A federal judge on Monday rejected, on procedural grounds, Hunter Biden’s attempt to have his tax charges dismissed. Biden’s effort was based on the ruling that tossed the classified-documents case against former president Donald Trump, but Judge Mark Scarsi of California was not persuaded.
Scarsi denied Biden’s attempt to dismiss the federal tax charges against him, ruling that it was untimely and sought to relitigate an argument Biden’s attorneys had made in previous rounds of court filings. He did not rule on the merits of the argument put forward by Biden’s legal team.
“The Court already adjudicated Mr. Biden’s Appointments and Appropriations Clause challenges in his timely filed motion to dismiss,” Scarsi said.
“The Court declines to reach the merits of the motion because there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the Court’s order denying Mr. Biden’s motion to dismiss the indictment for Appropriations and Appointments Clause violations.”
Scarsi also admonished Biden’s attorneys for making false claims about Weiss’s prosecution in their motion to have the tax case dismissed. The judge reminded them that “candor is paramount” but did not formally sanction them.
Biden’s attorneys argued that special counsel David Weiss’s appointment was unconstitutional after Florida Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents after his term ended. Cannon determined that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Smith was unconstitutional under the appointments clause in the Constitution. The Justice Department is appealing Cannon’s ruling and keeping the case under Smith’s control.
Weiss’s status as a U.S. attorney for Delaware means he was appointed an officer of the United States, unlike Smith, who was a private citizen before becoming special counsel, a key difference between the two special prosecutors.
Earlier this year, Scarsi rejected a pile of motions to dismiss Hunter Biden’s attorneys, including claims that Weiss was unconstitutionally appointed, one of many setbacks Hunter Biden has faced in the courtroom.
Biden’s attorneys unsuccessfully sought to have the tax charges thrown out because of whistleblower disclosures by IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who came forward last year with allegations that the Justice Department slow-walked and obstructed the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes. Shapley and Ziegler subsequently turned over hundreds of pages of documents substantiating their testimony. Biden is now suing the IRS agents for what his lawyers claims are illegal whistleblower disclosures.
In June, federal prosecutors scored a conviction against Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges for lying about his drug usage on gun paperwork and possessing a firearm during a time period when he was addicted to crack cocaine.
Next month, Weiss’s team of prosecutors will take Hunter Biden to trial again on nine federal tax-evasion charges for failing to pay more than $1.4 million of taxes in a timely manner, failing to file tax forms, and filing false tax returns over a four-year period last decade. Biden has pleaded not guilty to the tax charges.
Ahead of the tax trial, federal prosecutors revealed in court filings how Hunter Biden and his business partners agreed to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of Romanian businessman accused of corruption. Biden’s attorneys have disputed the Justice Department’s characterization of the Romanian business scheme, which brought in $3 million for Biden and his business partners.
The court papers show the important role Hunter Biden’s lucrative foreign business dealings will play in the upcoming tax trial to help establish the income he received over the relevant time period.