Hunter Biden plans to change his guilty plea to federal tax charges brought by special counsel David Weiss, his lawyer said in court Thursday, surprising federal prosecutors.
Abe Lowell, the son's lawyer, said in federal court on Thursday that Biden plans to change the charges and plead guilty after initially pleading not guilty.
“This is the first time I've heard of this,” said federal prosecutor Leo Wise.
A source familiar with the special counsel team told Fox News Digital that this is not a done deal for Hunter Biden and is currently merely an offer put forward by the defense.
A courtroom sketch shows Hunter Biden appearing in federal court in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Bill Robles)
Jury selection begins in California for Hunter Biden criminal tax trial
The development came after Hunter Biden's lawyers were preparing to argue that he was too high or drunk to pay his taxes. The New York Post reported. Thursday.
According to a Justice Department manual, prosecutors at the department cannot accept the so-called Alford plea “except in extremely unusual circumstances.”
An Alford plea means a defendant acknowledges that the prosecutor's evidence is likely sufficient to convict them and accepts the verdict but maintains his or her innocence.
President Biden's son, Hunter Biden, attends the 2024 Democratic National Convention at the United Center, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (Getty Images)
A source familiar with Weiss' team said Biden's lawyers have not yet had direct talks with the special counsel team, which is discussing next steps internally.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also considering how and when it could get involved.
The trial began with jury selection on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Weiss charged Biden with three felony and six misdemeanor counts over $1.4 million in back taxes that had already been paid. Weiss alleged that the president's son had a pattern of not paying federal income taxes and filing false tax returns.
In the indictment, Weiss alleged that from approximately January 2017 until about October 15, 2020, Biden “engaged in a four-year scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes due for tax years 2016 through 2019, and in or about February 2020, filed a false tax return to evade paying taxes for 2018.”
Weiss said Biden “in furtherance of his scheme” subverted the payroll and withholding processes of his own firm, Owasco PC, and “withdrew millions of dollars outside the payroll and withholding processes the firm was designed to perform.”
Hunter Biden arrives with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, on June 11, 2024, at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, where he was ultimately convicted on the firearms case. (AP Photo/Matt Luke)
Hunter Biden tax trial postponed to September
The special counsel alleged that Biden “spent millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle instead of paying taxes” and that in 2018 “stopped paying his unpaid and delinquent taxes for fiscal year 2015.”
Weiss alleged that Biden “willfully failed to timely pay his 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 taxes even though he had the funds to pay some or all of those taxes” and “failed to timely file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns.”
This is the second time Biden has gone on trial this year on charges stemming from Weiss' investigation.
President Biden embraces his son, Hunter Biden, at the Democratic National Convention, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Sancia)
Biden was discovered Judge Weiss charged him with making a false statement when purchasing a firearm, making a false statement regarding information required to be kept by a licensed firearms dealer, and possession of a firearm by an unlawful user or addict of a controlled substance, and found him guilty of all charges in Delaware.
A sentencing date has not yet been set for these charges. Combined, the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years probation.
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President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son.
