Judge seems skeptical of Hunter Biden's request to dismiss tax charges
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[March 28, 2024]
By Chris Kirkham and Andrew Goudsward
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. judge gave a skeptical reception on
Wednesday to an attempt by President Joe Biden’s son Hunter to dismiss
his criminal tax-evasion case on the grounds that he was selectively
targeted for prosecution due to political pressure.
At a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Mark
Scarsi asked whether Hunter Biden's lawyers had any evidence that
prosecutors had caved to pressure from Republicans, other than the fact
that they filed charges after months of accusations by Republicans in
Congress and former President Donald Trump that he had been treated
leniently.
"Do you have any evidence other than the timeline?" Scarsi asked Hunter
Biden's lawyer, Abbe Lowell.
Lowell acknowledged that "it's a timeline, but it's a juicy timeline."
Scarsi also voiced skepticism about Hunter Biden's defense team's
argument that prosecutors had been pressured by two Internal Revenue
Service agents who went public last year with information about his tax
returns.
"How are they responsible for what's in the indictment?" Scarsi asked.
“I can’t make the connection that that’s why that happened,” Lowell
said, later adding that “it was those two agents that started the
dominoes.”
Leo Wise, one of the prosecutors on the case, said it was "patently
absurd" that the agents had influenced prosecutors.
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded not guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in
taxes between 2016 and 2019, while spending millions of dollars on
drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other big-ticket items. Lowell has said
he paid back the money in full.
The trial is due to start in June, a few months before Americans vote in
a November presidential election that looks set to be a close and deeply
divisive contest between Joe Biden, himself the subject of an
impeachment probe, and Donald Trump, who faces four criminal trials.
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Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, is seen as he makes a
surprise appearance at a House Oversight Committee markup and
meeting to vote on whether to hold Biden in contempt of Congress for
failing to respond to a request to testify to the House last month,
on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 10, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin
Lamarque/File Photo
Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to face
criminal charges, also faces a separate criminal case in federal
court in Delaware over his alleged purchase of a handgun while he
was using illegal drugs. He has pleaded not guilty and made similar
arguments to dismiss the charges in that case.
Special Counsel David Weiss, who brought both cases, has accused
Hunter Biden’s legal team of spreading “conspiracy theories” about
the prosecution.
Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which are detailed in the
tax indictment, are at the center of an impeachment investigation by
Republicans in the House of Representatives into whether Joe Biden
profited from his son’s activities.
The probe has so far turned up no evidence that the president
personally benefited.
Hunter Biden's defense team has also argued that the case is barred
by an earlier plea deal the president’s son struck with prosecutors.
The deal, which collapsed under questioning from a federal judge
last year, called for Biden to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax
charges. Prosecutors have said it never took effect.
(Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Andrew Goudsward in
Washington; Editing by Costas Pitas and Stephen Coates)
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