Hunter Biden, the embattled son of President Joe Biden, is now pleading guilty to some of the tax evasion charges that have been brought against him. 

The Associated Press reports that Hunter Biden entered a "surprise guilty plea" in the case on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.

This, according to the Daily Mail, was a "last-minute" decision by Biden.

And, not only that, but it was a reversal of his previous plea. In other words, Biden initially pled not guilty to the charges.

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One of the reasons why the guilty plea was a surprise is because the prosecution was not informed about it before it happened. Prosecutor Leo Wise told the judge, "This is the first we're hearing of this."

The Daily Mail reports, "The shock revelation was made by Hunter's attorney Abbe Lowell in front of the judge, while 120 potential jurors waited next door to be selected for his trial."

One thing that is still unclear, at the time of this writing, is to how many of the nine charges - which include three felonies - that Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to.

Biden is accused of having failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes, according to the Associated Press.

There are two big questions here: one, is why the sudden decision to plead guilty; and, the other, is whether or not Hunter Biden will be sentenced to prison.

Here is what we know:

Hunter Biden has released a statement, saying:

I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty.

In other words, it appears that one of the main reasons why Hunter Biden is pleading guilty is to try to prevent more embarrassing evidence about his past from being released to the public.

It has to be emphasized that, at the moment, there is really no telling how this case is going to play out. Biden and his legal team are now waiting to see what the prosecution and the judge are going to do.

It is possible that Hunter Biden will be sentenced to prison According to the BBC, Biden is facing up to 17 years in prison for his alleged crimes.

Per the outlet:

Manny Medrano, a former federal prosecutor who now works as a criminal defence attorney in Los Angeles, says that he expects Biden will be jailed. He comes to that view because the tax flouting scheme was over three or four years and it amounted to $1.4m in taxes that he avoided paying.