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LOS ANGELES (NBC News) – 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.
The plea to the nine criminal counts came after prosecutors objected to his 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,” Biden attorney Abbe Lowell told the judge.
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi then swore Biden in to enter the plea. Prosecutor Leo Weiss had to read the 56-page indictment in open court as part of the unusual plea process.
Lowell had told the judge presiding over the case in a Los Angeles court earlier in the day that the younger Biden wanted an Alford plea and “will agree that… if he went to trial there’s evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Wise suggested that wasn’t good enough, telling Scarsi, that such a plea is “not in the public interest. It’s contrary to the rule of law and we think it’s an injustice.”
“Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,” Wise said.
The dramatic developments came shortly before jury selection was expected to begin in what would have been Biden’s second trial this year. The only surviving son of the president, Hunter Biden is the first offspring of a sitting president to stand trial on criminal charges.
The change of plea was not the result of an agreement with the government. Wise told the judge earlier Thursday, “This is the first we’ve heard of this.”
Shortly after Lowell’s announcement, the court went into recess to allow prosecutors and Biden’s lawyers time to confer.
When they returned, Wise told the judge, “I want to make it crystal clear: The U.S. opposes an Alford plea.” He also asked for some time to prosecutors to meet about next steps.
Lowell said he believed “the court is required to accept the plea,” and that the particulars “can be resolved today.”
Scarsi said when he returned from the recess, “I haven’t seen a case that tells me I have to accept an Alford plea.” He said he was considering having both sides file briefs laying out their legal arguments.
“I need a reason why I accept or reject a plea,” the judge said.
Lowell then said his client would simply plead guilty to the charges against him.
The president ignored questions from reporters earlier in the day about the attempted change of plea. He has said previously he would not use his presidential power to pardon his son or commute his sentence, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday that was still his position. “It’s still no,” she said.
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.
The plea spares 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.
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