Hunter Biden pleads guilty

Post Reply New Topic

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty Thursday to all the charges in the federal tax case against him, a surprise move that avoids a potentially embarrassing trial for President Joe Biden's son.

The sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

“Hunter put his family first today. And it was a brave and loving thing to do,” his attorney Abbe Lowell told reporters afterwards, saying the plea prevented a “show trial.”

Biden did not speak to reporters, but issued a statement blasting prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss' office who he said were "focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction."

"I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment," he said.

The plea to the nine criminal counts in Los Angeles federal court came after prosecutors objected to Biden's attempt earlier in the day to enter what's known as an Alford plea, where a defendant pleads guilty because of the strength of the case against them while maintaining their innocence.

The younger Biden instead wound up taking what's known as an open plea, where a defendant pleads guilty to all the charges and leaves his sentencing fate in the hands of the judge, without an agreed-upon recommendation from prosecutors.

“Mr. Biden will agree that the elements of each offense have been satisfied,” Lowell told the judge.

U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi then swore Biden in to enter the plea. Prosecutor Leo Wise had to read the 56-page indictment in open court as part of the unusual plea process.

“Do you agree you committed every element of every crime in counts one through nine in the indictment?” the judge asked when the reading was done. "Yes," Biden responded before pleading guilty to each count.

The Justice Department said in a news release Thursday that that "Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison," while noting sentences are typically less than the maximum. The release said the judge "will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors."

Despite his client's acceptance of responsibility, Lowell downplayed the case and the plea after court.

“This case was an extreme and unusual one for the government to bring,” he said, adding his client was charged for something "millions of Americans" do.

"We will now move on to the sentencing phase while keeping open all options to raise the clear legal issues with this case on appeal," Lowell said.

Weiss, whose office brought the case, declined comment after the proceedings.

Lowell told Scarsi in court that a ruling barring Biden from bringing up past traumas as the reason for his drug abuse in his defense case “played into his decision about what is best for him.”

Scarsi had ruled that such information had no relevance as to whether Biden committed the crimes he was accused of.

In his Thursday statement, Biden said: "I failed to file and pay my taxes on time. For that I am responsible. As I have stated, addiction is not an excuse, but it is an explanation for some of my failures at issue in this case. When I was addicted, I wasn’t thinking about my taxes, I was thinking about surviving."

Some of the conduct Biden was charged with — filing fraudulent returns — happened after he was sober.