LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden plans to change his not-guilty plea in his federal tax case, his defense attorney said Thursday just as jury selection was set to begin.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell announced Hunter Biden’s plans to change his previous plea, just months after the president’s son was convicted of gun charges in a separate case, but did not provide further details.
The latest case accuses Hunter Biden of a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes while pulling in millions of dollars from foreign business entities. He is already facing potential prison time after a Delaware jury convicted him in June of lying on a 2018 federal form to purchase a gun that he possessed for 11 days.
Hunter Biden walked into the courtroom holding hands with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and flanked by Secret Service agents. Initially, he pleaded not guilty to the charges related to his 2016 through 2019 taxes and his attorneys have indicated they will argue he didn’t act “willfully,” or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, placed some restrictions on what jurors will be allowed to hear about the traumatic events that Hunter Biden’s family, friends and attorneys say led to his drug addiction.
The judge barred attorneys from connecting his substance abuse struggles to the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden from cancer or the car accident that killed his mother and sister when he was a toddler. He also rejected a proposed defense expert lined up to testify about addiction.
The indictment alleges 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 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 has said in court papers that he will maintain “strict control” over the presentation of potentially salacious evidence.
Meanwhile, prosecutors could present more details of Hunter Biden’s overseas dealings, which have been at the center of Republican investigations into the Biden family often seeking - without evidence- to tie the president to an alleged influence peddling scheme.
The special counsel’s team has said it wants to tell jurors about Hunter Biden’s work for a Romanian businessman, who they say sought to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.
The defense accused prosecutors of releasing details about Hunter Biden’s work for the Romanian in court papers to drum up media coverage and taint the jury pool.
The judge will ask a group of prospective jurors a series of questions to determine whether they can serve on the jury, including whether their political views and knowledge of the case would prevent them from being impartial.
Potential jurors are expected to be asked about their own family and personal histories with substance abuse as well as any tax issues and past dealings with the Internal Revenue Service. And despite President Joe Biden dropping his bid for reelection, they’ll also answer questions about whether they believe criminal charges can be filed for political reasons.
A heavily scrutinized plea deal and diversion agreement that would have prevented either trial from moving forward collapsed in July 2023 under questioning from a judge. Special counsel indicted Hunter Biden soon after, splitting the deal into the Delaware gun charges and the California tax case.
Sentencing in Hunter Biden’s Delaware conviction is set for Nov. 13. He could face up to 25 years in prison, but as a first-time offender, he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.
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Lauer reported from Philadelphia.
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