US President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden entered a not guilty plea to nine felony and misdemeanor tax charges at his initial appearance in a California courtroom on Thursday, ABC News reported.
The plea was entered by Hunter Biden himself during an arraignment in federal court in downtown Los Angeles.
The younger Biden appeared before Judge Mark Scarsi at the Edward R. Roybal courthouse to be arraigned on nine tax-related charges accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.
The indictment from December alleges that the president's son earned millions of dollars from foreign entities in Ukraine, Romania and China, and "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle at the same time he chose not to pay his taxes."
The charges came after an initial plea deal fell apart in dramatic fashion in a Delaware federal courtroom last July, after the judge expressed concerns over the terms of the agreement.
Hunter Biden subsequently pleaded not guilty in October to three felony gun charges as part of a separate indictment in Delaware that came after a diversion agreement on one of the gun charges fell apart alongside the initial plea deal. He has since moved to have those charges dismissed.
Thursday’s plea came a day after Biden made a surprise appearance at a Capitol Hill hearing on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress.
Later, both the House Oversight and House Judiciary committees voted to approve a report recommending a contempt of Congress resolution against Hunter Biden for his failure to comply with a subpoena.
The resolution will next go to the House floor for a vote by the whole chamber, though it is not clear when that vote will be held.