USA Hunter Biden pleads guilty in tax case

US President Hunter Biden has pleaded guilty to several tax offenses in the proceedings against him. This was reported unanimously by US media, including the broadcasters CNN and NBC, from the court in Los Angeles.

The 54-year-old is thus avoiding a trial that should have started on Thursday with the selection of the jury. CNN and NBC reported that sentencing in the case is now scheduled for December 16.

At the start of the court session in Los Angeles, Hunter Biden had initially surprised everyone with another legal advance and offered an unusual agreement with the judiciary. Specifically, he proposed a plea deal in which the defendant would not plead guilty in the traditional sense, but at the same time acknowledge that the evidence in the case would probably lead to a guilty verdict. However, the public prosecutor rejected the proposal.

This was followed by Biden's - also surprising - classic guilty plea. He had previously pleaded not guilty in the case. With his about-turn, he has now averted a trial in which further sensitive details from his business and private life would have been revealed in public.

Luxury life instead of tax payments

In December, Hunter Biden was charged with several tax offenses. The 54-year-old is accused of failing to pay federal taxes properly for several years. He was accused of spending millions on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his tax bills. Hunter Biden only paid his taxes retrospectively.

Specifically, it concerns the years 2016 to mid-October 2020 - i.e. until shortly before Joe Biden's election as President. According to the indictment, Hunter Biden recorded more than seven million US dollars in income during this period. At the time, however, he had decided not to pay taxes but to spend the money on other things: "on drugs, hostesses and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other things of a personal nature, in short: on everything except his taxes".

The meticulous list of delicate expenses in the indictment, such as for sex clubs and "adult entertainment", caused quite a stir. Hunter Biden must have been very keen not to reveal such details publicly in a trial.

Guilty verdict in another trial

In another criminal trial in June, Hunter Biden was found guilty of illegal possession of firearms. In that case, he was accused of making false statements when purchasing a weapon in October 2018 and concealing his drug addiction at the time. He denied the allegations. All kinds of delicate private matters were dealt with in public during the trial. The sentence in the weapons proceedings is to be announced on November 13.

Hunter Biden's negative headlines in recent years and in particular his legal problems in recent months have also put his father Joe Biden under political pressure. According to the media, Hunter Biden is the first child of a sitting US president to be found guilty in criminal proceedings at federal level. Republicans used this for political attacks against the US President, who has since withdrawn from the election campaign for a second term in office for other reasons. In his place, Vice President Kamala Harris is now running as the Democratic candidate in the election on November 5.

Joe Biden has repeatedly made it clear that he will not pardon his son or mitigate his sentence. The White House spokeswoman emphasized on Thursday before Hunter Biden's guilty plea that this still applies.