Hunter Biden (left), son of U.S. President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen leave the courtroom in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 2024, after he pleaded guilty in a tax evasion trial.
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Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to all nine counts in his criminal tax case in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, just hours after jury selection was set to begin in the trial of President Joe Biden's son.
Biden's sentencing was scheduled for December 16.
Biden faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines may allow him to receive a lighter sentence.
The plea came after prosecutors firmly rejected Biden's surprise offer earlier in the day to enter a special plea, known as an Alford plea, which would have allowed Biden to insist on his presumption of innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him at trial.
If U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi had granted the Alford plea, Biden would have been found guilty of the charges.
The plea that Biden ultimately made to Scarsi was an “open plea,” that is, a plea without a deal with the prosecution that could have included a reduction in the charges against him and an agreement on the likely terms of his sentencing.
Biden, 54, was charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors in the case for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019.
He was accused of deducting money he paid to sex workers as a business expense and “spending millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes,” the indictment said.
David Weiss, the Justice Department special counsel in charge of the investigation into Biden, said when asked if he had a comment on the guilty plea: “Not now.”
Weiss' prosecution team won a conviction against Biden in Delaware federal court in June on three counts related to the purchase of a handgun in 2018 while using crack cocaine. He is awaiting sentencing in that case.
Biden, who left court with his wife Melissa Cohen, did not speak to reporters after his guilty plea but issued a written statement.
“I went to court in Delaware not knowing the pain it would cause my family, and I will not put them through that again,” Biden said.
“When I realized that these same prosecutors were not interested in justice, but in dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction, I was left with only one option,” he said. “I will not subject my family to any more pain, any more invasion of my privacy, any more unnecessary embarrassment. After everything I have put them through over the years, I can spare them that, and that is why I have chosen to plead guilty.”
“Like millions of Americans, I failed to file and pay my taxes on time. I am responsible for that,” Biden said.
“As I said, addiction is not an excuse, but it is an explanation for some of my failures, which are the issues in this case,” he said. “When I was addicted, I wasn't thinking about my taxes, I was thinking about survival. But the jury would never have heard that or known that I had paid every penny of my back taxes, including penalties.”
His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said outside the courthouse: “Hunter put his family first today.”
Lowell said the “plea prevented a show trial of this kind” against Biden, which would likely have included evidence of his drug abuse, use of sex work and lavish lifestyle during the time he failed to pay his taxes.
“He will now continue with [the] sentencing phase, with many of the core issues of this appeal remaining open,” Lowell said.
“This case was extreme and unusual for the government,” said Lowell, who had criticized the Justice Department's decision to bring charges against Biden after a deal to settle the tax dispute and a gun case in Delaware fell through last summer after a judge expressed doubts about the terms of the proceedings.
“Hunter did indeed pay too much tax during the years in which he is accused of tax evasion,” the lawyer said.
Earlier in the courtroom, Lowell told Scarsi, “Mr. Biden will agree that the elements of each offense are met,” after returning from a recess following arguments over the proposed Alford plea.
When Scarsi asked Special Counsel and Attorney Leo Wise if that was enough, Wise said he would prefer if Biden admitted to his actions as alleged in the indictment.
“Will Mr. Biden agree that this is the truth? Because the truth is important,” Wise said. “He should have to say that the facts are true!”
Lowell then argued that this was not required by law.
“He just has to agree to the elements,” Lowell said. “I know Mr. Wise would like Mr. Biden to say, 'And besides, I was a really bad person when I did that,' but that's not what the law requires.”
Scarsi said: “So we're going to take a public plea from Mr. Biden. And I'm going to ask you whether you have behaved in a way that constitutes impeachment.”
Wise then began reading the 56-page indictment to the court, which lasted nearly 90 minutes.
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On Thursday morning, more than 100 potential jurors gathered outside federal court in Los Angeles for jury selection in Biden's tax trial.
But Biden's lawyer, Lowell, surprised prosecutors and other court members when he told Scarsi: “There is no reason to proceed with jury selection because Mr. Biden intends to change his plea.”
Lowell told Scarsi there was “no agreement” with prosecutors about Biden's planned Alford plea. However, the lawyer said there was no requirement for such an agreement.
“The law is very clear. If the defendant meets Rule 11b, the court is obligated to grant the plea,” Lowell said.
Lowell also said, “I don't think we would agree to a settlement under normal circumstances.”
Wise, the special counsel, told Scarsi, “This is the first we've heard of this.” Wise asked for time to discuss the proposed change of plea privately.
“I think this can be solved today,” Lowell said. “It doesn't take days.”
After a pause, Wise told the judge: “I want to make it very clear: The United States is against an Alford plea.”
“We will not accept an Alford plea under any circumstances,” Wise said. “It is not in the public interest, it violates the rule of law and we believe it is unjust.”
““Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty,” Wise said.
“We were as shocked as everyone else,” the prosecutor said of the proposed Alford plea.
He said prosecutors were unable to evaluate that plea offer on Thursday.
“There is no way to rush this at this point. And it shouldn't be rushed,” Wise said.
According to U.S. Department of Justice guidelines, federal prosecutors may agree to an Alford Plea “only in the most unusual cases and only after the Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division or a senior Department official has approved a written request.”
Lowell told Scarsi that Biden was not asking for special treatment, noting that “people across the United States” would accept Alford’s pleas.
“He's demanding the same rights as others,” Lowell said. “He's willing to say the government has presented enough evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. … I don't know why the government wants to delay this.”
Scarsi called another recess after hearing the arguments, telling the lawyers, “I have never seen a case where I would have to agree to an Alford plea.”
However, the judge also said, “Suppose I have the opportunity to reject an Alford plea. Why shouldn't I do it?”
“I need a reason why I accept or reject a confession,” Scarsi said.
After that break, Biden returned to the courtroom, where Lowell said he would enter his open guilty plea and drop the suggestion of an Alford plea.
As President Biden left the White House on Thursday morning to travel to Wisconsin, he ignored reporters' shouted questions about his son's plans to change his original plea to not guilty in the case.
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