Hunter Biden – the president’s son who is a central figure in Republicans’ efforts to impeach Joe Biden – will appear in court Thursday on federal charges he faces in California for allegedly failing to pay more than a million dollars in taxes.
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. He has yet to enter a plea on the charges, but 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 David Weiss, the US attorney for Delaware, who was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in August.
According to the indictment filed in California, where Hunter Biden lives, the president’s son “engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019.”
“(T)he Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment states.
Prosecutors say Hunter Biden falsely claimed some of these expenses, including payments to escorts, as deductions on his taxes. He has since paid the IRS back what he owes in taxes and penalties.
In his 2021 autobiography, cited in the indictment, Hunter Biden detailed his struggle with addiction, including with crack cocaine – a period that overlaps with…
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