Judge rejects latest attempt by Hunter Biden to dismiss tax-related charges
The ruling all but ensures that the case will go to trial early next month.
A federal judge on Monday rejected the latest attempt by President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden to dismiss several tax-related charges he faces in Los Angeles, all but ensuring that the case will go to trial as scheduled early next month.
In July, attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a pair of motions seeking to dismiss his cases in both California and Delaware, citing a decision by a federal judge in Florida to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.
But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, the Los Angeles-based federal judge overseeing the tax case, denied that bid, concluding in a seven-page ruling that his attorneys' arguments failed on both procedural and factual grounds.
Scarsi, in denying the motion, cited Hunter Biden's previous ill-fated efforts to dismiss the case.
"As he concedes in his notice of the motion, Mr. Biden plainly seeks reconsideration of issues already decided upon his February motion," Scarsi wrote, concluding that "there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the court's [prior] order denying Mr. Biden's motion to dismiss the indictment."
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The judge, however, determined that Hunter Biden will not face sanctions after Scarsi earlier threatened to sanction him after Hunter Biden's attorneys suggested in court filings that special counsel David Weiss only brought the charges after he was elevated to special counsel. Biden's legal team acknowledged in a subsequent filing that their claim had been "inartfully" articulated.
On Monday, Scarsi wrote that he would not sanction Hunter Biden, in part because of a recent shakeup of his legal team, but issued a warning, saying, "Counsel's conduct warrants an admonition: candor is paramount."
Hunter Biden faces nine felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes for three years during a time when he was in the throes of addiction. The back taxes and penalties were ultimately paid in full by a third party, identified by ABC News as Hunter Biden's attorney and confidant, Kevin Morris.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 5. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The president's son was found guilty on three firearm-related charges in a separate case in Delaware earlier this summer.
