Hunter Biden to plead guilty in federal tax case, lawyer says

Hunter Biden, US President Joe Biden’s son, plans to plead guilty in his federal tax case, his lawyer said on Thursday just as his trial was about to begin.
Biden had previously entered a not guilty plea, and the reversal was made shortly before jury selection for the trial.
Defence lawyer Abbe Lowell told the judge in Los Angeles about Biden’s plans to change his previous plea, just months after he was convicted of gun charges in a separate case, but did not provide further details.
The conditions of the plea were not immediately disclosed and it was not known whether the judge would accept his attempt to avoid a trial and move to sentencing.
The US Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Biden in December, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle, the trappings of which included hotels and exotic dancers.
He was charged with three felony and six misdemeanour tax offences, according to the indictment, filed in federal court in California.
His lawyers had indicated they would argue he did not act “wilfully” or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction.
US District Judge Mark Scarsi, who was appointed to the bench by former president Donald Trump, placed some restrictions on what jurors would be allowed to hear about the traumatic events that Biden’s family, friends and legal team say led to his drug addiction.
The judge barred lawyers 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 defence expert lined up to testify about addiction.
Mr Scarsi had been asked by Biden’s legal team to limit prosecutors from highlighting details of his expenses that they say amount to a “character assassination”, and the judge has said in court papers that he will maintain “strict control” over the presentation of potentially salacious evidence.
Biden was found guilty in June of lying about his drug use to buy a gun illegally. He is the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.
Asked if the President would pardon his son in the tax case, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “It’s no, it’s still no.”