News - World: A US judge has refused to accept a plea deal by President Joe Biden’s son to plead guilty to tax charges rather than to gun possession in order to avoid jail.

The White House on Thursday ruled out Biden using his presidential authority to pardon Hunter, who is set to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax and gun charges.

"No," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked whether there is any possibility Biden would pardon Hunter Biden.

At a court session on Wednesday, the judge said she needed more time to review their agreement.

Under the deal, Hunter would plead guilty to tax charges rather than to gun possession, which would have put him in jail.

As the deal derailed, Hunter at the hearing pleaded not guilty to tax charges.

He did not enter a plea in a separate case where he is charged with unlawfully owning a firearm while addicted to a controlled substance.

This means the legal case will continue to trouble President Biden as he campaigns for re-election in 2024.

His leading rival, former President Donald Trump, and Trump's Republican allies in Congress had criticized the deal as unfairly favoring the president's son.

In a plea agreement announced last month, Hunter Biden was to be charged with two misdemeanor counts for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.

Furthermore, he was also to confess that he had illegally possessed a gun while being a drug user.

Biden, 53, failed to pay between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in federal taxes before the legal deadlines.

Source: Press TV