Hunter Biden to make initial court appearance July 26 

Hunter Biden is slated to make his initial court appearance next month in connection to the plea agreement he struck with federal prosecutors Tuesday.  

He will make his first court appearance at 10 a.m. July 26 at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Del., according to court documents.

Biden, son of the president, agreed to plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay income tax and to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. 

That diversion agreement will likely have Biden enter a pretrial diversion program. If he complies with the program’s terms, he will likely have the firearm charge dropped from his record. If the plea deal is accepted by a judge, Biden will likely stay out of prison and may receive a probation sentence instead.

Court records show Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by former President Trump, will preside over the case. 

Trump and many Republicans have decried the plea deal as a double standard, saying it shows a “two-tier” system of justice in the country. Some GOP members, spearheaded by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), have pointed to the Justice Department’s decision to indict Trump on federal charges over the alleged mishandling of classified documents, compared to a “sweetheart deal” prosecutors made with the president’s son. 

The former president also commented on Hunter Biden’s plea deal and compared the charges to a “traffic ticket.” Republicans in Congress have also vowed to keep the investigations into Biden going, with House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) saying Tuesday they “will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland pushed back Wednesday on those claims and insisted he was not involved in the case involving the president’s son.