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Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to\u00a0federal tax charges<\/a>\u00a0Thursday in a surprise move that spares President Joe Biden and his family another likely embarrassing and painful criminal trial of the president\u2019s son.<\/p>\n Hunter Biden\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0stunning decision to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges without the benefits of a deal with prosecutors came hours after jury selection was supposed to begin in the case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s son was already facing potential prison time after his June conviction on\u00a0felony gun charges<\/a>\u00a0in a trial that aired unflattering and salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction. The tax trial was expected to showcase more potentially lurid evidence as well as details about Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign business dealings, which Republicans have seized on to try to paint the Biden family as corrupt.<\/p>\n Although President Joe Biden\u2019s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential election muted the potential political implications of the tax case, the trial was expected to carry a\u00a0heavy emotional toll<\/a>\u00a0for the president in the final months of his five-decade political career.<\/p>\n \u201cEnough is enough,\u201d defense attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge before Hunter Biden entered his plea. \u201cMr. Biden is prepared, because of the public and private interest, to proceed today and finish this.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunter Biden quickly responded \u201cguilty\u201d as the judge read out each of the nine counts. The charges carry up to 17 years behind bars, but federal sentencing guidelines are likely to call for a much shorter sentence. Sentencing is set for Dec. 16.<\/p>\n More than 100 potential jurors had been brought to the courthouse in Los Angeles on Thursday to begin the process of picking the panel to hear the case alleging a four-year scheme to avoid paying taxes while spending wildly on things like strippers, luxury hotels and exotic cars.<\/p>\n Prosecutors were caught off guard when Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyer told the judge Thursday morning that Hunter wanted to enter what\u2019s known as an Alford plea, under which a defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said they objected to such a plea, telling the judge that Hunter Biden \u201cis not entitled to plead guilty on special terms that apply only to him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,\u201d prosecutor Leo Wise said.<\/p>\n 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 had indicated they would argue he didn\u2019t act \u201cwillfully,\u201d or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his\u00a0well-documented struggles<\/a>\u00a0with alcohol and drug addiction.<\/p>\n Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses last year in a deal with the Justice Department that would allow him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble. But\u00a0the agreement imploded<\/a>\u00a0after a judge questioned unusual aspects of it, and he was subsequently indicted in the two cases.<\/p>\n His decision to change his plea Thursday came after the judge issued some unfavorable pre-trial rulings for the defense, including rejecting a proposed defense expert lined up to testify about addiction.<\/p>\n Scarsi, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, also placed some restrictions on what jurors would be allowed to hear about the traumatic events that Hunter Biden\u2019s family, friends and attorneys say led to his drug addiction.<\/p>\n The judge barred attorneys from connecting his substance abuse struggles to the\u00a02015 death of his brother Beau Biden<\/a>\u00a0from cancer or the car accident that killed his mother and sister when he was a toddler.<\/p>\n The indictment alleged that Hunter Biden lived lavishly while flouting the tax law, spending his cash on things like strippers and luxury hotels \u2014 \u201cin short, everything but his taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunter Biden\u2019s attorneys had asked Scarsi to also limit prosecutors from highlighting details of his expenses that they say amount to a \u201ccharacter assassination,\u201d including payments made to strippers or pornographic websites. The judge has said in court papers that he will maintain \u201cstrict control\u201d over the presentation of potentially salacious evidence.<\/p>\n Prosecutors had said they want to introduce evidence about Hunter Biden\u2019s overseas dealings, which have been at the center of\u00a0Republican investigations<\/a>\u00a0into the Biden family often seeking \u2014 without evidence\u2014 to tie the president to an alleged influence peddling scheme.<\/p>\n The special counsel\u2019s team had planned to have a business associate of Hunter Biden\u2019s testify about their\u00a0work for a Romanian businessman<\/a>, who prosecutors say sought to \u201cinfluence U.S. government policy\u201d while Joe Biden was vice president.<\/p>\n Sentencing in Hunter Biden\u2019s Delaware conviction is set for Nov. 13. He could face up to 25 years in prison in that case, though he is likely to get far less time or avoid prison entirely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended reading:<\/strong>
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