WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – The start of the president’s criminal tax trial Joe Biden‘S son was postponed to September 5 from June 20, which Hunter Biden‘s legal team due to conflicts with a separate criminal trial in Delaware.
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, had argued to U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles that the start of a trial on criminal gun charges in Delaware on June 3 created an overlap with trial deadlines in the criminal tax case.
In addition, Lowell said in court filings that he filed two appeals after Scarsi and a Delaware judge declined to dismiss the criminal charges.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to charges in both criminal cases.
Hunter Biden will become the first child of a sitting president to go on trial in a felony case next month.
The Justice Department in December accused Hunter Biden of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019, while allegedly spending millions of dollars on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other expensive items.
If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in prison.
Hunter Biden has also been charged in Delaware with three felonies related to lying about his use of illegal drugs when he purchased a firearm in 2018. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
The two trials come as Joe Biden steps up his bid to remain in the White House for the Nov. 5 election.
Joe Biden’s Republican opponent, former US President Donald Trump, is in the middle of a criminal trial over hush money payments. The jury will begin deliberations next week.
Trump also faces three other criminal cases, although they may not go to trial before the election.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
