Hunter Biden's 'high drama' day in court ends in shocking guilty plea

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Hunter Biden changing his plea was such a bit of whiplash: Shannon Bream

Fox News chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream discusses Hunter Biden's guilty plea at his federal tax trial and the timeline of former President Trump's election subversion case on 'Special Report.'

The criminal trial of first son Hunter Biden on federal tax charges was expected to get underway in normal order Thursday, until the younger Biden said he intended to plead guilty to the charges in a shocking twist. 

Special Counsel David Weiss charged President Biden's son with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a pattern by which Hunter did not pay his federal income taxes while also filing false tax returns. 

In the indictment, Weiss alleged that 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."

Earlier this year, Hunter's lawyers blew up a plea deal involving those crimes, indicating he would plead not guilty in trial. But instead, Abbe Lowell, Hunter's attorney, said in a California federal court Thursday that his client intended to switch his plea, unbeknownst to the prosecution. 

HUNTER BIDEN'S CRIMINAL TAX TRIAL BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION IN CALIFORNIA

In this courtroom sketch, Hunter Biden and his attorney Mark Geragos appear in court on Thursday. (Bill Robles)

The development came after Hunter's lawyers had prepared to argue he was too high or drunk to pay his taxes.

"Hunter decided to enter his plea to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation. This plea prevents that kind of show trial that would have not provided all of the facts, or served any real point in justice," Lowell said. 

"We will now move on to the sentencing phase while keeping open the options to raise the many clear issues with this case. I feel there's no doubt this case was an extreme and unusual one for the government to bring." 

Hunter remains free on bond until the sentencing date on Dec. 16.

Earlier in the day, it seemed Hunter would enter what's known as an Alford plea, when a defendant acknowledges that a prosecutor's evidence would likely be enough to convict, so they accept a sentence but maintain their innocence.

It also wasn't clear at first whether Hunter's plea would be accepted by Judge Mark Scarsi, who commented that "the court doesn’t need the government’s agreement to accept an Alford plea."

After hours of deliberations, it came down to Hunter pleading guilty to all nine counts. 

HUNTER BIDEN TAX TRIAL POSTPONED TO SEPTEMBER

In this courtroom sketch, Judge Mark Scarsi presides over the first son's dramatic day in California federal court on Thursday. (Bill Robles)

As the court proceedings came to a close, DOJ prosecutor Leo Wise read aloud every page of the 56-page indictment against the president's son, including Hunter's expenditures that were on a business line of credit that included hotels, Airbnbs, sex club membership, porn websites, designer clothing, travel, money to his adult children, exotic dancers and more.

Kerri Kupec Urbahn, Fox News legal editor and former senior adviser to former Attorney General William Barr, called the day full of "high drama" from Hunter, who created "the most unsympathetic situation" for himself "in the court of public opinion and the court of law."

"I have thought all along it was insane not for him to plead guilty at the very beginning; either you pay your taxes or you don't," Urbahn said. "It's really that simple."

"People hate paying taxes. They hate even more the guy that gets away with not paying those taxes, and you know what they hate even more than that? The guy that gets a Get Out of Jail Free card from his dad, who happens to be the President of the United States, because nobody else in America has that," she said. 

"It is like the most unsympathetic situation that one can create, both in the court of public opinion and the court of law." 

HUNTER BIDEN PLEADS GUILTY TO ALL NINE FEDERAL TAX CHARGES BROUGHT BY SPECIAL COUNSEL DAVID WEISS

A courtroom sketch depicts Hunter Biden as he appears in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday.  (Bill Robles)

President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son, and the White House suggested on Thursday that he has not changed his mind.

"It's no, it's still no," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday when they questioned whether the plea had impacted Biden's decision on whether he would consider a pardon for his son. "I'm not able to comment on it, but I can say that it is still very much a ‘no' to the questions I have gotten about if the president is going to pardon [Hunter]."

But criminal defense attorney and law professor Jonathan Turley says that, should Biden change his mind, the December sentencing date "falls within the period where executive action would be most likely if it were to come."

"It will still allow weeks for President Biden to consider a commutation or pardon, so it is placing the sentencing date in the sweet spot for the White House. If President Biden was going to violate his promise, he would likely do that after the election and shortly before he leaves office. Moreover, if the sentence is a long one, it may offer more pressure on the president to use executive power to protect his son," Turley told Fox News Digital. 

"The drama in California was consistent with the entire Biden defense," he added. "What's striking about every stage of this defense is how it has utterly failed to achieve any positive results for Hunter Biden, that for all the drama and media attention, each of these moments has led to a significant loss for Hunter Biden."

"He's now facing sentencing in two states. He has succeeded in putting himself in the worst possible position for sentencing in both Delaware and California," Turley said, adding, "it's hard to discern any legal strategy that runs throughout these cases."

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Hunter earlier this year was found guilty in a separate case involving an illegal purchase of a firearm. 

Those charges included making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

Fox News' Lee Ross and Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.