Hunter Biden intends to change his plea in federal tax charges
By: Sarah Fitzpatrick and Dareh Gregorian (NBC News)
Hmmmm.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Sarah Fitzpatrick and Dareh Gregorian
LOS ANGELES — Hunter Biden intends to change his plea in the federal tax-related charges against him, his attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday.
The reversal was made shortly before jury selection wasexpected to begin in what would have been Biden's second trial this year. The only surviving son of President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden is the first offspring of a sitting president to stand trial on criminal charges.
Shortly after the announcement, the court went into recess.
The conditions of the plea were not immediately disclosed nor whether the judge will accept his attempt to avoid a trial and move straight to sentencing.
The news came after Biden and his attorneys had a private meeting before court on Thursday with U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who is presiding over the case.
Biden, 54, was indicted in December on three felony and six misdemeanor counts alleging that he failed to pay his taxes during a period when, he has said, he was in the throes of drug addiction, and after he got sober.
If accepted by the judge, the guilty plea would spare Biden from a public trial where prosecutors had over two dozen witnesses, some of whom were expected to offer embarrassing and salacious testimony about Biden's drug use and spending.
The indictment said Biden "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."
The money was spent "on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes," the indictment said.
Prosecutors also alleged that the returns Biden eventually filed were fraudulent, and falsely claimed as business expenses money he paid to an escort, a strip club, a sex club membership fee, a pornographic website, and his daughter's college tuition and rent.
An earlier plea deal with prosecutors on related charges in Delaware fell apart last year after a judge expressed skepticism over some of the terms. Under that agreement, Biden would have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses in return for a recommended sentence of six months probation, while a felony charge related to buying a gun while using narcotics would have been dismissed in two years if Biden stayed out of legal trouble.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika had refused to sign off on that deal. "These agreements are not straightforward and they contain some atypical provisions," Noreika said last year. One component of the deal could have protected Biden from prosecution on other tax-related crimes.
Biden's attorneys and prosecutors were unable to reach a revised deal, which led to special counsel David Weiss' office indicting Biden on the gun charges in Delaware and on expanded tax charges in California.
Evidence of Biden's history of addiction was at the center of a separate case prosecuted by Weiss' office earlier this year in Delaware. Biden was eventually convicted on three felony counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics.
He's scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Nov. 12, and has said he plans to appeal the conviction.
Sarah Fitzpatrick
Sarah Fitzpatrick is a senior investigative producer and story editor for NBC News. She previously worked for CBS News and "60 Minutes."
Dareh Gregorian
Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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And of course after the election perhaps he can get daddy to pardon him as a final parting action
That would mean Joey would have to understand what happened. That's going to take some time to make happen.
Yeah, old Joe has nothing to lose at this point to issue a pardon right away. I expect that to happen quickly.
He categorically said he would not.
After the election would be my guess.
He said that while he was still the candidate. Now that he's dropped out there's nothing to stop him from issuing one as it doesn't hurt his legacy or election chances.
I don't see the difference. He said it again 2 hours ago.
We shall see when the rubber meets the road.
Biden just dropped the request for an Allford deal and plead guilty with no plea deal from the prosecutors.
Sentencing is up to the judge now, the jurors have been dismissed.
Isn't a guilty plea or sentence required before a pardon is issued? ie, don't you have to acknowledge your wrongdoings?
Sean up in 1.2.2 may be more correct in that any pardon won't happen until after the election as I'm sure the powers to be don't want the negative publicity before the election. There's enough running around, don't need to let the other side get any free ammunition. But it would not surprise me if a pardon comes from Joe before he's out of office. There's always a flurry of pardons issued in the last month.
For the record, President Biden said he will not pardon Hunter. ...
Did the man famous for lying give his word as a Biden??? Then you'll know the pardon papers are already drawn up.
I believe that the prosecutors angrily told the judge today that they would not accept an Alford plea. Biden's side insisted that repayment of the taxes with fines in 2021 was a sufficient admittance of guilt. Weiss would not budge, prompting Hunter to plead guilty with no strings attached.
There's the guilty plea. It shouldn't be that much of a stretch that he will acknowledge the guilty plea when he accepts a pardon whenever from whomever.
This is a partisan mockery of history & justice.. In the 90's the IRS accused Willie Nelson and two attorneys of avoiding $32.0 million in taxes because of phony tax shields.
Without trials or prison time the IRS accepted what awards and trophies that they had confiscated from Willies home in he raid that announced the investigation and offered to settle for $16.7 million to a guy whose career is built on smoking dope illegally. They even helped him to put out an album, the proceeds of which were to go to the IRS. In the end, Willie paid another $9million out of pocket from the next few albums he cranked out as a darling old pot smoking outlaw. Both the left and the right fawned over him. He never needed a pardon.
He could have done it anytime. His legacy is already filed in the shit can.
I think they would prefer that Harris win and then she can pardon Hunter, but if She loses, Joe Biden will have about 6 weeks to pardon his rotten son.
A plea deal. Can't help but wonder what he's hiding and / or who he's taking down with him.
He already paid back the IRS with fines and interest years ago.
Hunter had demanded that the IRS audit all of his tax returns so that he could not be charged again under an unfavorable Administration.
That's what sank the first plea deal.
All that and you didn't change my mind.
No one expects you to change, period.
Good! Once his case is done President Biden should pardon his son!
Though I expect he will wait until after the election...
There's always the next Dem Administration
After Trump pardoned all his cronies I see nothing wrong with it. If Hunter wasn't Joe's son the whole thing would be a nothing...
Very true. Without Joe Biden’s corruption netting him millions of dollars for nothing other than his last name, hunter would just be a crack addict without two nickels to rub together and probably never would have earned enough to pay any taxes to begins with.
A lie that even two House investigative committees admitted they couldn't find.
Lol... He's not the nominee anymore, you don't have to pretend to believe such nonsense.
27 million from foreign governments, businesses...that we know of.
Conversely.... Since he's no longer the nominee why don't you give up your nonsense OR show us the evidence you have that Comer and Jordan admitted they couldn't find in the report they released?
Neither do you. The look is unbecoming.
cool so explain the millions flowing to Biden inc…. Burisma really needed a crackhead with no experience in energy? The Bidens are charity cases for foreign oligarchs?
What did foreign oligarchs expect when they gave millions to the Biden’s?
Logic dictates the burden of proof is on the accuser. It would be on you to prove your claim.
That you can't provide a rational explanation speaks volumes.
THe only logical explanation was to buy access. That's blindingly obvious.
Joe and Jill Biden's taxes are public going back decades...
That you can't provide evidence of your claim is all I need to know you have no clue what you're posting about. That the 2 most powerful House investigative committees couldn't find evidence is all everyone, including you, needs to know the claim is a lie.
You mean wanting evidence to exist is not the same as having evidence? These guys are in trouble then.
I've already provided evidence, though it should be common knowledge to any reasonably informed person. We have the billion dollar energy conglomerate in the country Biden served as point man put his drug addict, ne'er do well son with no relevant experience on its board. There's no legitimate explanation for that. Not to mention the texts, the checks, the testimony of his partners, the DOJ protecting his son etc.. etc..
12 years from now?
Highly unlikely
2 months or 50 months it doesn't make a difference, does it?
He's not a master criminal, he's a recovering addict.
Well, maybe not a MASTER criminal, but from his now plea deal to guilty to several felonies, he is a criminal.
Guaranteed Joe is going to pardon him, no matter how many times he says he won’t.
Either that, or he is hoping Harris will win then pardon him, and he will say he kept his word, but that looks highly unlikely.
No... no you haven't. A claim that Hunter Biden got money is not evidence his father got money.
Then it shouldn't be difficult to produce evidence. A reliable witness, bank statements... anything other than conjecture.
Go ahead and post those here in full context to prove your point.
Now, we all know that to get a leftist to believe Joe is corrupt, they need to see a video of him being handed an envelope of cash by Xi himself and then waving at the camera saying this is my kick back money, but for them to believe he raped someone, all you need is a mentally ill woman making a claim he assaulted her in a dressing room decades ago, not telling anyone until he announced his candidacy for president.
They leftist double standard is astonishingly crazy at the least.
Joe and Jill Biden's taxes are public going back for decades. There has never been one iota of evidence produced by the gop in any of their investigations the Bidens had any unreported income...
None! Not a tiny bit. Zippo! So no Bugsy, we do not all know...
What IRS form do you fill out to list kick back money from this country’s adversaries using your father’s name to influence government decisions on his behalf?
Wild unfounded MAGA false accusations do not score points. President Biden is retiring with honor and great dignity. You won't have Joe to kick anymore. Why don't MAGA investigate Kamala Harris' second cousins and in-laws already? SMH...
Nevermind Trump and Co are pocketing billions! Am I right?
So you can’t
tell us what form the IRS requires reporting kick backs from our adversaries.
What was that again that you are sure the Biden’s reported all of their ‘income’?
Trump, like Menendez, is accused of taking $10 Million as a gift Which Trump's DOJ squashed.
That should be interesting if Harris wins.
There is no "form" for requiring reporting kickbacks. You either report the income as miscellaneous or you do not.
There is however a form for reporting to the IRS when you suspect someone of not filing faithfully. It is
IRS 3949-A
Form 3949 A - Printable PDF Sample (form-3949-a.com)
Absolutely... You know dipshit donny would pardon anyone in his corrupt family.
After reading Trump get trashed on these forums for years now, such comments are hilarious that the standard you choose to use is TRUMP!
He issued pardons to many members of his crime family. Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, just to name a few.
and if weren’t for the irs whistleblowers, he’d have walked..
as it is, he avoided hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liability when daddy’s DOJ let the statute of limitations expire for 2014.
All Hunter's debts and fines with the IRS were paid and settled...
His sugar daddy paid some , and the DOJ simply let him off the hook for others, letting him save hundreds of thousands of dollars he owed. This was all covered in great detail by the whistleblowers who exposed the coverup.
Dude! He is in court still facing charges to this very day...
That doesn't have anything to do with what I wrote, dude.
Translation; his lawyer loaned him the money and the DOJ used prosecutorial discretion to put together a plea deal.
What cover up, the details of a plea deal not approved by a judge yet?
Kevin Morris is an entertainment lawyer. The absurdities the Biden fan club will go to pretend this is all business as usual. "Of course entertainment lawyers routinely give millions to failed business executives to satisfy tax debts.l"
Who falls for that?
e DOJ used prosecutorial discretion to put together a plea deal
Lol. Here's the thing about putting together a plea deal. Once you let the SOL expire, you lose all leverage and the charge becomes worthless.The idea that prosecutors would let an SOL expire before reaching a plea agreement (oe even starting negotiations) while still planning to use the charge during future negotiations is about the dumbest thing imaginable.
Can you imagine?
IRS: We've got Biden on the hook for 400,000 dollars for 2014, but we need to file charges soon
DOJ: Now we've got him. We'll let that expire, so we have no hope of ever recovering it, and then we can really play hardball when we talk plea. Once Biden knows he has zero exposure, he'll be sure to plead guilty to a felony for 2014 tax fraud..
What cover up
Of the DOJ's slow walking/incredibly generous treatment of Biden.
Who specializes in entertainment and sports celebrities who suffer from substance abuse or gambling and need to start over. Part of his "legal therapy" is to help those he deems he feels capable of repayment by settling their IRS debts first.
Thanks for proving my point.
Whooosh!
The lawyer, who was a friend, loaned money for payment of defense costs as well as tax liabilities, apparently.
Yes, typical case. He met him and loaned him millions without a written loan agreement or representation agreement within a matter of weeks. Happens all the time.
Link?
You have no idea what happens between those in high social & financial power do you?
.
Why would the Saudi's give Jared Kushner $2Billion to start a hedge fund when he had no experience?
His testimony before the House.
Why would the Saudi's give Jared Kushner $2Billion to start a hedge fund when he had no experience?
They wanted to make money and were impressed by him after all their dealings? He'd been the best, most successful middle eastern diplomat in a generation. He wasn't a failed crack head on the make.
But yes, thanks for reminding us that the Trump family is the left's exemplar of probity. Always using Trump as their benchmark.
Based on what, the GOP Koolaid?
Ah yes, the Abraham Accords. Well all of those efforts crashed and burned on October 7,2024 for the same reason the evacuation from Afghanistain ended badly.
President Trump's famous Abraham Accord didn't mention the Palestinians and contained no provisions for a Palestinian "solution". Imagine that kind of fucking diplomacy where Jared tells one thing to the Palestinians to placate them and then blows them off.
Trump's Doha Agreement didn't include the government of Afghanistan which vanished like smoke as the Americans attempted to evacuate mostly non American citizens in August of 2021. Trump did that in his ignorance of foreign policy in a region where blood, families, religion and tribe are more important than money.
Forgive my laughter.
The far right will be mumbling and grumbling about Hunter Biden until hell freezes over.
America turned the page and Americans are loving Biden again...
As we reach the final phase of the left wing talking points life cycle, which begins with "X never happened. It's a lie. anyone who claims X is spreading conspiracies" and inevitably turns into "Why is anyone talking about X. It's old news," the second they can longer deny X.
Face it, the Jordan and Comer investigations into all this were a massive failure, and nobody but right wing podcast listeners care about this anymore.
... and what letter(s) does one apply to their opposites, a Y ... a Z or maybe a D or J or T?
Exactly.
And you will be screaming Truuuuuuuuuuuump until past the same time.
They've been doing that for the past 8 years. Why stop now.
Maybe because their lives will be empty with absolutely nothing else to do.
There's no logical reason to change his plea to guilty unless he knows there's a pardon waiting.
Except for more fines and possible prison time, someone blinked and my guess is it wasn't Biden.
These things rarely result in prison unless the offender is a stubborn jackass who is broke.
Biden's celebrity lawyer loaned him the IRS payoffs so the IRS has no skin in the game anymore and the DOJ just looks vindictive.
The DOJ lawyers still have careers to think of after this mess.
Sure, and my guess is he knows that he'll get a pardon from pops on his way out.
More likely Harris, next year...
We'll see, I think it will happen before then....
I'm waiting for the blockbuster allegation that Kamala Harris had sex with and did coke with Hunter Biden. I think it is something JIm Jordan and James Comer could sink their teeth into.
Hunter Biden has released this statement:
“I went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through it again. When it became clear to me that the same prosecutors were focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction, there was only one path left for me.
I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty. Like millions of Americans, 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. But the jury would never have heard that or know that I had paid every penny of my back taxes including penalties.
That I have been clean and sober for more than five years now because I have had the love and support of my family. I can never repay them for showing up for me and helping me through my worst moments. But I can protect them from being publicly humiliated for my failures. For anyone now going through the scourge of addiction, please know there is a light at the end of that seemingly endless tunnel. I was where you are now. Don't quit right before the miracle.”
The son of the President of the United States of America just pled guilty to tax evasion for bribes he received from our foreign adversaries in exchange for selling access to his father, who was the vice president at the time. Can you imagine what would’ve happened if that was Donald Trump’s children oh my God, we would never hear the end of it but because it’s a Democrat, the media is barely covering it. The most insidious kind of privilege in America today is liberal privilege