Hunter Biden Pleads Not Guilty to Tax Charges

WILMINGTON, Del.— Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to tax charges on Wednesday, in a stunning reversal after a judge said she wasn’t yet prepared to accept a deal he had reached with prosecutors to plead guilty.

In a testy, three-hour hearing, a lawyer for President Biden’s son at first clashed with prosecutors over a dispute about the potential for future charges. After a break in which the two sides clarified their agreement, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she needed more information before deciding whether to sign off on it.

“These agreements are not straightforward and they contain atypical provisions,” she said, adding: “I’m not in a position where I can decide to accept or reject a plea agreement and I need to defer it.”

The last-minute upheaval before Judge Noreika, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, marks the latest twist in a meandering and politically explosive Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances, business dealings and well-documented drug and alcohol addiction.

The outlines of a plea agreement made public weeks ago held the potential for Hunter Biden to put his legal troubles behind him, even though Republicans on Capitol Hill have escalated their hearings and accusations about his alleged misdeeds and sought to tie them to President Biden as he launches his re-election bid.

Prosecutors left open the possibility of future charges against Hunter Biden, including those pertaining to foreign lobbying laws that the Justice Department has long been examining. Wednesday’s outcome means his legal woes persist and could provide new fodder for Republicans in the House and Senate as the 2024 campaign ramps up.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has signaled the House may pursue an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, citing claims of corruption tied to Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.

The White House has said consistently that President Biden didn’t discuss Hunter Biden’s business dealings with his son and wasn’t involved in them. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said: “I have faith in the prosecution…And no one should interfere with this politically, ideologically, and let justice go forward.”

Should the judge overseeing the case ultimately not condone the plea agreement, Hunter Biden would face trial on the current charges against him just as Trump, the GOP 2024 presidential front-runner, faces his own Justice Department charges that he mishandled classified information. Trump also is expected to be indicted over alleged efforts to undermine the 2020 election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

The younger Biden had expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and had entered into an agreement to avoid a gun charge. Republicans have accused the Justice Department of giving Biden a lenient deal that others in similar circumstances would never have received. The department has denied any favoritism.

During the hearing, Hunter Biden sat with his attorneys and quietly watched as the proceedings unraveled. He offered a glimpse into his recovery efforts, telling the judge he had been in treatment at least six times in the past two decades for his drug and alcohol addiction. The last time he used drugs or alcohol was June 2019, he said.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. “As we have said, the president and the first lady, they love their son and will continue to support him as he rebuilds his life.”

Part of the turmoil began on Wednesday when prosecutor Leo Wise insisted that the investigation into Hunter Biden’s activities remained ongoing and said in response to a question from the judge that he could face additional foreign-lobbying charges.

In response, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, said he disagreed with that interpretation and believed the agreement foreclosed the possibility of additional charges, adding later: “As far as I’m concerned, the plea agreement is null and void.”

After the break, Hunter Biden’s legal team said the agreement covered his liability related to tax offenses from 2014 through 2019, and covered drug and gun crimes. The judge asked Hunter Biden if he had been promised any other protections to entice him to plead guilty, and he said, “No, your honor.”

Then the judge pressed both sides on provisions included in both prongs of the agreement, including why the tax deal was brought under a statute that removes the court’s ability to vet it, while the gun deal includes a requirement that the court decide whether Hunter Biden has breached the deal. Judge Noreika said that could inappropriately put her in the position of making a decision normally left for prosecutors.

“I have concerns about the constitutionality of this provision, so I have concerns about the constitutionality of this agreement,” she said.

The judge gave the two sides 30 days to clarify her role and provide additional information. At that point, Hunter Biden could plead guilty and formalize the agreements he had negotiated.

Hunter Biden made no comment as he walked out of the courthouse to a waiting SUV after the hearing.

On Tuesday, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.), filed an unusual brief in the case urging the court to consider rejecting the plea deal. It highlighted recent testimony his panel heard from two Internal Revenue Service investigators alleging that political considerations might have infected the inquiry. “In the interest of full transparency and fairness for all citizens, it is critical for the Court to have this information,” the brief said.

Judge Noreika said she hadn’t had time to fully review the lengthy filing.

The deal with federal prosecutors was supposed to have marked the culmination of a yearslong investigation by the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, who was appointed by Trump and has remained in office under the Biden administration to see through the criminal inquiry into the president’s son. As part of the agreement, prosecutors had agreed not to pursue a separate felony gun-possession charge as long as Hunter Biden remains drug-free and agrees to never own a firearm again.

Republicans have promised to forge ahead with their own probes aimed at tainting President Biden through his son and keeping his troubles in focus as the 2024 election cycle heats up.

“We will continue to follow the Bidens’ money trail,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) said Wednesday, praising the judge for “refusing to rubberstamp” the “sweetheart deal.”

Democrats have dismissed the GOP-led probes as political theater, with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), the Oversight Committee’s ranking member, calling them an “Inspector Clouseau-style quest for something that does not exist.”

Weiss’s office had agreed to recommend a sentence of probation alone as part of the plea agreement for Hunter Biden, though the judge has the final say. Hunter Biden faces a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison and a fine of $100,000 on each count. The firearms charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a hefty fine, if Hunter Biden fails in his promise not to own firearms and to stay drug free.

Begun in 2018, the investigation first examined the younger Biden’s foreign business dealings but has come in more recent years to focus on his taxes and his false claim, on a form to purchase a gun, that he wasn’t using or addicted to drugs. In his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” Hunter Biden detailed his long addiction to drugs and wrote that he smoked crack “every 15 minutes” for stretches in 2018.

Weiss said Hunter Biden received more than $1.5 million in annual income in both 2017 and 2018 and didn’t pay taxes on it, despite owing more than $100,000 each year. The Wall Street Journal previously reported he paid back about $1 million, while the charges say he failed to pay at least $200,000 on time. The reason for that apparent discrepancy wasn’t clear in advance of further details expected from the prosecution.

According to court documents related to the firearms charge, Hunter Biden had a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in October 2018, even though he was addicted to drugs and barred from owning a gun.

The inquiry lasted five years over two administrations and was beset with many challenges, including disagreements among investigators over how to proceed. By mid-2022, investigators thought there was enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden but prosecutors held off for months while they reviewed defense evidence. Among other issues, prosecutors struggled with whether his drug addiction would present an effective defense against a potential criminal tax case.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, whom President Biden appointed in part because of his pledge to keep the department’s probes insulated from politics, has defended the investigation’s independence, and Weiss has said he was given broad latitude to pursue the case as he saw fit.

On Monday, the Justice Department said Weiss would be available to testify before the House Judiciary Committee and offered possible dates in September and October, stressing that he should speak at a public hearing as opposed to the closed-door setting Republicans sought.

Write to Sadie Gurman at [email protected] and Aruna Viswanatha at [email protected]

Corrections & Amplifications
Hunter Biden faces a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison and a fine of $100,000 on each count. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Biden faced a fine of $25,000 on each count. (Corrected on July 26)