President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will ask a U.S. judge on Wednesday to dismiss the criminal case accusing him of evading $1.4 million in taxes, arguing that prosecutors bowed to political pressure from Republican lawmakers investigating his father.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers will appear before U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in federal court in Los Angeles to press several legal challenges to the charges, including an argument that he was selectively targeted by prosecutors in response to Republican criticism over alleged earlier lenient treatment.
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded not guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019, while spending millions of dollars on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other big-ticket items. His lawyer has said he paid back the money in full.
The trial is due to start in June, a few months before Americans vote in a November presidential election that looks set to be a close and deeply divisive contest between Joe Biden, himself the subject of an impeachment probe, and Donald Trump, who faces four criminal trials.
Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to face criminal charges, also faces a separate criminal case in federal court in Delaware over his alleged purchase of a handgun while he was using illegal drugs.
He has pleaded not guilty and made similar arguments to dismiss the charges in that case.
