(PartiallyPolitics.com) – Hunter Biden is set to face a federal trial on tax charges in September after a judge granted his request to postpone the upcoming California trial originally scheduled for next month.
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, acknowledging the need for adequate preparation time for the defense, rescheduled the trial for September 5. In a separate case in Delaware, President Joe Biden’s son is also due to start trial on federal gun charges on June 3.
Hunter Biden has entered not guilty pleas for both sets of charges, which his legal team argues are politically motivated. Both trials are presided over by judges appointed by former President Donald Trump, a Republican who is challenging Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election.
The trials occur amid a highly charged political atmosphere, with Trump’s supporters using the controversies surrounding Biden’s younger son to criticize the President, while Trump himself contends with four criminal cases, including an ongoing hush money trial in New York.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys have expressed their difficulty in preparing for both trials simultaneously, pointing to the complex and high-profile nature of the cases. Despite their arguments, prosecutors have resisted delaying the trial, claiming that media attention does not hinder the defense in what they describe as a “straightforward tax case.”
The legal team for Justice Department special counsel David Weiss argued in a recent court filing that Hunter Biden should not receive special treatment and must be subject to the same legal standards as any other defendant.
The tax indictment accuses Hunter Biden of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period while leading an extravagant lifestyle, a time during which he has admitted to struggling with addiction. The overdue taxes have since been settled.
In the gun charge case, it is alleged that Biden lied about his drug use on a firearms purchase form in October 2018, a form he filled out during a time he admits to being addicted to crack cocaine. Despite this, his lawyers maintain that he did not violate the law.
Prosecutors in the gun case intend to use excerpts from Biden’s 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” where he discusses his battles with drug and alcohol addiction following the death of his brother, Beau, from brain cancer in 2015.
Efforts by Hunter Biden’s legal team to dismiss both cases have been unsuccessful. They have argued that the prosecution succumbed to political pressure following a breakdown in plea deal negotiations, which was criticized by Republicans, including Trump, as overly lenient.
Previously, a plea agreement that would have resolved the federal investigation into the president’s son fell apart after judicial scrutiny, leading to his indictment. Under that deal, Hunter Biden would have faced two years of probation for misdemeanor tax offenses and avoided charges in the gun case, contingent on staying out of further legal trouble.
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