Hunter Biden offers to plead guilty in L.A. tax case, seeking to avoid damaging trial

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Hunter Biden , the son of President joe Biden, offered to plead guilty to nine federal tax evasion charges against him during a court appearance Thursday in Los Angeles, hoping to avoid a potentially explosive trial.

Biden offered up the guilty plea in federal court after prosecutors rejected his attempt earlier in the day to make an "Alford plea," NBC News and the Washington Post reported.

The guilty plea offer came as proceedings began on Day 2 of Biden's trial on nine felony and misdemeanor charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 through 2019.

Jury selection in the case had been scheduled to commence Thursday but the day instead began with a surprise announcement by Biden attorney Abbe Lowell, who said his client was willing to offer an Alford plea, under which defendants can admit prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction and accept punishment while maintaining they are innocent of the charges.

Special Prosecutor David Weiss ' team immediately objected, saying they had not been been consulted and indicating they were determined to make Biden explicitly admit his guilt to the charges.

"I want to make crystal clear -- the U.S. opposes an Alford plea," prosecutor Leo Wise told U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi. "Hunter Biden is not innocent, he is guilty."

After Scarsi temporarily adjourned the proceedings for several hours, they were reconvened and Biden then offered to make an "open" guilty plea.

The judge asked him if he understood such a plea could result in 15 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million, the president's son responded that he did.

With his son pleading guilty, President Biden would have the power to commute his sentence before leaving office. He has stated, however, that he would not do so, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeated the pledge Thursday.

"No, it is still very much a no," she told reporters aboard Air Force One the president was en route to a visit to western Wisconsin.

Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump , brought the charges in Biden's tax case as well as a separate matter charging the president's son with three felony gun counts.

The latest move comes after Biden's legal team unsuccessfully sought to dismiss the tax case by citing a recent decision by a federal judge in Florida who throw out the classified documents case against Trump on the grounds that the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional.

Scarsi, however, shot down that argument last month for being untimely and an attempt to relitigate an earlier decision quashing a previous attempt by Biden to have the case dismissed.

In addition to the current tax case, Biden is awaiting sentencing on three gun-related charges. He found guilty in June on charges stemming from his purchase of a handgun in 2018 when he was allegedly struggling with drug addiction. He faces up to 25 years' imprisonment and hefty fines when sentenced.

Biden last year was poised to plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax offenses, but the deal fell apart in July when the two sides could not agree on a separate gun offense.

Both cases against Hunter Biden have been blasted by Democrats as being politically motivated by Republican lawmakers as an effort to take the spotlight off of Trump's many legal problems and to find an impeachable offense against Joe Biden .

Despite many months of seeking a link between Hunter Biden's activities and his father's actions in office, GOP investigators were unable to unearth any evidence showing the president took any direct actions favorable to his so.