In a legal battle, Hunter Biden’s lawyers are contending that the federal tax charges against the president’s son in California should be dropped on the grounds that they were politically motivated.
According to Abbe Lowell, who is the lead counsel for Biden, he argued that the case was anything but ordinary. He emphasized that there were irregularities in how the case was initiated and investigated.
Federal prosecutors have rejected the allegations, stating that politics played no role in the case. In recent legal filings, special counsel David Weiss’ office dismissed the claims that the charges were brought to appease Republicans, describing such assertions as “conspiratorial” and “baseless.”
During the hearing, U.S District Judge Mark Scarsi expressed skepticism towards the argument, as there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the claim that politics played a role in the charges.
Biden was absent during the hearing on Wednesday. However, he entered a plea of not guilty to nine federal tax charges in the Central District of California back in January. Federal prosecutors accused him of participating in a “four-year scheme” to evade paying at least $1.4 million in federal taxes. He has been charged with failure to file and pay taxes, tax evasion, and filing a false tax return.
Biden’s lawyers also claimed that the tax charges breached a diversion agreement made between federal prosecutors and the president’s son in the previous year.
In July 2023, a plea agreement on two misdemeanor tax charges and a diversion agreement related to a firearms charge was brought into question in court. The judge raised concerns about whether the agreement would enable Biden to evade potential future charges. Biden’s legal team argued that the agreement remained legally binding. Federal prosecutors stated that the “proposed agreement” had not received approval from the U.S. Office of Probation and Pretrial Services and had not yet taken effect.
The decision on April 17 will be issued by Judge Scarsi.
The Republican-led congressional committees are wrapping up an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, focusing on allegations of his involvement in Hunter Biden’s business ventures and potential obstruction of criminal investigations into his son. As part of this process, a motion to dismiss hearing has been scheduled.
During a closed-door deposition in February, Hunter Biden dismissed the inquiry as a “baseless and destructive political charade,” asserting that his father had no involvement in his business dealings.
Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, has indicated that he plans to prepare criminal referrals once the investigation concludes. However, critics of the inquiry argue that the congressional committees led by the GOP have yet to present any evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Biden.
