Hunter Biden's lawyers seek to toss tax charges in LA court
Attorneys for Hunter Biden are seeking to have his tax charges dismissed in a hearing in a Los Angeles federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty in January to three felony charges and six misdemeanor charges in connection to tax evasion, filing a false return and failing to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019. He is asking the judge to toss the case, arguing in court filings last month that the case was politically motivated and that the case was tainted by two IRS agents who later became whistleblowers.
“Since its inception in 2018, the investigation of Mr. Biden has been compromised by politics. This case follows a nearly six-year record of DOJ changing its charging decisions and upping the ante on Mr. Biden in direct response to political pressure and its own self-interests,” attorneys for the president’s son wrote.
“When the prosecution brings charges for purposes unrelated to legitimate prosecutorial considerations, it violates due process and equal protection rights,” they added.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys also argued that the case should be dismissed, due to “outrageous government conduct” involving two IRS agents who were assigned to his case. They later became whistleblowers who cooperated with the House GOP’s probe into the president’s son, according to a court filing.
“The government’s actions in this case are beyond egregious; the agents continuously disobeyed supervisors and flagrantly disregarded numerous federal statutes and rules designed to prevent the very abuse the agents were undertaking,” Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued.
Prosecutors pushed back on the argument that the case was politically motivated in subsequent court filings, calling the claims a “fictitious narrative.”
“From this fairly unremarkable set of procedural events, the defendant concocts a conspiracy theory that the prosecution has ‘upped the ante’ to appease politicians who have absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution and are not even members of the current Executive Branch,” prosecutors wrote.
The hearing on the outcome of his tax charges will start at 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday, with Judge Mark Scarsi presiding. Scarsi was appointed by former President Trump, who is also facing a slew of criminal cases.
The California tax case is one of two cases Hunter Biden faces as a result of special counsel David Weiss’s investigation into him. The president’s son is also facing three gun-related charges in Delaware, which he pleaded not guilty to. His not guilty plea came after a plea deal between him and prosecutors fell apart last year.