Hunter Biden's lawyers and prosecutors return to court ahead of his trial | World news

Prosecutors and the defense have been arguing for weeks in court documents about what evidence and testimony the jury should be allowed to hear. Among the issues in dispute are evidence related to Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, which are at the center of the Republican investigation into the Democratic president's family.

Prosecutors want to present evidence of Hunter Biden's business dealings with a Chinese energy company, as well as money he earned as a board member of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The evidence will show that Hunter Biden did almost no work for the millions of dollars he received from those companies, prosecutors say.

Special Counsel David Weiss' team also plans to tell jurors about Hunter Biden's work for a Romanian businessman who, according to the indictment, tried to influence U.S. government policy when Joe Biden was vice president.

Prosecutors want to call a business partner of Hunter Biden as a witness to testify about the agreement with Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu. Popoviciu had asked US authorities for help to end a criminal investigation against him in his home country, prosecutors said.

Hunter Biden and his business partner were concerned that their lobbying efforts could have political consequences for Joe Biden, so the agreement was structured to obscure the true nature of the work for Popoviciu, prosecutors allege. Hunter and two business partners shared more than $3 million from Popoviciu, prosecutors say.

The defense has argued that the evidence about his foreign business dealings is irrelevant to the tax charges and would only confuse the jury. They have accused prosecutors of inappropriately trying to introduce irrelevant, politically charged issues into the trial.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have indicated they will argue that he did not act willfully or with the intent to break the law. They have pointed to Hunter Biden's well-documented addiction problems during those years and argued that his drug and alcohol abuse affected his decision-making and judgment, leaving Mr. Biden incapable of forming the required intent to commit the crimes he is charged with.

Prosecutors have said that while Hunter Biden was evading his taxes, he lived an extravagant lifestyle, spending money on things like drugs, escorts, exotic cars and luxury hotels. The defense is asking the judge to keep these salacious allegations out of the trial.

The special counsel may want to introduce such evidence precisely because it is offensive and would pique the jury's interest. But for the same reasons, and because such evidence would distract the jury from the crimes it is accused of, such information would also be highly prejudicial to Mr. Biden, defense attorneys wrote in court filings.

Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty to minor tax offenses in a deal with prosecutors last year that would have allowed him to avoid prosecution in the gun case if he had stayed out of trouble. But the deal fell through after a federal judge in Delaware raised concerns, and he was subsequently indicted on both counts.

First published: 21 August 2024 | 10:58 am IS