Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal tax charges

President’s son denies claims by prosecutors that he evaded $1.4 million in taxes

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to nine tax-related charges.
Mr Biden, the president’s last surviving son, was arraigned on Thursday at a court in Los Angeles before Trump-appointed US district judge Mark Scarsi.
Mr Biden appeared in court the day after he turned up at a meeting of the House Oversight Committee in which the Republican majority voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Prosecutors allege Mr Biden evaded $1.4 million (£1.1 million) in taxes between 2016-19.
According to the indictment, Mr Biden spent vast sums “on drugs escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature”, including over $70,000 (£55.920) on drug rehabilitation.
If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in prison.
The charges were brought by David Weiss, who was appointed as US attorney for Delaware by Donald Trump.
He was named as a special counsel last August by Attorney General Merrick Garland after a previously agreed plea deal collapsed in July.
Abbe Lowell, Mr Biden’s lawyer, said he had repaid the taxes in full and accused Mr Weiss of reneging on a previous agreement.
“If Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” he said in a statement.
Mr Biden has publicly admitted his problems with drugs and alcohol in his memoir, Beautiful Things.
Prosecutors say that the book corroborates the charges they have brought.
Republicans, who have been pursuing Mr Biden for a considerable time, ramped up their attack when they won control of the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections in November.
They have repeatedly attempted to link the president with his son’s controversial business career including serving on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian industrial conglomerate.
However, thus far, they have failed, to provide evidence that the president benefited from his son’s activities.
With Mr Trump facing a blizzard of litigation in an election year, Republicans believe Mr Biden’s legal woes will be equally damaging to his father’s hopes of retaining the White House.
On Wednesday, Republicans on the Oversight Committee called for Mr Biden to be arrested on the spot after he sat in the gallery during a hearing.
They were enraged by his refusal to testify in a closed session of an impeachment inquiry into the president.
Instead, Mr Biden offered to give his evidence in public.
A decision on whether to pursue Mr Biden for contempt will be left to the full membership of the House of Representatives, where the Republicans hold a narrow majority.
Should the vote be passed, it will be left to the Department of Justice to decide whether to pursue charges.
It will come under heavy pressure to do so, given that two Trump advisers were prosecuted for contempt of Congress by the Biden administration.

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