For reasons that remain unclear, Hunter Biden's attorneys have continued to attempt to have his tax evasion charges dismissed. Yesterday, a U.S. District judge in California ruled on the latest set of eight motions, dismissing all of them. The charges, involving $1.4 million in unpaid taxes while Hunter was "living an extravagant lifestyle" will move forward. The judge was clearly unimpressed with attorney Abbe Lowell's contention that the charges were "politically motivated" and therefore somehow baseless. Lowell later released a statement saying that his team "strongly disagrees" with the court's ruling and asserted that they would continue to "vigorously pursue" Hunter's challenges. More delays in the trial are anticipated as a result. (Associated Press)

A judge refused Monday to toss out a tax case against Hunter Biden, moving the case closer to the possible spectacle of a trial as his father campaigns for another term as president.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi denied eight motions to dismiss the indictment accusing President Joe Biden’s son of scheming to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes while living an extravagant lifestyle.

Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the nine felony and misdemeanor tax offenses filed in Los Angeles. His attorney, Abbe Lowell, contended the prosecution is politically motivated, among other arguments, but Scarsi found he had little support for the claims.

There's no question that this is a politically charged case. How could it not be when it involves the President's adult son and large sums of money that he appears to have acquired through dubious methods, to put it charitably? But there is a significant difference between a politically charged case and a politically motivated one. Most tax cases are about as straightforward as you're likely to see in a court. Income is documented by financial records, both for the entity paying it and the person receiving it, or at least it's supposed to be. If the income is determined to be taxable, you either paid the taxes or you didn't. Hunter Biden has produced no records showing that he even filed a tax return during the years in question.

Much the same can be said about the gun charges he's facing in Delaware. Everyone seeking to purchase a firearm there has to fill out a federal form that is submitted through the gun dealer. On the form, Hunter Biden claimed that he had no history of illegal drug use, but he has not only admitted in public that he did, but he had an arrest record (albeit a minor one) proving that fact. The sweetheart plea deal that his father's friends cooked up for him was thankfully shot down by a sensible judge, so now he'll have to face the music there as well. Hunter's attorneys have entered a long series of not-guilty pleas at this point. Those pleas may result in him receiving much stiffer sentences than he could likely have arranged through plea deals. 

All of the charges under discussion here still only directly involve Hunter Biden. Do any of them open a productive path to charges against The Big Guy? The gun charges exist in a vacuum with no connections to his father. The tax charges are a different matter since it certainly appears that much of the money he received was part of the Biden Inc. mess, with portions of the funds winding up directly in Joe's coffers along with other members of the family. But you would need to find a prosecutor willing to bring those charges to make that happen. You can almost here the phrase "no reasonable prosecutor" echoing on the wind.

If Hunter had almost any other surname than the one he carries, these court cases probably wouldn't raise enough interest to make it onto the local evening news. Then again, if he had a different surname he almost certainly wouldn't have been able to rake in all of the money from powerful brokers around the world. The walls appear to be closing in on the First Son. The question now is whether or not Joe Bide will break out his pen and start issuing pardons for Hunter and perhaps other members of his family as well. He previously promised he wouldn't do that, but Joe Biden lies about things on a daily basis. Personally, I would bet a shiny nickel that he wouldn't hesitate for a moment if it began to look like Hunter could be sent to jail.