Hunter Biden tries to pull a fast one in court … and still is

It was the first day of jury selection in the Hunter Biden tax evasion trial – but that is not what happened.  In a surprise move, the Biden defense team told the court that the defendant wanted to take the Alford Defense.  What?

It is a rare but not unheard-of defense strategy – rarer in federal courts, where it is invoked in only five percent of the cases.  It is essential – and officially – a guilty plea BUT with an assertion of innocence. (I will give you a moment to get your head around that bit of legal mumble-jumble. Da dee da dee da.  Ready?)

In a sense, what the defendant – in this case Hunter Biden – was asserting that he is innocent of the charge (although it is technically taking a guilty plea) but the evidence provided by the federal prosecutors is likely to get him convicted.

What is even more unusual in this case is the timing.  In virtually every other case on record, the defense attorneys would advise the prosecution of how the defendant intends to plead ahead of time.  In this case, there was no warning – and a change of plea was in court at the time the trial was beginning.  At least the jury selection phase. 

Prosecutors strongly objected – and it was left to U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi to decide whether to accept the new plea or not. Hunter’s attorneys requested an immediate decision, but Scarsi said he would take the matter under advisement.  With no immediate decision – and the likelihood that Scarsi would ultimately reject the Alford Defense – Hunter again changed his plea to a simple “guilty.”  Sentencing was scheduled for December 16, at which time Hunter could get 17 years in prison — but will not.

While it seems the Alford gambit failed, the larger strategy has succeeded.  That was to stop the jury trial and push the entire matter past the election,

As is the normal procedure, the prosecution read the 52-page indictment in court.  Scarsi then asked Hunter, “Do you agree you committed every element of every crime in counts one through nine in the indictment?”  Hunter responded with a simple, “Yes.”

At one level, this avoids a long, embarrassing and potentially politically damaging trial for the entire Biden family – with possible impacts on the Harris campaign.  The trial would bring out all the lurid details of Hunter’s Ukrainian and Russian business dealings – and any potential involvement of President Biden and his brother, Francis.  A trial would distract from the Harris campaign messaging.

There would be no testimony from Hunters sister-in-law and one-time paramour, who testified in the gun trial that Hunter got her hooked on cocaine following the death of his brother Beau.  There will be no testimony from the mother of his love child who he denied repeatedly.  No testimony from a business partner on the source of the millions of dollars he dishonestly shielded from taxes – all that Burisma money and the Russian money.  The guilty plea is a huge win for President Biden – personally and politically.  

More importantly, it pushes the entire matter to a time when a presidential pardon will have no negative impact on President Biden or Vice President Harris — who will either be President-elect at the time or not.  A pardon would seem natural for “dad” — and a payback for taking the guilty plea and preventing the high visibility trial.  The defense team says they have not ruled out an appeal.  Really?  On a guilty plea?

Methinks, that a delay to a pardon IS the strategy.  Avoid a politically damaging trial … delay sentencing past the election … and pardon Hunter.  A pardon means no jail time and no criminal record – other than the gun charge.  And I would not be surprised if “the big guy” does not pardon Hunter on that one also.  Papa Biden will claim humanitarian interests.  His son was a victim of his own drug addiction.  He is now a rehabilitated person. He deserves a second chance.

Without a pardon, jail time is a real possibility on two bases – the nature of the crime and a past felony record.  Although 17 years is out of the question.

A pardon would come sometime between Election Day and December 16 – before sentencing.  Papa Biden would face more criticism for pardoning a person that the justice system believes should be in jail.

We can see that pardon coming from Hunter’s own statements following his guilty plea.  While Hunter admitted full guilt for every one of the prosecution’s charges, he offered his excuses – generally his drug addiction.  (It should be noted that some of the tax fraud charges occurred AFTER he was alleged to be sober.)

In his post-plea statement, Hunter said, that addiction was the “explanation” for his criminal behavior.  He added, “When I was addicted, I wasn’t thinking about my taxes, I was thinking about surviving.”  Hmmm.  I have found that the last thing drug addicts think about is “survival.”  By its nature, drug addiction is a self-destructive habit.

Hunter issued a statement blasting the federal prosecutors, accusing them of being “focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction.”

He further said that he didn’t want to “subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment.”

To the extent anyone is interested, a lot of the particulars are in the indictment, but in fact, there will not be much coverage.  But I believe the pardon is inevitable.  Yes, Papa Biden has said he will not do that – and he will continue to lie about it until after the election when – in my judgment – he WILL do it.

So, there ‘tis.