We are back following the Breaking News. President bidens son hunter indicted on federal gun charges today. Special counsel david weiss recently elevated to that role, brought this case tied to a 2018 firearm purchase, and were expecting the president to speak at any moment. That was previously scheduled. As he becomes the first sitting president to have his child indicted by the Justice Department, but thats not the only reason this is extraordinary. A few months ago this gun case was literally minutes away from being resolved, but the plea deal collapsed in court in front of a judge before questions from a judge, and this could mean a hunter biden trial in the middle of his fathers president ial election bid. Evan, walk us through the charges here and how this fiveyear investigation and lets reiterate five years got to this point. Reporter right, well, we have now the president s son, hunter biden has been charged with three counts. One of them relates to lying on the form back in 2018, the form for the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms that you fill out when you buy a firearm. He possessed it for 11 days and he lied on that form which required him to attest he was not addicted to drugs at a time when he was. He later admitted that he was addicted to drugs. The second count relates to lying to the gun seller, the dealer that sold him the gun, and the third is for possessing that firearm, again, at a time he was not legally allowed to possess that firearm. Those are the three counts. And as you pointed out the real head skaching thing certainly for hunter biden and his team is how they got here. This was something just minutes away from being resolved under a plea deal and a great deal of controversy that voumded it, but the judge asked not unreasonable questions about the structure of this deal, whether hunter biden was truly insulated and absolved from any other legal liability. Pretty simple questions, actually, for a judge to ask, and it fell apart because the two sides, the lawyers for hunter biden and prosecutors, had a disagreement as to whether this plea deal covered everything that they were had been investigated as part of this fiveyear investigation. The other part of this, of course, was this Diversion Agreement for the gun the allegation of the gun purchase, which, you know, under the terms of this deal hunter biden would have had this charge go away completely if he abided by certain terms including staying away from drugs, not possessing firearms, those types of things. All of this, of course, coming to a head during that extraordinary hearing before a judge in delaware, and she finally decided that she could not accept that deal, and here we are. Were about two weeks away from the deadline where this charge could be brought, and prosecutors have brought it. This is being brought by special counsel david weiss, an appointee of former President Trump who was kept on in this job to oversee this investigation. And it is an investigation that has covered the waterfront, that has looked at all of his financial dealings. Theyve looked at his taxes. Theyve looked at whether he was laundering money that he had some of his money from some of his Business Dealings in china and ukraine. Theyve looked at, again, whether he was forced to register as a Foreign Agent and failed to do so. Those are all the things that have been investigated as part of this fiveyear investigation. And so now here we are the first charges, and this may not be the last because the former president im sorry, the president s son is also facing possible charges on those tax violations, which would be filed possibly in los angeles and in washington, d. C. Because hunter biden lives in l. A. And his taxes were filed here in washington. Thats something that could be coming, guys in the next two to three weeks. Yeah, those tax charges were part of that plea deal that ultimately disintegrated. After that deal fell apart things for hunter biden and his legal team became especially complicated. Hunter biden is trying to put another face on it, but hes in a bad place as anyone would be if you just had federal charges filed against you. He was under investigation for five years, and they believed this would be resolved with a plea deal even when that plea deal appeared to implode in that initial hearing. They were still optimistic a judge would approve that and they could move beyond that. Hunter biden has just been indicted. He is millions and millions of dollars in debt for the legal fees that he has incurred throughout the course of this investigation going up against the Justice Department in any case is extraordinarily expensive. It is almost impossible for him to find employment and increasingly difficult for him to find sources to help him pay for these legal fees. Now, the good news i suppose is that according to sources in the white house and in Hunter Bidens team, hes still very close with his father. They enjoy a good relationship. Im told he tries to bring up his criminal cases. Look, i dont wiretap into their phone. I dont know if thats true, but thats what people in his camp tell me. But they also believe the white house writ large, advisers around the president have not been supportive, have left hunter biden out to dry. We know some advisers, though, had some reservations about the recent aggressive strategy hunter biden has taken on since the beginning of the year. Theyve gotten a lot more aggressive, suing people who they believe had gone after hunter biden. Just yesterday they sued garret ziegler, a former Trump White House official, claiming they hacked into hunters laptop and iphone. Theyve been a lot more aggressive and thats something that made the white house uneasy because they werent sure what could potentially come out. And of course we see criminal charges. He has his own local interests separate from the president s campaign and legal interests and he has his own legal rights. Hes going to pursue them, and he sees this as something thats dragged on for five years. Manu raju, youre at the capitol. Are republicans feeling vindicated, satisfied, close to satisfied . Reporter theres actually a fair amount of criticisms. Republicans wanted much more thrown at hunter biden. They believe this is simply a slap on the wrist. The question is going to be how does it affect their investigation that is ongoing into the president. Remember one of the Big Questions that they had was whether or not subpoena hunter biden. That has not happened yet. Theres been a lot of pressure particularly among members of the right to push for a subpoena. How will that impact that . Will they be able to get some of thoelgz questions. Theyve tried to lump in the investigation into hunter biden to joe biden himself, suggest it was some sort of interference by the white house into this initial plea deal that ultimately collapsed. Theres no evidence that the white house was involved in that at all, but thats all part of their broad investigation into hunter biden as they try to find anything to pin Hunter Bidens actions on joe biden. Democrats are saying this is a sign the Justice Department works, have faith in the Justice Department. Ill be honest, i mean, getting getting hunter biden on the gun charge is like getting Jeffrey Doahmer on littering. Im excited we have an Impeachment Inquiry and i want this to take a long time. The reality is if hunter biden, the president s son committed crimes he should be held accountable for them. You dont hear any republicans saying if donald trump committed crimes, he should be held accountable for them. Reporter republicans have tried to get information from the special counsel himself, david weiss, in the aftermath of that plea deal that later fell apart. Theyve been unsuccessful in getting those records of Witness Testimony as this Hunter Biden Probe has played out. Theres expectation on the hill its going to get even harder as this trial continues to play out into next year. But unclear exactly how this will impact the Impeachment Inquiry. Just moments ago Kevin Mccarthy leaving the capitol. Our colleague caught up with him trying to get him to comment on this. No comment from the speaker, so unclear how he views this at the moment and how itll impact the republican prone going forward. The republicans called a plea deal a slap on the wrist and they wanted charges. Now these are charges and of course the tax charges are still being investigated. Manu raju, thanks so much on the hill. Paula, there is some irony in all of this in particular when we think of people like matt gaetz who are championing an Impeachment Inquiry. Just his comment there, this is someone whos actually enjoyed the doj not chargesing him in a separate Sex Trafficking investigation. Exactly. Congressman gaetz was under investigation, an investigation that also started under the Trump Administration under bill barr. He was under investigation for Sex Trafficking, questions how Campaign Funds were used and also possible obstruction of justice. Now, he was not ultimately charged because while prosecutors believed they had a very strong case for obstruction of justice, they werent sure of the underlying crime, the Sex Trafficking case, would actually hold up in court so he was not charged. So it is interesting to see him being so flippant ability the process there when he too was vetted, again, an interesting perspective given his scrutiny. Still searching for principle on capitol hill. We should remind our viewers were waiting to hear from President Biden at any moment. Hes speaking in maryland, specifically a speech designed to talk about bidennomics and the economy. David to you. Obviously we dont know how much of the president s speech is going to be related to any of this news. Hes been reluctant to speak publicly about these issues with his son. Its something personal for him. Id be surprised if he speaks about at all. Theres the political for him and then theres the personal. The political, obviously, this is an Unwelcome Development for any white house. As we said its the First Time Ever a president s chuld is indicted on criminal charges. Nobody would want that. Its an Unwelcome Development for this Campaign Season getting under way. Its a distraction for what the white house and his team want to focus on. Just where this fits into this unbelievable biden story of the last 51 years, you know, just remember he has buried two children, so he understands pain. And this is a painful day for joe biden, no doubt, but probably not pain like that, right . And, in fact, when his young daughter and his first wife died in the car crash, his two young boys, hunter and beau, were hospitalized and they almost didnt take up the post he was elected to as a young United States senator wanting to be with them and raise them. So they have been these two boys were like the center piece of his life. He goes to the highest heights, he gets to the vicepresidency. His son beau dies as Attorney General of brain cancer. And then as hes about to launch a president ial campaign theyre dealing with the ramifications of hunters Drug Addiction and how all his troubles are going to play into the campaign and consider that into thaeir political calculus. There have been more emotional ups and downs for this family, and this is now another day where the president is going to suffer an emotional down that his son is under these criminal charges, so i am certain hes not just viewing this through a political lens but obviously he is somebody so identified with his children and grandchildren at the very center and core of his being. So, david, what is the risk for republicans if in this Impeachment Inquiry process republicans find no link to joe biden and then we see this Legal Process play out with doj and hunter biden . What is the Risk Republicans might be making if it looks like they are just kind of reaching for someone and hitting someone in a sensitive spot . Theres certainly some risk for blow back, but i would say right now if you look at the polling, theyre leaning into Public Perception on this. 55 of americans believe joe biden has acted inappropriately in this election. 6 in 10 americans believe as Vice President there was something nefarious going on with joe biden in the Business Dealings. 42 think joe biden acted illegally. The Biden White House has problems around this and these charges are not going to help in any way. Trump put out on social media these are the only charges that can be brought out against hunter biden that a are not connected to his father. So the problem remains is for the republicans to show evidence of joe bidens actions to Hunter Bidens doing. Thats not emerged yet. Are voters tendsing to believe that because thats all theyre hearing and theres a void on the democratic side . There has been a vacuum, right, that the republicans have filled here because joe biden as you noted doesnt want to talk about this at the end of the day and trying to maintain independence from the Justice Department investigation, so he doesnt want to get wrapped up in talking about or defending his son. The white house doesnt want to. You heard the democratic congressman from new york saying obviously if he did something illegal, he should be held accountable. Theres not been a robust defense. No doubt that lack of a robust political defense of him has contributed to the public theres a reason the president is not commenting in ongoing investigations either of his son or of the former president , right . Thats a deliberate decision by him not to appear to be influencing the actions of his Justice Department. So is there a solution that does not involve the current president breaking that promise, in effect . I mean, when the president has talked about hunter biden, it has been mostly in personal terms. As a father would. And not about the investigation. And i would imagine we would probably hear at some point if not today in the days ahead from President Biden in that personal capacity. Specifically if youre talking about a counter message, because as weve been discussing our poll shows people do believe theres something nefarious going on here. On that question is there something short of the president breaking his own promise in effect not to comment about ongoing investigations that would deliver that counter message, or does he get advocates, or is that baked in . I think to brianas point about potential blow back in the Impeachment Inquiry, if republicans are unable to actually move forward with impeachment at this point, one of the reasons you hear republicans say they fear you launch an inquiry and then you dont actually have a vote on articles of impeachment and impeach the president , then it looks like youre exonerating him. If they dont vote on the evidence and Kevin Mccarthy doesnt vote on impeachment, some of that perception will change because some of it will seem like they didnt bring the goods and joe biden is moving on. We should note there was reporting a few weeks ago there was concern among the president s allies over him not addressing this and him being sensitive in closed meetings about speaking over his son. They see it in the white house as a potential political liability as we get closer to 2024. We also want to bring in former republican congressman adam kinzinger. Hes the honorary chairman of the Country First act. Whats your reaction to this news the president s son has been charged . The good side of it is nobodys above the law. For those that are trying doesnt mean the republicans arent going to still try to do it. For those just buying into this doj only targets republicans, this is a Counter Point to that. Id be very curious im not the law guy but id be very curious whos been charged with similar things for similar crimes. But i also you know, when the republicans now and this was kind of my biggest pet peeve in all this. They act like theyre trying to be the Guardians Of The Flame of the constitution in going after hunter biden. Lets be very clear. Hunter biden is simply a prop they can use to hang around joe bidens head, and these same people have never looked into it id take it much more serious if theyd be looking into Jared Kushners deal with the saudis after office, ivanka in office, you know, investigating the trumps using their fathers names. I hate to interrupt, but President Biden is speaking in maryland now. Lets listen in. I once said that early in my tenure when i said everybody take a seat. None of them had seats. Well, i tell you what, you guys are impressive. And the three of you are really close, close friends. And ones about to become a close friend. Really and truly, thank you, thank you. And i appreciate you very much. Senator ben carden is one of the great i hate to say public servants, but it is true. I judge my colleagues over the years not just on their intellectual capacity but integrity