Hunter Biden pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal tax charges as jury selection was beginning in Los Angeles. The decision, which was a surprise to prosecutors, avoids a trial on the counts but leaves him at risk of substantial prison time when he's sentenced on Dec. 16, the Washington Post reports. US District Judge Mark Scarsi asked Biden if he realized that his plea could subject him to 17 years in prison and fines of up to $1.3 million. The president's son replied that he understood. The change was not part of a plea deal to incur a lighter sentence.
Biden earlier in the day had offered to change his not guilty plea to what's known as an Alford plea. Under such a plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges prosecutors have enough evidence to gain a conviction, per the AP. Biden faced misdemeanor and felony charges over what prosecutors say was a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes while pulling in millions of dollars from foreign business entities. He is already confronting potential prison time after a Delaware jury convicted him in June of lying on a 2018 federal form to purchase a gun that he possessed for 11 days.
On Thursday, Biden walked into the courtroom holding hands with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. His attorneys had indicated they would argue Biden didn't act "willfully" in the case related to his 2016-through-2019 taxes or with the intention to break the law, in part because of his well-documented struggles with alcohol and drug addiction. The decision means Biden's family will not have to testify. His lawyers said he told them that after the Delaware trial, he did not want to subject his family to the humiliation of a court battle, per the New York Times. (More Hunter Biden stories.)
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