Hunter Biden plans to change his plea to guilty on federal tax charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss, the attorney said in court Thursday, shocking federal prosecutors.
Abbe Lowell, his first son’s attorney, said Thursday in federal court that Biden plans to change his plea and plead guilty. He initially pleaded not guilty.
Federal Prosecutor Leo Wise said that “this is the first we’ve heard of this.”
A source familiar with the special counsel’s team told Fox News digital that this is not a deal for Hunter Biden, and that for now only a defense offer is being put on the table.
A court sketch shows Hunter Biden appearing in federal court in Los Angeles, California, Thursday, September 5, 2024. (Bill Robles)
HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TAX TRIAL BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION IN CALIFORNIA
The judge asked Hunter Biden under oath to remain silent and said that if he pleads guilty, he will give up all rights to a trial.
Before the court took a 30-minute recess, Judge Mark Scarsi said that “the court does not need the government’s approval to accept an Alford plea.”
The development came after Hunter Biden’s lawyer had prepared to argue that he was too high or drunk to pay taxes.
According to a Justice Department manual, DOJ prosecutors cannot take so-called Alford pleas, “except in the most unusual circumstances…”
An Alford plea is when a defendant admits that the prosecution’s evidence will be enough to convict, so they accept a conviction but remain innocent.
Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, is seen at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Monday, August 19, 2024. (Getty Images)
A source familiar with Weiss’s team said Biden’s lawyers and the special counsel’s team are not talking directly at this time, and the special counsel’s team is trying to figure out their next steps when they speak internally.
The US Department of Justice is also trying to determine how and when to get involved.
The trial begins Thursday with jury selection in Los Angeles.
Weiss charged Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors over a $1.4 million tax debt he has now paid. Weiss cited a pattern in which the president’s son did not pay federal income taxes while also filing false tax returns.
In the indictment, Weiss alleges that Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes for the 2016 through 2019 tax years, beginning in January 2017 through or about October 15, 2020, and to evade tax assessments for the 2018 tax year when he filed the false return on or about February 2020.
Weiss said that, in “beyond the scheme,” Biden “undermined the payroll and tax deduction process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside the payroll and tax deduction process it was designed to do.”
Hunter Biden arrives in federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, on June 11, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was finally convicted in a gun case. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
HUNTER BIDEN TAX trial postponed to September
The special counsel said Biden “spent millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle instead of paying his tax bill,” and in 2018, he “stopped paying outstanding and late taxes for the 2015 tax year.”
Weiss said that Biden “willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of those taxes,” and that he “willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.”
This is the second time Biden has gone on trial this year over allegations from the Weiss investigation.
President Biden hugs his son Hunter Biden during the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Biden was found guilty on all counts in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement during a firearm purchase; making false statements related to information that must be kept by a licensed firearms dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who uses it illegally or is addicted to a controlled substance.
A date has not been set for sentencing on those charges. With all the counts combined, the total maximum prison term for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
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President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son, and the White House suggested Thursday that he has not changed his mind.
“No, still not,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday when asked if the request would affect Biden’s decision on whether he would consider a pardon for his son. “I can’t comment on that, but I can say there’s still a lot of ‘no’ to the question that I think the president will pardon (Hunter).
