Going to trial is ‘not inevitable’, says Hunter Biden’s lawyer

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Washington: A lawyer for Hunter Biden said he’s committed to avoiding a trial for the US president’s son, whose legal entanglements are set to remain in focus during the 2024 election campaign after his plea deal collapsed.

Going to trial is “not inevitable,” attorney Abbe Lowell said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “We were trying to avoid one all along”.

Joe Biden’s son Hunter.Credit: AP

President Joe Biden’s son faces a potentially extended probe after Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday elevated the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden, Delaware-based US Attorney David Weiss, to a special counsel.

While that widens Weiss’s powers, Lowell said he sees no reason for further charges after a “painstaking” five-year probe.

“If anything changes from his conclusion, which was two tax misdemeanours and a diverted gun charge, the question should be asked what infected the process that was not the facts of the law,” Lowell said.

Hunter Biden had been expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanour tax crimes and enter an agreement with prosecutors to avoid prison for possessing a gun while unlawfully using drugs. The plea deal fell apart in July when a judge refused to sign off on the terms.

Prosecutors told a judge on Friday that they believed the tax charges could not “resolve short of a trial,” after talks between the parties reached an impasse.

They said they could charge Hunter Biden with other crimes not covered by the plea deal as the investigation continues.

Bloomberg

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