Judge skeptical of Hunter Biden's effort to dismiss tax case as politically motivated

LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for Hunter Biden asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to throw out nine tax-related charges, arguing that the president’s son is being vindictively prosecuted by the Justice Department and had his rights trampled by two IRS agents who publicly revealed his confidential tax records.

At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi appeared skeptical about Biden’s eight motions to dismiss the criminal charges, pointing out that his lawyers had little evidence to bolster some of their arguments.

Scarsi said he would rule on the motions by April 17. Biden did not attend the hearing.

Led by Abbe Lowell, Biden’s legal team contended that intense political pressure from Republican lawmakers and former President Trump had improperly influenced the case, led to the collapse of a plea deal for Biden and prompted prosecutors to “up the ante” and secure far more serious indictments in both Delaware and Los Angeles.

“Is there any evidence that pressure from any outside entity influenced the prosecution team?” the judge asked Lowell on Wednesday.

“There really is no evidence. You cite to things on the internet,” the judge said at another point.

Lowell stressed that a timeline of events showed how prosecutors were improperly influenced, one example being the summoning of special counsel David Weiss to testify before Congress.

“It’s a timeline, but it’s a juicy timeline,” Lowell said.

Weiss’ prosecution team has accused Biden of failing to timely pay his taxes on $7 million of income from 2016 to 2019, a period when prosecutors say he “performed very little actual work.” Biden paid off his tax debt, with penalties and interest, in 2021.

Three of the nine charges in the indictment are felonies — tax evasion and twice filing false tax returns — and center on how Biden reported his 2018 taxes. Prosecutors allege he misclassified several personal expenses that year as business expenses, such as $30,000 for his daughter’s tuition, $1,500 to an exotic dancer and $11,500 to an escort, according to the indictment.

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