Hunter Biden's tax charges trial postponed until September

A federal judge on Wednesday granted Hunter Biden’s request to delay his trial on tax charges which was scheduled to begin next month in California.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark C. Scarsi granted a motion from Biden's legal team to move the tax trial from its previously scheduled June 20 start date to instead begin on Sept. 5.

Last month, the same judge denied Biden’s bid to dismiss or at least toss out counts from the indictment which includes allegations that he failed to pay taxes, failed to file, evaded an assessment and filed a fraudulent form.

An attorney for the president’s son had argued that his team would not have sufficient time to prepare for trial by June 20 due to Biden standing trial in a separate case on gun charges in Delaware which is scheduled to begin June 3.

The attorney, Abbe Lowell, said he fears Biden's gun case, may go longer than previously anticipated, giving him little to no time to transition to the tax case, arguing, “there’s too much to do.”

Lowell also said Biden's defense team has struggled to obtain defense experts, due to concerns about involvement in a high-profile case. A tax expert who was confirmed, is currently embroiled in a separate trial and needs more time for preparation once his other trial work is finished, Lowell said.

He added that his team also needed more time to prepare Biden for potential testimony.

A prosecutor for special counsel David Weiss' office, Leo Wise, pushed back arguing that a “delay has consequences.”

Wise maintained his team has subpoenaed 30 witnesses, who have arranged their schedules for June. He also took aim at the defense’s claim to have trouble finding experts, arguing, “You can hire an expert to say anything,” Wise said they’re “everywhere at any price.”

Wise also described both Biden trials as “simple cases."

“There’s a lot of noise around this case," Wise said. "But that doesn’t make it complex or challenging.” Wise told the court he estimated his case-in-chief for the tax trial would take six days.

Scarsi seemed reluctant to grant the request given that the trial date was set before the Delaware court set the June 3 trial date for the gun charges, but after a prolonged back-and-forth with Lowell in which the high-profile attorney said he chose September to leave time for appellate decisions, a family vacation and an unrelated oral argument in the Fifth Circuit, Scarsi relented.

“The 5th will be the 5th,” Scarsi concluded definitively foreclosing any further delays. “We will go forward on the 5th.”

Scarsi’s order comes a day after a federal appeals court on Tuesday denied Hunter Biden’s request to postpone the trial on gun charges which is tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics.

Biden has pleaded not guilty to charges in both cases.

Lowell did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon. Weiss’ office declined to comment.