By Chris Kirkham and Andrew Goudsward
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will ask a U.S. judge on Wednesday to dismiss the criminal case accusing him of evading $1.4 million in taxes, arguing that prosecutors bowed to political pressure from Republican lawmakers investigating his father.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers will appear before U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in federal court in Los Angeles to press several legal challenges to the charges, including an argument that he was selectively targeted by prosecutors in response to Republican criticism over alleged earlier lenient treatment.
Hunter Biden, 54, pleaded not guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019, while spending millions of dollars on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other big-ticket items. His lawyer has said he paid back the money in full.
The trial is due to start in June, a few months before Americans vote in a November presidential election that looks set to be a close and deeply divisive contest between Joe Biden, himself the subject of an impeachment probe, and Donald Trump, who faces four criminal trials.
Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to face criminal charges, also faces a separate criminal case in federal court in Delaware over his alleged purchase of a handgun while he was using illegal drugs. He has pleaded not guilty and made similar arguments to dismiss the charges in that case.
Special Counsel David Weiss, who brought both cases, has accused Hunter Biden’s legal team of spreading “conspiracy theories” about the prosecution and said the justice department, under the Biden administration, would not act at the direction of Republican lawmakers.
Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which are detailed in the tax indictment, are at the center of an impeachment investigation by Republicans in the House of Representatives into whether Joe Biden profited from his son’s activities.
The probe has so far turned up no evidence that the president personally benefited.
Hunter Biden is also seeking to toss out the charges by arguing that Weiss, who has investigated Hunter Biden since 2019, was improperly appointed special counsel.
Weiss was originally nominated by Republican former President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney in Hunter Biden's home state of Delaware. He was named special counsel last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was nominated by Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden's defense team has also argued that the case is barred by an earlier plea deal the president’s son struck with prosecutors.
The deal, which collapsed under questioning from a federal judge last year, called for Biden to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges. Prosecutors have said it never took effect.
(Reporting by Chris Kirkham in Los Angeles and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Costas Pitas)
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