Special Counsel David Weiss’ final report on his years-long investigation into Hunter Biden determined the first son’s drug abuse could not explain away not paying taxes on millions of dollars of income earned off of his “last name and connections.” 

“As a well-educated lawyer and businessman, Mr. Biden consciously and willfully chose not to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. From 2016 to 2020, Mr. Biden received more than $7 million in total gross income, including approximately $1.5 million in 2016, $2.3 million in 2017, $2.1 million in 2018, $1 million in 2019 and $188,000 from January through October 15, 2020,” Weiss wrote in his final report, which was released Monday. 

“Mr. Biden made this money by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities, such as a board seat at a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate, Burisma Holdings Limited, and a joint venture with individuals associated with a Chinese energy conglomerate. He negotiated and executed contracts and agreements that paid him millions of dollars for limited work,” Weiss continued. 

Hunter Biden, 54, had a busy year in court last year, when he was convicted of two separate federal cases prosecuted by Weiss. He kicked off his first trial in Delaware in June, when he faced three felony firearm offenses involving his drug use, before pleading guilty in a separate felony tax case in September. 

DOJ RELEASES SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS’ REPORT ON HUNTER BIDEN

Hunter Biden’s September trial revolved around charges of three felony tax offenses and six misdemeanor tax offenses regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. As jury selection was about to kick off in Los Angeles federal court for the case, however, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. 

Weiss continued in his report that Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that he “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes.” 

Weiss added that the first son’s previous drug abuse could not explain his failure to pay the taxes. 

HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER SIX YEARS UNFOLDED

“These are not ‘inconsequential’ or ‘technical’ tax code violations,” Weiss wrote. “Nor can Mr. Biden’s conduct be explained away by his drug use-most glaringly, Mr. Biden filed his false 2018 return, in which he deliberately underreported his income to lower his tax liability, in February 2020, approximately eight months after he had regained his sobriety. Therefore, the prosecution of Mr. Biden was warranted given the nature and seriousness of his tax crimes.”

Hunter has a well-documented history of drug abuse, which was most notably documented in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.” The book walked readers through his previous addiction to crack cocaine, before getting sober in 2019. The memoir featured extensively in his separate firearms case in June, when a jury found him guilty of three felony charges related to his purchase of a gun while addicted to substances. 

BIDEN PARDONS SON HUNTER BIDEN AHEAD OF EXIT FROM OVAL OFFICE

“The evidence demonstrated that as Mr. Biden held high-paying positions earning him millions of dollars, he chose to keep funding his extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes. He then chose to lie to his accountants in claiming false business deductions when, in fact, he knew they were personal expenses. He did this on his own, and his tax return preparers relied on him, because, among other reasons, only he understood the true nature of his deductions and he failed to give them records that might have revealed that the deductions were bogus,” Weiss continued. 

The tax case charges carried up to 17 years behind bars, but the first son would likely have faced a much shorter sentence under federal sentencing guidelines. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, but he was pardoned by his father, President Biden, earlier that month. 

BIDEN WON’T PARDON HUNTER, WHITE HOUSE REAFFIRMS, BUT CRITICS AREN’T SO SURE

Hunter Biden’s blanket pardon encompassed a decade-period applying to any offenses he “has committed or may have committed” on a federal level. 

Weiss’ report also took issue with the president’s pardoning of Hunter Biden, specifically with how President Biden characterized prosecutions of Hunter Biden as “selective” and “unfair.”

HUNTER BIDEN FOUND GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN GUN TRIAL

“This statement is gratuitous and wrong,” Weiss wrote in his report. “Other presidents have pardoned family members, but in doing so, none have taken the occasion as an opportunity to malign the public servants at the Department of Justice based solely on false accusations.” 

“Politicians who attack the decisions of career prosecutors as politically motivated when they disagree with the outcome of a case undermine the public’s confidence in our criminal justice system,” Weiss wrote in another section of the report. “The President’s statements unfairly impugn the integrity not only of Department of Justice personnel, but all of the public servants making these difficult decisions in good faith.” 

The DOJ sent Weiss’ report to Congress Monday evening, officially bringing the years-long investigation into the first son to a close. 

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Defense Secretary, laying out a bevy of accusations and about 100 questions that she expects him to answer at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.  

Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, penned the 33-page letter last week to Hegseth. It describes why she thinks he is “unfit” to serve, referring to him at one point in the letter as “an insider threat” due to a tattoo Hegseth has that Warren claims is tied to “right-wing extremism.” 

“Your confirmation as Secretary of Defense would be detrimental to our national security and disrespect a diverse array of servicemembers who are willing to sacrifice for our country,” Warren writes in the letter. “I am deeply concerned by the many ways in which your behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense.”

ARE PETE HEGSETH’S TATTOOS SYMBOLS OF ‘CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM?’

The letter starts off with accusations against Hegseth that include claims of financial mismanagement during his work operating two nonprofits, and accusations of heavy drinking and sexual assault. 

The Massachusetts Democrat accused Hegseth of “gross mismanagement” in running up debt and using business funds at the nonprofits he ran for personal expenses. She cited past colleagues of Hegseth’s who claimed to be privy to what took place. Warren also claimed in her letter that some of Hegseth’s past colleagues had shared he may potentially have a drinking problem, citing “at least 11 separate incidents in which [Hegseth has] been described as drinking excessively or inappropriately in public.” Warren asks in the letter if Hegseth would resign if he were to be caught drinking again.  

NEW GOP SENATOR TEARS INTO DEMS ‘SEEKING TO DELAY’ PETE HEGSETH DOD CONFIRMATION  

Warren also went after Hegseth’s policy positions in the letter, several of which were made during media appearances and in books. 

Warren slammed Hegseth for previous comments about women in the military, including remarks he made that only men should be allowed in combat roles. Warren questioned Hegseth about other aspects of women in the military as well, including whether he thinks single women in the military should have access to birth control.

Hegseth, an advocate for getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the military, was slammed by Warren in her letter for calling for the firing of “any general, admiral, whatever, that was involved in any of the DEI woke s–t,” during a podcast interview in November. 

Warren added that in addition to potentially firing Defense Department officials promoting DEI, she also detailed fears about Hegseth’s willingness to help aid Trump in going after his political opponents. In one of Warren’s questions, she requested that Hegseth share his thoughts on the 2020 election and whether he believes Trump won, or lost fairly. 

At one point in the letter, Warren highlighted that Hegseth had been removed from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021 because of concerns he was “an insider threat” following reports that his tattoo with the words “Deus Vult,” was allegedly a “Christian expression associated with right-wing extremism.”

AMERICAN HEROES MAKE POWERFUL MOVE AHEAD OF HEARING FOR TRUMP’S PENTAGON PICK

Other sections seek to harp on Hegseth’s alleged unwillingness to work with allies, including those within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Warren suggested Hegseth will not adequately support considering his “skepticism” over aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Warren devoted an entire line of questioning to whether Hegseth will “undermine” veterans’ benefits, and questioned what Hegseth might do to the Department of Defense Education Activity, the part of the agency that educates troops’ children.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trump Transition spokesperson Bran Hughes said that Hegseth “looks forward to answering Senators’ questions and detailing his many qualifications at his hearing tomorrow.”

“Senator Warren’s letter to Pete Hegseth is exactly what the American voters rejected on November 5,” Hughes said. “Instead of focusing on ‘woke’ policies that have weakened our national defense, the voters gave a mandate to rebuild our military, and that’s exactly what a reform-minded Secretary of Defense like Pete Hegseth will do. Senator Warren’s letter proves why ideologically driven college professors have no place driving their social agenda at the Department of Defense.”

Efforts to reach Warren for comment for purposes of this story were unsuccessful. 

“Lone actors” pose the greatest threat to safety during the upcoming presidential inauguration events, according to U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger. 

He referenced two incidents last week on Capitol Hill where people sought to “disrupt” congressional proceedings with potentially violent tactics. 

An estimated 250,000 ticketed guests will attend the formal inauguration on Jan. 20, according to law enforcement.

That will be supplemented by another 25,000, who law enforcement expect will attend various demonstrations going on around the Capitol on Inauguration Day. The inauguration and its accompanying events have been designated a “National Special Security Event,” the highest federal protective status an event can receive, authorities said. 

“The biggest threat, I think, for all of us remains the lone actor,” Manger said Monday. “Just in the past week, while President Carter was lying in state, we had two lone actors show up at the Capitol: one trying to bring in knives and a machete; another one who was trying – what I believe – to disrupt the proceedings by setting their car on fire down in the peace circle area.” 

“Capitol Police were able to interdict these folks before they had a chance to do any harm. But that threat of the lone actor remains the biggest justification for us being at this heightened state of alert throughout the next week.” 

TRAVEL TIPS FOR ATTENDING PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP’S INAUGURATION AS EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Manger’s remarks came during a Monday press conference with federal and local law enforcement officials, including leaders from the Metropolitan Police Department, the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police, during which they discussed their preparation for the inauguration. 

Representing the FBI was the assistant director in charge of the agency’s Washington field office, David Sundberg, who said the FBI was “not currently tracking any specific or credible threats to the inaugural ceremony or to the Capitol complex.”

The upcoming week of events will be secured similarly to the two high-profile National Special Security Events from last week, the presidential election certification and the late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral, authorities indicated. However, the inauguration will get a little extra support from roughly 4,000 local law enforcement officers who have volunteered to help and an estimated 7,800 National Guard soldiers who will deploy to the nation’s capital. In total, according to the Secret Service’s special agent in charge of the agency’s Washington field office, Matt McCool, a total of about 25,000 law enforcement officers will be on duty.

ABBOTT ORDERS FLAGS AT FULL-STAFF FOR TRUMP’S INAUGURATION DESPITE ONE MONTH ORDER TO HONOR CARTER

The inauguration will get extra concrete barriers and more than 30 miles of anti-scale fencing, which is more than has been used for any National Special Security Event in the past. 

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith said that the district is expecting to see 12 different First Amendment demonstrations during the inauguration. Smith said that while the “MPD will ensure your right to peacefully protest,” they “will not tolerate any violence.”  

“I want to reiterate – as I always have – that violence, destruction and unlawful behavior will not be tolerated,” Smith said Monday. “Offenders will face swift and decisive consequences.”

When asked by a reporter what the biggest difference was between this inauguration and the last in 2021, McCool said there is a “slightly more robust security plan.”

“We’ve learned,” McCool said. “This is our fifth NSSE this year in the Washington field office. We’ve done 83 NSSEs, each one we take a look at, and if there’s areas where we need to improve, we do it. But what I can tell you is that we are 100% confident in the plan that we have put in place for this inauguration that the public and our protectees will be safe.” 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is meeting with Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Democrats on Monday evening to discuss the confirmation hearing for controversial Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth — just hours before its set to take place. 

A Senate Democratic source confirmed the last-minute meeting to Fox News Digital. 

Schumer and other Democrats have made their opposition to the former Fox News host clear in the days leading up to the hearing, which is the first to take place of all President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees. 

MEET LEADER JOHN THUNE’S ALL-STAR CABINET AS REPUBLICANS TAKE OVER SENATE MAJORITY

The meeting, first reported by Axios, comes after the New York Democrat urged his fellow caucus members to grill Trump’s nominees in their upcoming hearings and force them to go on record about controversial Trump agenda items, per a Senate Democratic source. 

The source added that Democrats are planning to lay the groundwork to say that they warned about Trump’s Cabinet picks early on. 

SCHUMER DIRECTS DEMS TO PUT PRESSURE ON TRUMP NOMINEES AHEAD OF CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

In floor remarks on Monday, Schumer said, “Unfortunately, Mr. Hegseth’s background is deeply troubling, to put it generously. We have all read the reports about his radical views, his alleged excessive drinking, the allegations about sexual assault, and his failures in the financial stewardship of multiple organizations.”

Hegseth has denied all allegations, including those suggesting financial mismanagement, sexual assault and alcohol consumption. 

The Secretary of Defense nominee’s spokesperson did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital. 

SENATE GOP TEES UP CONFIRMATION HEARING BLITZ IN EFFORT TO MEET AMBITIOUS TRUMP TARGETS

Democrats on SASC include Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Angus King, I-Maine, Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.

TULSI GABBARD CHANGES TUNE ON CONTROVERSIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOL FOLLOWING GOP LOBBYING

Reed and Hegseth met last week for a notably brief discussion. Afterward, the SASC ranking member said in a statement, “Today’s meeting did not relieve my concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s lack of qualifications and raised more questions than answers.” 

“As with any nominee for this critical position, Mr. Hegseth must undergo the same high-level of scrutiny as prior Secretary of Defense nominees,” he added. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and President-elect Trump met on Saturday and discussed the “mutual importance” of a U.S.-Canadian energy relationship and the hundreds of thousands of American jobs supported through Albertan exports.

“Over the last 24 hours I had the opportunity to meet President [Trump] at Mar-a-Lago last night and at his golf club this morning,” Smith wrote in a post on X. “We had a friendly and constructive conversation during which I emphasized the mutual importance of the U.S. – Canadian energy relationship, and specifically, how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by energy exports from Alberta.”

She continued, saying she had similar discussions with “several key allies” of Trump’s incoming administration in which she became encouraged to hear about their support for “a strong energy and security relationship with Canada.”

“On behalf of Albertans, I will continue to engage in constructive dialogue and diplomacy with the incoming administration and elected federal and state officials from both parties, and will do all I can to further Alberta’s and Canada’s interests,” Smith said. “The United States and Canada are both proud and independent nations with one of the most important security alliances on earth and the largest economic partnership in history. We need to preserve our independence while we grow this critical partnership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come.”

INFLUENTIAL LEADER OF CANADA’S ONTARIO PROVINCE SEEKS TRUMP, MUSK MEETING: US ‘NEEDS US LIKE WE NEED THEM’

Smith posted about the meeting on X, nearly a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation amid growing pressure from within his own Liberal Party and heightened criticisms over his handling of the economy and threats levied by Trump.

However, as Trudeau announced on Monday his plan to resign as prime minister once the Liberal Party that he leads chooses his successor, the biggest pushback to Trump’s pitch to annex Canada – and his planned 25% tariffs on exports from the country – has come from the premier of Canada’s most populous province, Ontario.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU’S RESIGNATION MET WITH GLEEFUL REACTION FROM CONSERVATIVES ONLINE: ‘THE WINNING CONTINUES!’

Doug Ford, a former businessman and conservative who has served as Ontario’s 26th premier since 2018, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the president-elect’s targeting Canada is both “crazy” and “ridiculous.”

TRUMP REACTS TO TRUDEAU RESIGNATION: ‘MANY PEOPLE IN CANADA LOVE BEING THE 51ST STATE’

He said the bilateral focus should be on “strengthening” what the Canadian government calls a nearly trillion-dollar two-way trade relationship to “make the U.S. and Canada the richest and most prosperous jurisdiction in the world.”

The president-elect has been trolling Canada in recent weeks, floating the idea of it becoming the 51st state and posting a doctored photo of him standing beside a Canadian flag on top of a mountain.

Trump has also been pushing for Denmark to sell the North Atlantic island of Greenland to the U.S.

Fox News’ Christopher Guly contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump is giving Republicans his blessing to negotiate on a key tax that could prove critical to the GOP’s negotiations for a massive conservative policy overhaul next year.

Trump met with several different groups of House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, including blue state GOP lawmakers who make up the House SALT Caucus – a group opposed to the current $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions that primarily affect urban and suburban residents in areas with high income and property taxes, such as New York, New Jersey, and California.

“I think it was productive and successful,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said of the meeting. “The president supports our efforts to increase the SALT deduction. He understands that mayors and governors in blue states are crushing taxpayers and wants to provide relief from the federal level.”

JOHNSON BLASTS DEM ACCUSATIONS HE VOWED TO END OBAMACARE AS ‘DISHONEST’

But Trump also signaled he was aware of the opposition from others in the House GOP conference, particularly rural district Republicans, who have viewed SALT deductions as tax breaks for the wealthy. Before the cap was imposed in 2017, there was no limit to how much state income and local property taxes people could deduct from their income when filing their federal returns.

“He gave us a little homework to work on, a number that could provide our middle class constituents with relief from the high taxes imposed by our governor and mayor, and at the same time, you know, something that can build consensus and get to [a 218-vote majority],” Malliotakis said.

 “I think we pretty much know that it’s not going to be a complete lifting of the SALT cap. There’s not an appetite within Congress or even among American taxpayers to lower taxes for the ultra-wealthy.

“Our efforts are really targeted to middle-class families, and that’s what we’re focused on in trying to achieve the right balance.”

The current SALT deduction cap has been opposed by New York and California lawmakers for much of its existence, since being levied in Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA).

RFK JR. TO MEET WITH SLEW OF DEMS INCLUDING ELIZABETH WARREN, BERNIE SANDERS

Trump suggested he would change course during his second administration as early as September last year, when he posted on Truth Social that he would “get SALT back, lower your taxes, and so much more.”

The discussions are part of Republicans’ wider talks about passing a massive fiscal and conservative policy overhaul via a process known as “reconciliation.”

By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage to a simple majority instead of two-thirds, the process allows the party in control of both houses of Congress and the White House to pass certain legislation provided it deals with budgetary and other fiscal matters.

Some pro-SALT deduction Republicans, like Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., had signaled they could withhold support from the final bill if the cap was not increased.

“The only red line I have is that if there is a tax bill that does not lift the cap on SALT, I would not support that,” Lawler told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.

Lawler also said Trump agreed that SALT deduction caps needed to be raised.

House Republicans have virtually no room for error with a razor-thin majority from Trump’s inauguration until likely sometime in April.

Meanwhile, Trump also told New York Republicans that he would help them fight their state’s controversial congestion pricing rule that levies an added cost to drive in parts of Manhattan.

“He understands how unfair this is and how it would impact the city’s economy and the people we represent and so we’re currently working with him on legal options to reverse the rubber stamp of the Biden administration,” Malliotakis said. “If there’s a legal option, if there’s a legal option for him to halt congestion pricing, he will.”

“You have, you know, cops, police, firefighters, nurses, the restaurant workers that have to go in at odd hours, and they drive because they don’t feel that the transit system is clean or safe.”

Congestion pricing took effect in New York City earlier this month.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on this weekend’s meeting.