Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, has reached an agreement to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges, likely heading off prison time and what would have been a politically explosive prosecution while his father campaigns for re-election. Biden’s deal with federal prosecutors marks the culmination of a yearslong investigation by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, who has remained in office under the Biden administration to see through the criminal inquiry into the president’s son.

Weiss and Biden’s defense lawyer, Chris Clark, asked the court to schedule an initial appearance on the charges, which include two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.

Clark, in a prepared statement, said the plea deal has resolved the five-year investigation into Biden, who “will take responsibility” for two instances of failing to file his taxes.

Trump immediately seized on Biden’s plea agreement, saying in his Truth Social platform that the Justice Department had handed the president’s son “a mere traffic ticket.”

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