close
close

Gottagopestcontrol

Trusted News & Timely Insights

Hunter Biden’s lawyers and prosecutors return to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges
Idaho

Hunter Biden’s lawyers and prosecutors return to court ahead of his trial on federal tax charges

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Weeks before the trial of Hunter Biden Federal taxesPresident Joe Biden’s son’s legal team and prosecutors will appear in a California courtroom on Wednesday as the judge weighs what evidence can be presented to the jury.

Hunter Biden is accused in the case, which will go to trial in Los Angeles in September, of a conspiracy to evade taxes totaling at least $1.4 million. It is the second criminal trial in just a few months against the president’s son, who convicted of three serious crimes in June in a separate federal case over the purchase of a gun in 2018.

Prosecutors and the defense have been arguing for weeks in court documents about what evidence and testimony the jury should be allowed to hear. Among the contentious issues is evidence related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which are at the center of the Republican investigations into the family of the Democratic President.

Prosecutors plan to present evidence of Hunter Biden’s business dealings with a Chinese energy company, as well as money he earned as a board member of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The evidence will show that Hunter Biden “did almost no work for the millions of dollars he received from these companies.”

Special Counsel David Weiss’ team also plans to test the jury in Hunter Biden’s Work for a Romanian businessmanwho, according to prosecutors, attempted to “influence U.S. government policy” while Joe Biden was vice president.

Prosecutors want to call one of Hunter Biden’s business partners as a witness to testify about the agreement with the Romanian businessman. Gabriel Popoviciuwho, according to prosecutors, had asked US authorities for help in ending criminal proceedings against him in his home country.

Hunter Biden and his business partner were concerned that their “lobbying work could have political consequences” for Joe Biden, so the agreement was structured to obscure “the true nature of the work” for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege. Hunter and two business partners shared more than $3 million from Popoviciu, prosecutors say.

The defense has said evidence about his foreign business dealings is irrelevant to the tax charges and would only confuse the jury. They have accused prosecutors of trying inappropriately to “foreign, politically charged affairs” into the process.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have indicated they will argue that he did not act “willfully” or with the intent to break the law. Referring to Hunter Biden’s well-documented addiction problems They argued that his drug and alcohol abuse during those years “impaired his decision-making and judgment, rendering Mr. Biden unable to develop the requisite intent to commit the crimes he is accused of.”

Prosecutors have said that while Hunter Biden was evading his taxes, he lived an “extravagant lifestyle,” spending money on things like drugs, escorts, exotic cars and luxury hotels. The defense is asking the judge to keep these salacious allegations out of the trial.

“The Special Counsel may wish to introduce such evidence precisely because it is offensive and would pique the jury’s interest, but for the same reasons and because such evidence would distract the jury from the crimes charged, such information would also be highly prejudicial to Mr. Biden,” defense attorneys wrote in court documents.

Hunter Biden was is said to have pleaded guilty last year for tax offenses in a deal with prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he had stayed out of trouble. But the deal fell through after a federal judge in Delaware raised concerns, and he was subsequently indicted on both counts.

___

Richer reported from Washington.

LEAVE A RESPONSE

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *