- Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion. Other relatives of presidents have been investigated for lobbying and business deals.
- Billy Carter was found to not influence U.S. policy, but Neil Bush was reprimanded for savings-and-loan breaches.
WASHINGTON – Hunter Biden isn’t the first relative of a president to find himself the subject of unwanted attention, but his agreement Tuesday to resolve criminal charges placed him among the more serious targets of investigations aimed at relatives of presidents.
Biden reached an agreement with David Weiss, U.S. attorney for Delaware, to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanors for willful failure to pay income tax in 2017 and 2018. Biden also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program for a charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm in 2018.
Here are some other presidential relatives who drew the spotlight:
Billy Carter, brother of Jimmy Carter
Billy Carter promoted Billy Beer and lobbied for Libya while his brother, President Jimmy Carter, was in the White House. Libya was headed at the time by contentious Col. Mu’ammar Qadhafi and was barred from arms sales, although limited oil sales were still allowed.
Billy Carter, who had financial difficulties with the family farm and who was treated for alcoholism during this period, sought to boost trade with Libya in exchange for half the profits of deals reached, according to a Senate investigative report.
But a Senate Judiciary subcommittee reported in October 1980, a month before the election his brother lost, that Billy Carter hadn’t influenced U.S. policy.
Billy Carter visited Libya twice and his hosting Libyans in Georgia attracted considerable attention because of his remarks considered anti-Semitic, according to the report.
“I publicly deplored many of these comments myself,” Jimmy Carter said.
Neil Bush, son of George H.W. Bush
Neil Bush, the son of President George H.W. Bush, was investigated for the failure of Silverado Savings and Loan in Denver and reached settlements with regulators.
Neil Bush was a director of the institution from 1985 to 1988, during a crisis in the savings-and-loan industry.
The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision investigated the failure and in April 1991 reprimanded Bush for engaging in conflicts of interest. The formal complaint alleged Bush endangered the institution by voting on loans to one of his business partners and by failing to disclose his ties to another borrower.
In September 1990, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. filed a $200 million lawsuit alleging “gross negligence” that contributed to the collapse because the directors including Bush “repeatedly breached their duties” to the institution and depositors. Bush settled out of court for $50,000.
Barack Obama’s half-brothers
Samson Obama, the brother-in-law of President Barack Obama, was denied a visa to Britain in April 2009 after giving a false name to police when he was accused of attempted sexual assault, according to Reuters. Samson Obama returned home to Kenya.
The White House said the president hadn’t spoken to him for 20 years.
George Obama, another of the president’s half-brothers, told CNN he was arrested in February 2009 on suspicion of possessing marijuana, but released the same day.
Malik Obama, another half-brother of the president who lived in Kenya, told the New York Post in July 2016 he would vote for Donald Trump for president. Trump had campaigned on questioning Barack Obama’s nationality. Malik Obama had lived in Maryland for years and worked as an accountant and was registered to vote there.
Roger Clinton, half-brother of Bill Clinton
President Bill Clinton, on his last day in office in 2001, pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, for a cocaine-related conviction in 1985. Roger Clinton had served more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to distribute cocaine.
Congressional Republicans also investigated Roger Clinton for accepting six-figure payments from overseas and for lobbying for clemency for others, including mafia figures.
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser
Congressional Democrats questioned whether Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser in the White House, allowed business deals to influence U.S. foreign policy.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned whether Kushner was influenced by a $1.2 billion lease, which included Qatar funding, on a New York property his company owned at 666 Fifth Ave. Wyden said former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified in federal court it was “evident” that Kushner engaged with foreign officials in a manner inconsistent with the views of other U.S. officials.
After leaving the White House, Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners secured a $2 billion investment from the government of Saudi Arabia.
Kushner’s company denied links between the New York real estate deal and the White House. In response to the Saudi investment, a Kushner spokesman said in a statement to the New York Times he “fully abided by all legal and ethical guidelines both during and after his government service.”
