Biden lawyer Says tax case isaresult of Republican pressure’

Hunter Biden's defence attorney Abbe Lowell has condemned prosecutors who charged the US president's 53-year-old son with tax fraud last week, accusing special counsel David Weiss of "bowing to Republican pressure".

- Edward Helmore

"Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter's last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said.

Lowell accused Weiss, who is also the US attorney for Delaware, where Joe Biden was a senator from 1973 to 2009, of failing to meet him before filing the nine-count indictment.

If convicted, Hunter Biden could face 17 years in prison.

"I wrote [to] US Attorney Weiss days ago seeking a customary meeting to discuss this investigation. The response was media leaks today that these charges were being filed," said Lowell. He added that Hunter Biden "paid his taxes in full" more than two years ago.

The bombshell 56-page federal indictment filed in California follows state charges filed by Weiss in Delaware in September, alleging Biden unlawfully obtained a revolver in October 2018 after he falsely stated he was not using narcotic drugs.

Both sets of charges follow the collapse of a plea deal on two misdemeanour tax crimes and a gun charge that had it been approved - would have shielded the first son from further criminal exposure, including possible offences stemming from his lucrative consulting deals with companies in Ukraine, China and Romania.