President Biden ignored reporters Friday while being pressed for the first time on his son Hunter’s new indictment on federal tax charges.
The indictment, which was handed down Thursday by DOJ Special Counsel David Weiss in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes nine charges alleging a ‘four-year scheme’ when he did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.
‘Have you spoken to your son? Have you spoken to Hunter? Any comment on the new charges against your son, Mr. President?’ reporters shouted as Biden walked across the White House’s South Lawn to Marine One for a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Biden only waved and continued walking.
Hunter was also peppered with questions Friday while leaving his home in California, including whether he expected to be pardoned by his father.
He also ignored them before getting into a car and leaving.
The charges facing Hunter break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors centered around $1.4 million in owed taxes that were since paid.
Special Counsel David Weiss alleged Hunter ‘engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020.’
Weiss said that, in ‘furtherance of that scheme,’ the younger Biden ‘subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions’ from the company ‘outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform.’
The special counsel alleged that Hunter ‘spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,’ and that in 2018, he ‘stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015.’
Weiss alleged that Hunter ‘willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes,’ and that he ‘willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time.’
‘[W]hen he did finally file his 2018 returns, included false business deductions in order to evade assessment of taxes to reduce the substantial tax liabilities he faced as of February 2020,’ Weiss alleged.
Thursday’s development comes ahead of an expected vote from House Republican leaders next week on a measure that would formally initiate an impeachment inquiry into President Biden over possible ties to his son’s business dealings.
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.
