Hunter Biden on Thursday entered a guilty plea to all nine federal tax charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss, his attorney said in court Thursday, shocking federal prosecutors.
The president’s son remains free on bond until sentencing on Dec. 16.
Abbe Lowell, the first son’s attorney, said earlier Thursday in federal court that Biden intends to switch his plea and intends to plead guilty. He initially pleaded not guilty.
Federal prosecutor Leo Wise said that “this is the first we are hearing about this.”
A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden as he appears in federal court in Los Angeles, California on Thursday, September 5, 2024. (Bill Robles)
HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TAX TRIAL BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION IN CALIFORNIA
A source familiar with the special counsel’s team told Fox News digital that this is not a done deal for Hunter Biden, and that it’s currently just an offer the defense put on the table.
The judge had Hunter Biden agree under oath to no longer remain silent and told him that if he pleads guilty he gives up all of his rights to a trial.
Before the court took a 30-minute break, Judge Mark Scarsi said that “the court doesn’t need the government’s agreement to accept an Alford plea.”
The development comes after Hunter Biden’s lawyers had prepared to argue he was too high or drunk to pay his taxes.
According to the Justice Department manual, DOJ prosecutors cannot take what is called an Alford plea, “except in the most unusual of circumstances…”
An Alford plea is when a defendant acknowledges that a prosecutor’s evidence would likely be enough to convict, so they accept a sentence but maintain their innocence.
Hunter Biden, son of President Biden, is seen during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (Getty Images)
A source familiar with Weiss’ team says Biden’s attorneys and the special counsel team are not talking directly right now, and that the special counsel’s team is trying to figure out next steps while talking internally.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also trying to assess how and when it could get involved.
The trial began Thursday with jury selection in Los Angeles.
Weiss charged Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a pattern by which the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes while also filing false tax returns.
In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.”
Weiss said that, in “furtherance of that scheme,” Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions” from the company “outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.”
Hunter Biden arrives to federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, on June 11, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was eventually convicted in a gun case. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
HUNTER BIDEN TAX TRIAL POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER
The special counsel alleged that Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and that in 2018, he “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.”
Weiss alleged 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 these taxes,” and that he “willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.”
This is the second time Biden is on trial this year stemming from charges out of Weiss’ investigation.
President Biden hugs his son Hunter Biden during the Democratic National Convention on 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 the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
A date has not yet been set for sentencing for those charges. With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time 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 on Thursday that he has not changed his mind.
“It’s no, it’s still no,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday when they questioned whether the plea had impacted Biden’s decision on whether he would consider a pardon for his son. “I’m not able to comment on it, but I can say that it is still very much a ‘no’ to the questions I have gotten about if the president is going to pardon [Hunter].