During an hours-long hearing Wednesday on various motions to dismiss criminal tax evasion charges against the president’s son, prosecutors grilled Hunter Biden’s attorneys.
The first son did not appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but his attorney, Abbe Lowell, pushed for the dismissal of what he called politically driven allegations. He claimed the government was conducting “the least ordinary prosecution a person could imagine.”
The tax accusations against President Biden’s son resulted from a years-long inquiry by Special Counsel David Weiss. Lowell contended that the case history showed the elevation of Hunter Biden’s misdemeanor charges to felonies.
As Special Counsel Attorney Leo Wise argued against dismissing the case, Lowell shook his head many times, clearly upset.
“When you don’t have the facts, you criticize the law.” When you don’t have the law, you attack the evidence. “When you don’t have the facts or the law, you attack the prosecutors,” Wise said at one point, referring to Lowell’s dismissal arguments as “fact-free pleadings.”
According to Wise, Abbe Lowell has criticized the prosecution for representing Jim Jordan, Biden, and Putin. “These are fact-free pleadings.”
Judge Mark Scarsi, who presided over the proceedings in the crowded courtroom, interrupted speakers from both sides multiple times. He said he will rule on various motions to dismiss federal tax charges against Hunter Biden by April 17.
As the session concluded, Scarsi stated that the parties had agreed on a next pre-trial hearing in Los Angeles on May 29 at 1 p.m.
Previously, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to all nine federal tax charges related to Weiss’ probe. We expect Hunter’s trial to begin on June 20.
Weiss charged Hunter Biden in December, alleging a “four-year scheme” in which the president’s son failed to pay his federal income taxes between January 2017 and October 2020 while also filing bogus tax returns.
Three felonies and six misdemeanors related to $1.4 million in unpaid taxes are the subject of the allegations.
According to the indictment, Hunter “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.”
The special counsel claimed that Hunter “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.”
Lowell is also arguing for the dismissal of the gun charges Weiss brought against Biden in Delaware.
In October, the president’s son entered a plea of not guilty on all counts.
Lowell also claimed in court on Wednesday that a diversion agreement for the tax charges was still in existence.
The previous plea deal, which failed in July, included the diversion agreement. The plan was for Biden to enter a guilty plea to two misdemeanor tax counts of intentional refusal to pay federal income tax, thereby avoiding jail time for a felony weapons conviction. That agreement came apart during his previous court appearance. The president’s son had to plead not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony weapons charge when the arrangement collapsed in court in July.
