Update:
Hunter Biden has officially pled guilty to all charges, skipping a damaging trial that could have aired all the dirty details related to the Biden family's dealings, per RedState, who has a reporter in the courtroom.
Hunter had earlier in the day attempted to resolve the case with an Alford plea, but changed course Thursday afternoon.
"I want to make something crystal clear: the United States oppose an Alford plea," prosecutor Leo Wise said, telling the court that the plea is "not in the public interest" and an "injustice" itself.
"Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty. He is not permitted to plead guilty on special terms," Wise added.
Hunter's defense attorney Abbe Lowell lambasted prosecutors for accusing Hunter of seeking special treatment.
"I know it makes a headline," but "it's so wrong," Lowell said.
Hunter instead wound up taking what's known as an open plea, which leaves sentencing up to the judge without an agreement by both sides.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi then swore Hunter in to enter the plea.
Under oath, Hunter testified that no one coerced him to plead guilty or made promises to convince him to change his plea.
Hunter will be sentenced at a later date after the parties present their recommendations to the court.
Sentencing is now scheduled for December 16. A pre-sentencing report will be prepared ahead of the hearing.
Original:
Hunter Biden's defense attorneys announced on the first day of his federal tax evasion trial that the first son plans instead to plead guilty to the charges brought by Special Counsel David Weiss.
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"Mr. Biden intends to change his plea this morning," Hunter's lawyer Abbe Lowell, who had lost the embattled Biden's federal gun trial in Delaware, told the judge presiding over the California case.
Federal prosecutor Leo Wise said that "this is the first we are hearing about this," indicating it's not the result of an agreement with the government. Prosecutors are objecting, according to CNN.
Lowell said there has not been an agreement between parties, i.e. Hunter would plead guilty to some charges in exchange for other counts being dropped.
Lowell told the judge his client wants to enter an Alford plea, in which a defendant formally admits guilt, acknowledging that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict him, while also simultaneously maintaining his innocence.
Jury selection was set to kick off the trial Thursday morning before Lowell made the last-minute announcement in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
Afterward, the court entered a recess to allow both parties time to confer.
No conditions were disclosed, and it was not immediately clear whether the judge would accept Hunter's attempt to avoid a trial and move straight to sentencing, NBC News reports. Lowell, urging that there's "no reason to proceed" with jury selection, said he believes the particulars "can be resolved today."
If accepted, the guilty plea would spare Hunter from a public trial where a slew of witnesses were expected to offer embarrassing and salacious testimony about his drug-fueled spending spree.
It won't be final, though, until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee, officially okays it in open court.
Hunter is facing nine federal charges, including three felonies, for allegedly failing to pay roughly a million-and-a-half dollars in taxes.
In the indictment, Weiss alleges that Hunter "engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020."
In "furtherance of that scheme," Hunter "subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions" from the business "outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform," prosecutors say.
Hunter then "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills," according to prosecutors, such as splurging on drugs, escorts, high-end hotels, exotic cars, and "other items of a personal nature. In short, "everything but his taxes," the indictment says.
If convicted, the 54-year-old Biden would have faced up to 17 years behind bars.
This was supposed to be the second trial of President Joe Biden's son, one not long after the other. In June, a Delaware jury found Hunter guilty of deceiving a federally licensed firearms dealer, lying on a federal background check form, and illegally possessing the firearm he unlawfully purchased as a cocaine addict.
Lowell failed to convince the jurors, many of whom had personal ties to drug addiction, of Hunter's innocence. The defense tried to argue that Hunter, purportedly a savvy businessman, an Ivy League-educated attorney, and the "smartest man" his father knows, had not "knowingly" committed those crimes or was aware of the federal law concerning firearm transactions. While filling out the ATF form, Hunter should have had the paperwork read aloud to him so he could've understood exactly what he was signing and attesting to, Lowell argued.
For the three federal firearm felonies, Hunter faces a combined 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced in November.
President Biden has said he won't pardon his son.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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