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Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges Thursday in a California federal court that could spare President Joe Biden’s son from a criminal trial, but only if the presiding judge in the case accepts Biden’s attorneys’ argument.
In a last minute effort on the day the jury selection in Hunter Biden’s criminal tax trial was to begin in which he has been accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes, Biden decided at the last minute to file a Alford plea deal.
Alford plea must be approved by the judge and if accepted, the way an Alford plea manifests itself is that the defendant agrees to whatever terms the judge sentences the defendant.
The president’s son is already facing potential prison time after his June conviction on three felony gun charges in Delaware in June.
The tax trial was expected to showcase even more lurid evidence than presented in the gun trial in June, as well as about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which could have opened even further doors to the focus on the Biden family foreign business deals.
“After watching prosecutors exploit his family’s pain during the Delaware trial and realizing that they were planning to do it again here in California, Hunter decided to enter his plea to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation,” said Biden’s defense attorney Abbe Lowell to reporters following the court hearing Thursday afternoon.
“Hunter put his family first today, and it was a brave and loving thing for him to do,” Lowell said after stating he was not going to answer any media questions.
Hunter Biden quickly responded “guilty” as the judge read out each of the nine counts. The charges carry up to 17 years behind bars, but federal sentencing guidelines are likely to call for a much shorter sentence. He faces up to $1.35 million in fines.
Sentencing, if the Alford plea is accepted, is set for December 16 in front of U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who was nominated to the bench by former President Donald Trump.
Biden faces sentencing in the Delaware case on November 13 — the week after the general election. Those charges are punishable up to 25 years in prison, though Biden is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.
Hunter Biden walked out of the courthouse without speaking to the media and left in an SUV with his current wife, Melissa Cohen.
Over a 100 potential jurors had been brought to the courthouse Thursday to begin the process of picking the jury panel.
Special Counsel David Weiss’ prosecutorial team said they objected to Hunter’s Alford plea, telling Judge Scarsi that Hunter Biden “is not entitled to plead guilty on special terms that apply only to him.”
“Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,” prosecutor Leo Wise said.
The indictment alleged that Hunter Biden lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels — “in short, everything but his taxes.”
Hunter Biden’s attorneys had asked Judge Scarsi to also limit prosecutors from highlighting details of his expenses that they say amount to a “character assassination,” including payments made to strippers or pornographic websites.
The judge not only denied Biden's motion to limit evidence, but the prosecutors gave full immunity to Hunter Biden's sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, who is the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, to testify against Hunter Biden as she did in the June gun criminal trial in Delaware. Hallie Biden had an affair with Hunter after Beau Biden died. When the affair became public, then Vice-President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, endorsed that affair even though Hunter Biden was still married to his first wife. Between the two families, at the time of that affair, five grandchildren existed. Subsequently, Hunter Biden fathered a daughter, Navy, out of wedlock with a former stripper in Arkansas and has since had a son with his current wife, Melissa Cohen, whom he married after his affair with Hallie Biden.
Prosecutors had also planned to introduce evidence about Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings, including his work for a Romanian businessman whom prosecutors said in court papers sought to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.
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