On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Pérez and CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig noted that Hunter Biden would have been able to resolve his tax issues “with a simple misdemeanor deal” until the judge “asked him very, frankly, appropriate questions” and now he’s “into felony territory. It’s much more serious. If he gets convicted here, the guidelines will recommend a prison sentence of some nature.”
Pérez said, “For Hunter Biden, this has to be one of the most frustrating parts of this experience, obviously. He was minutes away from having this entire ordeal put behind him. And instead, he’s now facing these charges, all because a judge asked him very, frankly, appropriate questions. She simply asked whether Hunter Biden and his lawyers understood what the terms of this deal entailed and everything sort of fell apart after his lawyer said, essentially, we don’t have a deal anymore, your honor. And so, that’s how we are here. This was going to be put to bed with a simple misdemeanor deal.”
Honig stated, “[T]he stakes are much higher now with this new indictment than they were before, on the tax counts out of California. The original deal or near-deal that they had…that fell apart only would have charged Hunter Biden with failure to pay his taxes, which is a misdemeanor. Now, we’re into felonies, there [are] three felonies here because of evasion and fraud. And the difference is, if you owe taxes but you intentionally don’t pay, just a misdemeanor, you’re not going to jail in all likelihood. If you’re convicted of a felony because, as this indictment alleges, there was specific fraud they allege Hunter Biden intentionally took steps to try to fool, essentially, tax collectors. Now you’re into felony territory. It’s much more serious. If he gets convicted here, the guidelines will recommend a prison sentence of some nature.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
