US President Joe Biden's son Hunter pleaded not guilty to tax evasion in Los Angeles on Thursday, in an embarrassing case for the White House tenant as he prepares to run again against Donald Trump.
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Hunter Biden, 53, a businessman turned painting convert who says he has overcome drug and alcohol addiction, is one of the favorite targets of his father's Republican opponents, who see him as the Democratic president's Achilles heel.
According to prosecutors, he was charged in December with a “scheme” to evade the obligation to pay $1.4 million in taxes due for the 2016 to 2019 tax period and pleaded guilty in a brief hearing on Thursday, according to American not guilty on all nine charges media.
This appearance in Los Angeles comes the day after a parliamentary hearing that turned into an open election campaign in Washington when Hunter Biden unexpectedly invited himself there to protest the attitude of Republicans who launched an impeachment inquiry into the president in September .
The latter, without providing any evidence yet, accuse Joe Biden of corruption and accuse him of benefiting from his son's controversial affairs in Ukraine and China when he was Barack Obama's vice president (2009-2017).
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“Let me say this as clearly as I can: My father was never financially involved in my affairs,” Hunter Biden told Congress in a serious tone on December 13.
On Wednesday, two congressional committees dominated by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives recommended that he be found guilty of obstructing Congress's investigative powers for refusing to participate in a closed hearing on his foreign financial interests. He calls for a public hearing.
During one of the hearings, one of the elected Republicans called Hunter Biden a “coward” and showed sleazy photos of him, while another called him an “embodiment of white privilege.”
“What they are doing to Hunter is cruel,” responded Jill Biden, the American president’s wife, in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday.
On the tax front, the justices accuse him of “spending millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle instead of paying his taxes,” according to the indictment, which mentions his drug use and payments for the company of “companions.” Luxury cars and clothing.
Hunter Biden faces up to 17 years in prison in this case.
He is also charged with illegal gun possession in a separate case in Delaware (East). Therefore, he could potentially be tried twice in 2024 while his father runs for re-election.
In June, he agreed to a guilty plea to both tax evasion and the illegal purchase of firearms, which likely would have spared him a prison sentence and an embarrassing trial for him and his father.
However, that agreement was overturned after a judge expressed doubts about its validity in July.