Pardon incoming! Just before jury selection began today in a Los Angeles federal court, Hunter Biden threw in the towel. NBC reports that Hunter has taken a plea deal, although its terms are not yet known:

Hunter Biden intends to change his plea in the federal tax-related charges against him, his attorney Abbe Lowell said on Thursday.

The reversal was made shortly before jury selection was expected to begin in what would have been Biden's second trial this year. The only surviving son of President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden is the first offspring of a sitting president to stand trial on criminal charges.

Shortly after the announcement, the court went into recess.

The conditions of the plea were not immediately disclosed nor whether the judge will accept his attempt to avoid a trial and move straight to sentencing.

Manu Raju reports that Hunter will not allocute to any crime, but will accept the conviction anyway:

Hunter Biden is attempting to resolve his federal tax evasion case in California with a plea where he maintains his innocence but will accept punishment, his lawyers announced in court Thursday, moments before jury selection was scheduled to begin,@MarshallCohen reports

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 5, 2024

This sounds like an Alford plea. And this is certainly ... convenient. A trial, conviction, and sentencing might have taken months to complete. Now the ground is clear for Joe Biden to issue the pardon he was always going to give his son, likely just after Election Day in November, if sentencing is either pushed off or the deal prevents any prison time. 

Update: Or is it an Alford plea? ABC reports that he'll plead guilty:

An attorney for Hunter Biden said the president’s son would plead guilty on Thursday morning just moments before prospective jurors were to be summoned into the Los Angeles courtroom where his federal trial on tax charges was scheduled to begin.

The president’s son arrived at the courthouse shortly before jury selection was set to begin alongside his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. When U.S. Judge Mark Scarsi entered court into session, Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Biden announced his intention to change his plea and said there was no need to move forward with jury selection.

I had thought that an Alford plea was a kind of nolo contendere, but the Legal Dictionary defines it as a form of a guilty plea that still allows the defendant to claim innocence. So it may well still be an Alford plea, although we won't know right away, as the court recessed until 2 ET for a discussion in chambers. 

Update: Well, this is certainly interesting. CNN reports that special counsel David Weiss and his team will object to an Alford plea:

Prosecutors from Weiss’ team said they would object to an Alford plea. Prosecutor Leo Wise told the judge that Lowell’s comments in court were the first time he learned about a potential plea.

Lowell also said “there has not been an agreement” between the parties – like a plea agreement – in which Biden would plead guilty to some charges in exchange for other charges being dropped. The only offer that Hunter’s team ever got from prosecutors, Lowell said, was for him to plead guilty to all nine counts.

That's because Weiss got burned by Hunter and Lowell on their previous deal. But can prosecutors really object to an Alford plea that doesn't have any arrangements for benefits from the prosecution? I'd tend to think that defendants can enter guilty pleas in any format without prosecutorial approval. It's usually called "throwing yourself on the mercy of the court," and in this case probably more like "I need my dad to pardon me while he still can."

Update: In light of that update from CNN, I have changed the headline slightly from "Takes Plea Deal" to "Cops a Plea."

Update: My pal Jeryl Bier reminds us that the White House may have to rethink its messaging now too:

Must be a mistake. pic.twitter.com/HfCsBlX5ql

— Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) September 5, 2024

Update: I'll keep my eyes peeled for more developments, but we're not likely to get much more before the court resumes at 2 ET.