are pretty open about wanting a scandal involving Trump personally pressuring — possibly extorting — Ukraine's president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner to challenge him in next year's presidential race, to be a story about Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, and alleged "corruption." Reporters have been digging around for months, and there just doesn't seem to be much there.

The allegation from Trump and Giuliani is that Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire a state prosecutor to quash an investigation into a Ukrainian oligarch, Mykola Zlochevsky, whose gas company Burisma hired Hunter Biden to sit on its board of directors in 2014. Some of that is true — Joe Biden has openly said he successfully pressured Ukraine in 2016 to fire the prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, or lose $1 billion in U.S. grant money.

But the first problem for Trump's accusation, The Wall Street Journal reports, is that "Shokin had dragged his feet into those [Zlochevsky] investigations, Western diplomats said, and effectively squashed one in London by failing to cooperate with U.K. authorities." In fact, Shokin was widely viewed as corrupt and ineffective. "The whole G-7, the IMF, the EBRD, everybody was united that Shokin must go, and the spokesman for this was Joe Biden," says Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Zlochevsky's allies were "relieved" by Shokin's dismissal, The New York Times reports, because while "Shokin was not aggressively pursuing investigations into Mr. Zlochevsky or Burisma," he "was using the threat of prosecution to try to solicit bribes from Mr. Zlochevsky and his team." Zlochevsky has never been convicted of any wrongdoing, despite "a push by Obama administration officials for the United States to support criminal investigations by Ukrainian and British authorities, and possibly for the United States to start its own investigation, into the energy company, Burisma," and Zlochevsky, the Times adds. Biden never did anything to deter those efforts, his former colleagues say.

Hunter Biden, who has never been accused of wrongdoing in Ukraine, "is no longer on the Burisma payroll," The Washington Post notes. "In the Trump era, a different cast of characters is winning contracts in Ukraine. One of the players? Giuliani," who has "found ready clients in Ukraine, where people think that U.S. political wisdom can get results."

The reports that President Trump pushed his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodomyr Zelensky, to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son are not a great look for the commander-in-chief. But some people have pointed out that it's not the best news for Biden's presidential campaign, either.

Biden, who has maintained a steady lead in the Democratic primaries, now has to face the fact that his son, Hunter Biden, is "inextricably linked" to the story. That means the elder Biden will likely have to find a balance between trying to use Trump's potential folly to his political advantage and avoiding becoming part of a family scandal, The Washington Post reports.

He's already been going back and forth between attacking Trump and defending his son, the Post reports. None of this is really new — Hunter Biden's foreign business ties, which include a gas company in Ukraine that's been at the center of this situation, and personal exploits raised some eyebrows when his father first entered the presidential race. The threat of the story derailing Biden's bid seemed like it had subsided after a while, but now with Democrats likely to zero in on Trump's latest adventure as the House considers launching impeachment proceedings, it's back on the front page.

It also means that some of Biden's competitors in the primaries could question whether he's the right person to challenge Trump, the Post reports. "We're out there every day criticizing Trump and saying it's the most corrupt administration in the history of America," said Grant Woodard, a longtime Iowa Democratic consultant unaligned with a candidate. "It's going to be problematic for Biden to have to answer those questions about himself."

Others have similarly pointed out that they think ignoring the Biden family's role in the story — even if it's ultimately about Trump's interaction with Zelensky — is hypocritical. Read more at The Washington Post. Tim O'Donnell

Former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, might be cause for concern for his father's presidential campaign, The New Yorker reports.

Hunter Biden has recently fallen under the microscope as details about his business dealings and personal life have come to light. The younger Biden's struggles with drugs and alcohol, divorce and subsequent relationship with his late brother Beau's widow, and questionable business practices in China and Ukraine are chief among the reasons why he could wind up being a thorn in the side of the Biden campaign.

In a sprawling piece, The New Yorker details how Hunter Biden, while on the board of the World Food Program USA, said he was gifted a 2.8 carat diamond by Chinese energy tycoon Ye Jianming, the head of CEFC China energy. Biden said he was trying to secure a large donation from Ye at the time. While he doesn't think the diamond was intended as a bribe as his father was no longer in office, Biden said he still washed his hands of the diamond by giving it to his associates. He said he does not know what they did with it.

But during divorce proceedings, Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen, referenced the diamond, implying it was one of Biden's "personal indulgences."

Diamond aside, though, Biden continued working with Ye, negotiating a deal for CEFC to invest $40 million in a liquefied natural gas project in Louisiana. The deal eventually fell through when Ye was detained by Chinese authorities in 2018 in what was reportedly an anti-corruption charge. Biden maintains that Ye was not a "shady character" and chalked up the situation to "bad luck." Read more at The New Yorker.