27-7-2023 (WILMINGTON) A highly anticipated agreement that would have seen Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, plead guilty to tax charges and admit to a gun offence has dramatically fallen apart in court.
The plea deal, which had been negotiated over several weeks, was expected to spare the younger Biden from prison time. However, on Wednesday, a judge declared that she could not simply “rubber stamp the agreement.”
This case marks the first time the US Department of Justice has charged the child of a sitting president. Hunter Biden’s legal team has been granted 14 days to renegotiate a new deal with the prosecution.
The development comes after a five-year investigation into the finances of the US first son. Hunter Biden arrived at the court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday morning for the hearing.
In the original plea agreement announced last month, he was set to face two misdemeanour counts for failing to pay taxes on time in 2017 and 2018. He was also expected to acknowledge illegally possessing a firearm while being a drug user and agree to drug treatment and monitoring as an alternative to more severe felony charges and possible jail time.
During the three-hour hearing, US District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika raised concerns about whether the deal would provide Hunter Biden immunity from potential future crimes. She found the agreement’s terms “non-standard” and its proposed resolution for the gun possession offence “unusual.”
The justice department is still investigating whether Hunter Biden violated federal laws related to registering as a foreign agent while working in China and Ukraine during his father’s vice-presidency, according to CNN.
Amid the high-stakes hearing, legal teams from both sides negotiated in plain view of reporters inside the courtroom, attempting to salvage the plea deal or reach a more limited agreement.
Ultimately, Judge Noreika, a Trump appointee, declined to sign the deal. She granted a two-week extension for the parties to reach a new agreement and brief her on their progress.
Initially offering to enter a guilty plea, Hunter Biden concluded the hearing by pleading not guilty for the time being.
In response to the developments, the White House released a statement asserting support for the president’s son. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasized that Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and the matter was a personal issue for him.
The misdemeanour tax charges faced by Hunter Biden are relatively minor compared to the more serious allegations that congressional Republicans have raised in committee hearings. Some Republicans have suggested that he received an unusually lenient plea deal because of his status as the president’s son.
The House of Representatives Oversight Committee has already heard from a whistleblower who claimed that the justice department intentionally delayed the tax investigation. This allegation is denied by US Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, who led the investigation.
Mr Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump and retained by the Biden administration to conclude the probe into Hunter, has offered to testify before Congress to address criticism of the inquiry.
Republicans have been investigating various allegations against Hunter Biden, with a focus on a laptop that he reportedly left at a computer repair shop in Delaware. The contents of the laptop have been used to try to establish bribery and corruption allegations against the president’s son and to link his father to illegal business dealings.
On the other hand, Democrats see the Republicans’ attack on the justice system as a diversion tactic while former President Trump faces criminal indictments and potential charges in two additional cases.
