Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to federal tax charges

Los Angeles CNN —

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty Thursday on federal charges he faces in California for allegedly failing to pay more than a million dollars in taxes.

The embattled son of the president made his initial appearance Thursday in a federal courthouse in Los Angeles in the case brought by special counsel David Weiss.

Hunter Biden has been charged with nine counts related to a tax-avoidance conspiracy that prosecutors say he implemented over several years while enjoying a lavish, and at times salacious, lifestyle. Hunter Biden’s attorney has argued that they amount to nothing more than a political hit job.

Republicans have focused on the president’s son and his overseas business dealings with Ukrainian and Chinese companies, accusing Joe Biden himself of financially benefitting from Hunter Biden’s dealings; claims that are yet unproven.

The charges against Hunter Biden stem from a yearslong investigation by Weiss, the US attorney for Delaware, who was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in August.

After Hunter Biden entered a plea of not guilty, the judge overseeing the case in California moved quickly to setting the trial date as well as filing and hearing deadlines in the case.

“I’m kind of keeping you on a tight schedule,” the federal Judge Mark Scarsi said after setting the trial in the case for June 20, 2024. “We like to move things along.”

Prosecutor Leo Wise told the court that discovery in the case had already largely been handed over and that some discovery in the Delaware case – where Hunter Biden faces three gun-related charges – will also be used in the case in California.

“It’s a common production,” Wise noted, “coming out of the same investigation.”