US District Judge Mark Scarsi on Monday rejected another attempt by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, to dismiss his indictment on federal tax charges, NBC News reports.
Scarsi, a Trump appointee, ruled that he would not revisit arguments previously made by Hunter’s legal team regarding the eligibility of federal prosecutor David Weiss to be appointed as special counsel and the lack of congressional approval for funding the investigation and prosecution.
Biden had previously filed a motion to dismiss the charges, focusing on Weiss’s appointment. However, following two judicial decisions concerning special counsel appointments in cases against former President Donald Trump, Biden’s legal team made another attempt to dismiss the charges. This latest motion was also denied.
“As he concedes in his notice of the motion, Mr. Biden plainly seeks reconsideration of issues already decided upon his February motion… The Court declines to reach the merits of the motion because there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the Court’s order denying Mr. Biden’s motion to dismiss the indictment,” Judge Scarsi wrote in his order.
He also deemed the motion “untimely” as it came after a February 20 deadline he had set for parties in the case.
Following the denial of the initial motion to dismiss, Biden’s attorneys argued that Weiss’s prosecutorial authority was questionable, citing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in the presidential immunity ruling and a decision by a federal judge in Florida to dismiss the classified documents case against Trump.
Judge Scarsi, in his order, stated that the court was not bound by either of those opinions.
“Neither Justice Thomas’s opinion nor Judge Cannon’s order is binding precedent,” he wrote.
Weiss, who was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has alleged that Biden failed to pay taxes, filed fraudulent forms, and evaded assessment. Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The trial is scheduled to start in September.
This latest setback for Hunter Biden comes after US District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against Trump last month, deeming Smith’s appointment and the funding for his investigation unlawful, according to the report.
Justice Thomas, in a concurring opinion, had suggested that Smith’s appointment as special counsel potentially violated the Constitution’s provisions regarding appointment power.
Biden’s legal team has also attempted to dismiss his conviction on federal gun charges based on arguments related to special counsel appointments but failed.
