During a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Hunter Biden is set to ask a judge to dismiss tax charges filed against him last year, asserting that the case is politically motivated.
Biden asserts that prosecutors succumbed to pressure from Republican lawmakers who initiated an impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden, following the collapse of an earlier plea deal.
At a federal court in Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi will preside over the arguments on various motions filed recently by both Biden’s legal team, led by attorney Abbe Lowell, and special counsel David Weiss’ office, represented by lead prosecutor Leo Wise.
Although Scarsi is not expected to render an immediate decision from the bench, he has expressed a desire for the case to progress through the pre-trial process expeditiously.
Last year, Weiss levied nine tax-related charges against Hunter Biden, including three felonies and six misdemeanors, in a California federal court. The allegations assert that the president’s son evaded federal taxes, purportedly neglecting to pay at least $1.4 million, and instead, lavishly indulging in an extravagant lifestyle, which allegedly included expenditures on drugs, escorts, luxury accommodations, and other personal items.
Having pleaded not guilty to the charges in January, Biden’s legal team submitted several motions last month urging the judge to dismiss the charges, alleging prosecutorial misconduct and political influence.
“The special counsel has gone to extreme lengths to bring charges against Mr. Biden that would not have been filed against anyone else,” Lowell remarked in a statement upon filing the motions last month.
Federal prosecutors refuted Hunter Biden’s assertions, characterizing them as a “conspiracy theory” concocted to evade tax charges following the unraveling of the earlier plea deal.
“The defendant concocts a conspiracy theory that the prosecution has ‘upped the ante’ to appease politicians who have absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution,” prosecutors countered in a filing this month.
In addition to the tax charges, Hunter Biden faces federal gun charges in Delaware for allegedly possessing a firearm while using narcotics, with the trial scheduled for June.
Hunter Biden has emerged as a central figure in House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into the president. He provided a closed-door deposition to the GOP-led House Oversight and Judiciary committees last month, denouncing the investigation as a “charade” in his prepared remarks.
