Hunter Biden’s Legal Woes Return to Spotlight Ahead of Tax Trial

Hunter Biden’s trial on tax charges in Los Angeles turned into a political afterthought the moment President Biden withdrew from the 2024 race in July. But the personal stakes for his son, who is staring down the possibility of prison time, have never been higher.

Mr. Biden, 54, has long been willing to negotiate a plea deal after the collapse last year of a far-reaching agreement that would have spared him prison time. But as both sides prepare for the start of jury selection on Thursday, there are no indications that any deal is likely, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

If anything, the special counsel overseeing the case, David C. Weiss, appears determined to aggressively seek a second conviction by portraying Mr. Biden as a dissolute, reckless and high-living tax cheat, after securing a guilty verdict against him three months ago on charges of lying on a gun application in Delaware.

He is charged with evading a tax assessment, failing to file and pay taxes, and filing a false or fraudulent tax return.

It is possible that the two top Weiss deputies handling the case, Leo J. Wise and Derek Hines, are tightening the legal screws as a prelude to driving a far tougher plea bargain than the earlier agreement that ultimately fell apart. But the government’s tone in filings that read as a moral judgment on Mr. Biden’s actions during a time when he was addicted to drugs and alcohol suggests otherwise to the defense.

“They want the character assassination; they want to slime him. That is the whole purpose,” Mark J. Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Biden, said last month during a testy preliminary hearing to determine which evidence, arguments and witnesses can be introduced at a trial that is expected to last at