Hunter Biden retains new lawyer ahead of trial on tax charges after plea talks stall
By Katelyn Polantz and Paula Reid, CNN
(CNN) — Hunter Biden has brought on a new, high-profile criminal defense lawyer to lead him through his tax evasion trial in the coming weeks, after discussions this summer with the special counsel who brought the case didn’t yield a plea deal.
A plea deal could still allow President Joe Biden’s son to avoid a second trial following his recent conviction on gun-related charges, according to two sources familiar with the talks.
The two sides have not advanced the discussions to anything concrete, and it’s unclear whether they will reach an agreement before Biden is scheduled to go on trial for the tax-related charges, including three felonies, in California next month, the sources said.
The situation has prompted Hunter Biden to add noted defense attorney Mark Geragos, who runs his firm out of Los Angeles, for the tax trial. Because of the financial crunch from his continuing legal bills and time limitations for his DC-based defense attorneys, sources said the team that tried Biden’s gun case in Delaware is taking a back seat to Geragos.
The developments highlight how the legal and political situation around the president’s son has shifted over the past two months – and how it could still be enticing for Hunter Biden to avoid a second costly and embarrassing trial as his father prepares to exit the White House.
Money has also become a factor. His primary benefactor, Hollywood super lawyer Kevin Morris, has run low on funds he can dedicate to Biden’s defense, one of the sources told CNN. Over the last year and a half, Biden’s legal team has filed multiple lawsuits against his detractors, but the bulk of his bills come from his criminal cases.
The Delaware trial lasted seven days, but a tax trial is expected to last much longer, meaning at a far greater cost for the defendant.
Biden’s Delaware defense, as well as aggressive approaches in lawsuits and on Capitol Hill, had been led by Abbe Lowell, a top partner at the large corporate defense firm Winston & Strawn.
The firm has had multiple lawyers working on the trials and planned appeals but had been stretched thin this summer by its other work while Biden’s court activity on the West Coast continued. The typical rate for Lowell, who is based in Washington, DC, is set at more than $1,700 an hour, according to one source familiar with the firm, though it’s unknown if this is what Biden is being billed.
White House officials previously pushed back against the idea of launching fundraising pleas for legal bills in the president’s political circles, sources familiar with the matter told CNN this spring.
Plea talks often speed up closer to trial date
A previous deal between Hunter Biden and special counsel David Weiss to avoid trials and potentially prison time a year ago fell apart in dramatic fashion.
But in the days following Biden’s conviction in Delaware in early June, when the jury found he illegally possessed a gun after lying on forms that had him attest he was not doing drugs, plea deal talks kicked up again.
Sources say the special counsel’s office told Biden’s team he could always plead guilty to the nine tax counts, including three felonies, that he is charged with, without significant concessions from the Justice Department. But Biden has always sought to reduce his possible jail time, ideally with eking out only misdemeanor charges instead, which is an approach defense lawyers often aim for in plea discussions.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment.
Plea negotiations typically intensify for defendants as the first day of a trial approaches.
The federal tax trial, set to begin in Los Angeles early next month, would revisit similar painful episodes of drug addiction and dalliances with women featured in the gun trial earlier this year. This includes recollections from the widow of his brother, Beau Biden, whom the special counsel’s office intends to call to testify, according to recent court records.
Lunden Roberts, the mother of one of Hunter Biden’s children whom he had a child support battle over, has also been subpoenaed to testify, her lawyer says.
Prosecutors will attempt to prove to the jury Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes by obscuring from the Internal Revenue Service international business he did while using his money on pricey hotels, luxury cars and sex workers.
Biden did eventually repay the taxes, but conviction on those counts could increase the possible prison time he faces. He is set to be sentenced for the gun conviction in November, days after the presidential election, and faces prison time and fines.
Has the pardon calculus changed?
At the same time, his father holds the ability to pardon him or commute his sentence. After the Delaware conviction – while the president was still campaigning for a second term in office – Joe Biden said he would “abide by the jury decision” and not pardon his son or reduce his sentence, which he has the power to do while president.
It isn’t clear if the president’s thinking has changed since he dropped his reelection bid last month.
The White House declined to comment for this story.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys Lowell and Geragos have experience advocating for high-profile pardons. Geragos secured a pardon from then-President Bill Clinton in the final hours of his presidency for one of the business partners jailed during the Whitewater investigation.
But those types of lawyer-led entreaties may not be needed in Hunter Biden’s case, as any discussions about a potential pardon are likely to happen between father and son, with the decision coming closer to the end of Biden’s presidency, sources said.
CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
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