US President Joe Biden's son Hunter pleaded guilty Thursday to tax evasion charges, failing to reach a deal he had sought with prosecutors.
The 54-year-old admitted to nine charges related to his failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes over the past decade, money prosecutors say he squandered on a life of luxury, sex workers and his drug addiction.
The remarks came on the same day jury selection was set to begin for the trial and hours after Biden had offered to plead guilty in hopes of reaching a deal that could keep him out of prison.
But no agreement was reached and Biden made his remarks in a public hearing.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi set sentencing for Dec. 16. Hunter faces up to 17 years in prison and a fine of more than $1 million.
The trial was expected to rehash sordid details of a life that the defendant and his family — including the president — long acknowledged had gone off the rails.
“I will not subject my family to any more pain, any more invasions of privacy and any more unnecessary shame,” Hunter said in a statement, according to US media. “Prosecutors were not focused on justice, but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction.”
Hunter has already spent much of 2024 in court, having been convicted in Delaware of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun, an act that constitutes a felony.
He has not yet been sentenced for that crime and could face up to 25 years in prison.
President Biden has the power to pardon his son, but he has said he would not do so.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday that her position had not changed.
“It's still a resounding no,” he said.
Hunter's attorneys said he was brought to court solely because of who he is.
“They want to smear him because that's the purpose,” Biden's lawyer, Mark Geragos, reportedly said during an August hearing in which he accused prosecutors of attempted character assassination.
Hunter's defense team has argued that the failure to pay taxes was an oversight in a chaotic life caused by a growing drug addiction and the trauma of losing his older brother, Beau, to a brain tumor in 2015.
He had paid back taxes, as well as fines imposed by authorities, and had previously reached a plea deal that would have kept him out of jail.
That deal fell through at the last minute and Hunter is believed to have been trying to strike another one ever since.
That has been difficult for prosecutors, whose moves in this election year are being scrutinized by Republicans, who argue that the defendant is being treated leniently because he is the president's son.
Hunter has been a target for years by his father's political opponents, who have sought, without providing evidence, to discredit the family as a group of criminals who have gained wealth and power thanks to Joe Biden's career.
