On Thursday, President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, offered to plead guilty to federal tax charges but avoided admitting to any wrongdoing in an unusual legal maneuver that federal prosecutors quickly opposed.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the judge overseeing the case would accept the offer or push ahead with a trial that could expose embarrassing details of the younger Biden’s life right before the November 5 presidential election.
Hunter Biden had previously pleaded not guilty in the criminal case, which accuses him of not paying $1.4 million in taxes while lavishly spending on luxury items, drugs, and sex workers.
In December, he was charged as part of a wide-reaching probe of his business dealings and finances, becoming the first child of a sitting president to be charged criminally.
In the federal court in Los Angeles, where his trial was set to take place, Joe Biden sought to enter an “Alford plea,” an uncommon type of guilty plea in which a defendant doesn’t admit to the allegations against him.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department in the courtroom said they wouldn’t accept that plea.
Alford pleas are typically negotiated in advance because prosecutors must achieve high-level approval before agreeing to them. However, courtroom prosecutors expressed confusion at the younger Biden’s plea.
“It’s not clear to us what they are trying to do,” said one prosecutor to Judge Mark Scarsi.
If Scarsi accepts the plea offer, it would stave off a weeks-long trial that is likely to air messy details of Hunter Biden’s life shortly prior to the election between GOP former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election in July under serious pressure from members of his party.
Hunter Biden is accused of failing to pay taxes
Hunter Biden — who has been open about his alcohol and drug addiction struggles — is accused of failing to pay taxes from 2016 to 2019 while spending massive sums “on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature,” stated the indictment.
The trial could additionally shed light on his work with Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company, and his other business dealings while his father served as vice president. The president’s GOP foes have claimed that Hunter’s activities were corrupt.
The indictment states Hunter Biden “earned handsomely” while serving on the boards of a private Chinese equity fund and Burisma.
Hunter Biden has denied any inappropriate business dealings, and Republican-led investigations in Congress have not directly implicated his father in any misconduct.
Hunter Biden is additionally appealing a June conviction in a separate case in Delaware for purchasing a gun illegally while using drugs. That conviction means he could face a harsher sentence if convicted in the tax case because he would be a repeat offender.
