Hunter Biden’s ‘sweetheart’ plea deal fell apart in court on Wednesday. The judge raised the dealbreaker issue to both the prosecutors and to Hunter Biden’s attorneys.
“So as I went back into the courtroom, the hearing had just begun again,” CNN reporter Kara Scannell said. “The judge was back on the bench and she was pressing the prosecution on this investigation and the four corners of this plea agreement. One of the prosecutors said that the investigator was very much ongoing and that she asked him, ‘Well, what is not covered in this plea agreement if you are leaving the possibility for bringing other future charges?”
“Then the judge said, would this include a possible FARA charge that’s not registering as a foreign agent?” she continued. “The prosecutor said, ‘no, the deal would not include that.’ It was at that point that she had said to the prosecution, you know… if you can charge that, then what does this mean? And the prosecutors, she asked Hunter Biden’s attorneys about that and he said, ‘Well, then there’s no deal’.”
“And the prosecutor said, ‘then there is no deal’,” she went on. “So Biden’s team said that the plea agreement, as far as they understood it was now null and void. They were moving ahead to talk about what the next steps would be in this case. So as of right now, the deal appears to be dead and off the table, and it remains to be seen how they’re going to move forward. But he has been charged with those two misdemeanor tax evasion charges. But one thing we learned is that this investigation is very much still ongoing.”
The breaking of the plea deal represents a major legal setback for the defense, as prosecutors are now being questioned over not bringing FARA violations to court. But it is not the only recent setback for Hunter Biden’s defense.
Hunter Biden’s legal representatives may face penalties for purportedly deceiving the clerk involved in the First Son’s criminal trial. Delaware’s Judge Maryellen Noreika directed Biden’s attorneys to justify their actions on Tuesday or confront possible sanctions.
The accusations state that an individual from Biden’s attorney Chris Clark’s former law firm contacted Sam Grimes, the Delaware clerk, pretending to be from Smith’s lawyer, Theodore Kittila’s office. The person is said to have requested the clerk to eliminate the original filing, which also included 448 pages of Congressional testimony from the two IRS investigators involved in the case, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Subsequently, the documents were removed and sealed, triggering a “second outraged letter” from Kittila. Kittila told the judge in his letter, “We immediately reached out to the clerk’s office, only to find out that someone claimed to be a representative from my office and requested the court to expunge this from the docket.”
Chris Clark vehemently denied the accusations in an “incensed” email response, alleging that, “the clerk independently decided to withdraw the filing.”
Nonetheless, Kittila presented an email copy from the Delaware clerk to support his assertions. He named Jessica Bengels as the individual and provided her contact number. The clerk responded by saying, “She claimed to be associated with Theodore Kittila and stressed the urgency of removing the document,”
Judge Noreika, infuriated by the alleged misconduct, commanded Hunter’s attorneys to justify their actions on Tuesday afternoon. The order stated, “It seems the caller falsely portrayed her identity and affiliation to persuade the clerk’s office to eliminate the amicus materials from the docket.”
Consequently, it was demanded, “on or before 9pm today on July 25, 2023, counsel for defendant needs to provide reasons why sanctions should not be contemplated for false representations to the court.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyers responded to the judge’s demands for an explanation on Wednesday.
“We stand prepared to address any inquiries of the Court to rectify this misunderstanding,” the lawyers claimed. “Should the Court consider this letter and the accompanying materials to be an insufficient explanation for this misunderstanding, we request an opportunity to more fully brief and be heard on the issues of concern to the Court.”
The judge did place a temporary seal on Smith’s filing, implying it won’t be accessible to the public until the finalization of Hunter Biden’s plea hearing on Wednesday.
Jason Smith, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, earlier submitted a plea suggesting the judge to reject Hunter Biden’s liberal plea bargain related to minor tax offenses. Smith — along with numerous critics — asserted that the president’s son was given special treatment.
