Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, attends a Medal of Honor Ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington on July 3, 2024 (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA/ AP Images).
Hunter Biden has changed course and offered to plead guilty in his tax evasion case in California. According to CNN, President Joe Biden’s son offered to plead guilty to nine tax offenses in federal court on Thursday.
The acknowledgment of guilt is a reversal of sorts from what Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell had said in court just hours earlier on Thursday, when he said that his client intends to enter an Alford plea, the Washington Post reported. While not quite admitting guilt, an Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain their innocence while acknowledging that the evidence presented would like lead to a guilty verdict.
Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi that they had no advance notice of the plea change and that they would need time to consider it, the Washington Post story said. Scarsi then adjourned the proceedings for several hours so the federal government could consider the plea and negotiate with Biden’s lawyers, the report added.
Prosecutors had said they would object to the Alford plea, CNN reported.
The plea change comes shortly before Biden’s trial was set to start; jury selection was scheduled for Thursday, with opening arguments planned to kick off on Monday.
