Hunter Biden pleaded guilty Thursday to all nine federal tax charges he faced, staving off his second criminal trial this year just before it was set to begin, according to the Associated Press.
In a stunning and last-minute twist, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi accepted the plea change on the same day jury selection was scheduled to get underway in Los Angeles federal court. Biden admitted to withholding at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years in the throes of his addiction to cocaine, spending instead on a lavish lifestyle.
Biden initially offered an arrangement called an “Alford plea,” – where he would formally admit guilt while still maintaining his innocence and accept the judge’s eventual sentence – but prosecutors forcefully objected, prompting the traditional guilty plea.
The guilty plea comes just months after Biden was convicted on gun charges for lying about his use of illicit drugs on a federal gun purchase form. It marked the first criminal conviction of a sitting U.S. president’s child, and he’s scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Nov. 13.
By pleading guilty, Biden averted another potentially embarrassing trial that was expected to drag his addiction back into the spotlight.
Biden attorney Mark Geragos accused the government in court filings of attempting “character assassination” on the president’s son through salacious evidence, which prosecutors insisted spoke to his state of mind as he avoided paying taxes between 2016 and 2019.
During the gun trial, Biden family members including his ex-wife, his late brother’s widow and his daughter were forced to take the stand to testify about his drug use.
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