being with us. it is 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera reporting from new york. we are following breaking news this morning. charges have just been filed against hunter biden, the son of the sitting president has agreed to a plea deal for two tax misdemeanors and a separate gun possession charge that will likely be dismissed. we ll have more on the latest in just a moment, including new reaction from the white house. plus, more breaking news, save the date for the start of donald trump s federal trial. august 14th, this year, as in less than a couple of months from now for that classified documents trial to start. also ahead, the race against time to find a submersible lost in the middle of the atlantic ocean. five people set out to the wreckage of the titanic deep underwater, but according to the coast guard, there is only enough oxygen in the vehicle to last to until thursday. what we know about who is on board and the search efforts currently under way. we begin with
of the gavel once republicans got the majority to make inquiries into hunter biden. he s held several press events around this, not producing any tangible evidence, but instead continuing to just say that they will go where the investigation leads, and that is effectively what he s saying again, reiterating that now in a statement saying let s be clear, these are comer s words, the doj s charges against biden s son hunter reveal a two-tiered system of justice. he goes on to say biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist. he goes on to say that this is a sweetheart plea deal in the same way we have been talking about that being one of the things that political opponents will leverage against this current decision. and then comer finishes to say we will not rest until the full extent of biden s involvement in the schemes are revealed. again, i think it is really important to note that comer has embarked on this investigation from the very moment that the committees were able to be fo
we have been discussing or whether that s just a pro forma technical statement. but it is in there. other than that, it is just a restatement of the what the criminal information is going to say, the two charges. it points out the maximum penalty in each of the tax charges as carol and others have been discussing is 12 months and essentially restating the technicaliies here. we need to get to the bottom of the investigation being ongoing, ana. this is an attorney that president biden allowed to stay on the case in order to try to remove any questions about the justice department s independence here, right? reporter: yes, and the president wants to reiterate publicly and has done so even as recently as just the eve of the trump indictment that he does not take any action, does not direct or request or ask not to do something at the department of justice. senior officials here at the white house have certainly told me and other reporters that at critical junctures that we have
brett bear specifically asked, do you have these documents out there? it says here in the indictment, it read from the indictment, the problem for the former president is there were witnesses in the room. so they re going to be able to speak to what the president was actually holding during that recording. i think it is just a really difficult thing to understand about why the former president would make these comments or take this interview. the fact of the matter is there was highly classified documents that were laying in the shower, being flashed and waved in front of other people, and it is absolutely out of line and that s why when we re talking about acceleration of this case, maybe occurring in august, yeah, to some degree it might be really fast, but from the prosecution standpoint, their evidence is really solid. catherine, could the comments we heard from trump in this interview incriminate him further? could they be used against him, those words? you better believe it.
on it, canadian forces as well, they re asking for private vessels who are in the area to help out with the search efforts and anyone who has that experience with deep sea exploration. the admiral said oceangate, who owns the submersible, is taking the lead because it has the information, it has the technology, it knows the most about this submersible and where it was last heard from. oceangate did release a statement, it says our entire focus is on the well-being of the crew, and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely. keep in mind, this crew is also made up of tourists. one british world traveler, also a pakistani businessman and his son, along with we re trying to get confirmation of who the other two members the pilot and who else was running this from oceangate are. so, you know, it is an exclusive experience that people pay up to