There were allegations aplenty at a Wednesday hearing on the federal tax charges against Hunter Biden, but what bothered U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi was the paucity of facts connecting the charges with efforts by congressional Republicans to probe the murky depths of the Biden family’s finances.
Although Scarsi did not make a decision, he signaled in the Los Angeles hearing that defense arguments that the Biden administration’s Justice Department was doing former President Donald Trump’s bidding were not persuasive, according to CNN.
Scarsi, who is dealing with nine motions from Hunter Biden’s attorneys, said he would issue a ruling by April 17, according to The Washington Post.
One motion claiming “selective and vindictive” prosecution appeared to irk the judge.
“One of the big hurdles that this motion has is that it’s not filed with any evidence,” Scarsi said.
He said the facts will win the day, not the politics surrounding the case.
“We are just looking at the facts and law,” the judge said. “All of the aspersions cast off one another just roll off.”
If Scarsi rules against Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son will go to trial in June. There is also the option to make a deal with prosecutors, but the last deal made with Hunter Biden blew up in July in spectacular fashion, lighting off the chain of events that brought his attorneys to court on Wednesday in California.
Biden attorney Abbe Lowell said it was wrong that after prosecutors initially charged the president’s son with misdemeanors in a plea deal that drew outrage from Republicans, he should face three felony charges now as well as six misdemeanors.
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Lowell said the tougher charges are proof that special prosecutor David Weiss, who as the U.S. attorney for Delaware led the initial Hunter Biden probe that ended with misdemeanor charges, gave into a public pressure campaign orchestrated by congressional Republicans.
Scarsi asked the attorney for anything more than timing to connect those dots.
“It’s a timeline,” Lowell said. “But it’s a juicy timeline.”
Prosecutor Leo Wise said once the plea deal collapsed, the Justice Department was not bound by its terms.
The hearing also batted about an immunity deal that was part of the initial agreement to settle tax and gun charges against Hunter Biden, which Biden’s lawyers claim should still be in effect.
However, as noted by the New York Post, neither the judge who had to approve the deal nor Delaware Chief U.S. Probation Officer Margaret Bray ever signed the agreement, which former Biden defense attorney Christopher Clark called “null and void.”
Wise said Biden’s team “flipped” its position, not the government.
“There was a good faith belief that Mr. Biden was going to plead guilty,” he said.
Scarsi appeared puzzled by the deal, asking at one point, “Why would he plead guilty if he had immunity?”
