Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, has agreed to plead guilty in the federal tax evasion case, a development that has surprised prosecutors ready to begin his trial. 

Mr Biden, 54, had previously denied the allegations that he intentionally avoided paying $1.4 million in income tax from 2016 to 2019.

On Thursday, he took the usual step of entering a so-called Alford plea while acknowledging there was enough evidence to convict him as he expressed innocence toward the same charges. 

Mr Biden’s volte-face, first announced in a Los Angeles courtroom as jury selection was about to start, could lead to his second criminal conviction this year. 

Mr Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said his client wanted the trial to end “for the sake of private interest,” sparing his friend and family from testifying. 

Mr Lowell also added that Mr Biden was willing to enter a guilty plea, saying he would continue to maintain his innocence. 

Mr Biden had already spent a chunk of 2024 in court after being convicted in Delaware of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun, an act considered a felony. 

His defence team have also argued that the non-payment of taxes was an oversight in a life plagued with drug addiction and the trauma of losing his older brother, Beau, to a brain tumour in 2015.