Well, my my my. Funny what a little desperation shakes out, no? Hunter Biden tried to end his criminal tax-evasion trial with an Alford plea earlier today, which would technically allow him -- and especially his father -- to maintain his innocence. 

That ran into opposition when prosecutors objected to that dodge. Initially, Hunter's attorney Abbe Lowell objected to the objection:

“I want to make crystal clear: the U.S. opposes an Alford plea ... Hunter Biden is not innocent, he is guilty," Leo Wise, an attorney working for special counsel David Weiss, told the judge. "We came to court to try this case.”

Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, noted that Alford pleas are an option available to all criminal defendants — even though such plea agreements are relatively rare. “All over the U.S. people do this,” Lowell said. "It’s not that [Hunter Biden] seeks special treatment, but that he gets the same rights as everyone who is charged.”

Weiss charged Biden last year on nine tax-related counts, accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 through 2019. Three charges were felonies and six were misdemeanors. They include failing to file and pay taxes, tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

Frankly, Lowell seems closer to the mark here. Prosecutors usually require defendants to allocute to their crimes in a plea deal, but this wasn't a plea deal. Hunter had planned to enter the plea without any consideration from either the prosecution or the court -- essentially throwing himself on the mercy of the court, as I wrote in the earlier post. It's not clear that prosecutors really had any room to block such a plea, although perhaps some restriction in federal law may create an obstacle.

It's all moot now, though, CNN reported within the last hour.  Hunter has abandoned the Alford plea, and will now just enter a guilty plea and acknowledge that his behavior was indeed criminal:

Hunter Biden is offering to plead guilty to the nine tax offenses he faces in federal court, without a deal with prosecutors, his attorneys said in court Thursday.

Biden had earlier attempted to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea in which he would maintain his innocence but still accept punishment.

The arrangement wouldn’t have become final until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who has presided over the tax case, gave his stamp of approval in open court. He said Thursday that he would make that decision at a later date. This type of arrangement, called an “Alford plea,” would have seen Biden acknowledge that special counsel David Weiss has enough evidence to convict him – and then he would accept whatever sentence Scarsi eventually hands down.

But in a surprising turn Thursday afternoon, Biden’s team changed course and instead said Biden is prepared to admit that his conduct satisfied the elements of the tax offenses with which he had been charged.

According to ABC News, all it took was yet another federal judge expressing skepticism over Hunter's attempts at some sort of deal. Funny how that happens, eh?

The president's son initially offered a so-called "Alford plea," in which he would agree to a guilty plea on the counts but maintain his innocence on the underlying conduct of the charges. But when prosecutors opposed that path – and U.S. Judge Mark Scarsi expressed some hesitation in granting it – attorneys for Hunter Biden said he would enter a traditional guilty plea.

"Mr. Biden is prepared to proceed today and finish this," Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said Thursday afternoon in court. Wise had accused Hunter Biden of seeking special treatment with the proposed Alford plea.

Ironically, that's how Hunter ended up facing jury selection today in the first place. His team cut such an obviously political settlement with the special counsel on these and gun charges, a deal that included perpetual immunity, that a federal judge ripped prosecutors in court and threw out the deal. Initially, special counsel David Weiss didn't want to charge Hunter with tax evasion at all. 

Anyway, this should put an emphatic end to Joe's claims that his son did nothing wrong. And it will put an emphatic start on the pardon process, which is clearly what is driving the effort to avoid the trial and get right to sentencing. Hunter must be worried that his father may not be holding the keys to that authority for much longer -- or his father may be worried what would have come out in court.  Or both.