The long-awaited charges levied on Hunter Biden signaled the beginning of the unraveling of the Biden family corruption, but those who want transparency and justice were dismayed at the plea deal arranged between Hunter Biden’s team and the Department of Justice. It seemed that Hunter would skate on most of the charges, and would get off light.
But earlier this week, a federal judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s case on tax fraud and gun charges questioned whether federal prosecutors would be including other crimes as part of the agreement, including potential charges related to failing to register as a foreign agent for the purposes of representing overseas corporations.
Once it became known those charges against Hunter Biden were still possible as part of the government’s ongoing investigation, lawyers for Hunter Biden declined the original plea agreement.
Now, legal experts taking a close look at the negotiations and the agreement are seeing the implications of the wording of the deal, and what that means in regard to the integrity of the Biden Department of Justice.
Legal experts reviewing the details of the agreement told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the deal still exempted the son of President Joe Biden from guilt for many future crimes, and certain clauses could have been argued by his attorneys that foreign agent registration could be covered.
Julianne Murray, the lawyer for the Heritage Foundation and Delaware GOP chair, told the Caller that the Statement of Facts, which included every allegation that would be wiped clean with the plea agreement, included clauses beneficial to skating on future business criminal activity.
“It’s talking about income from Chinese partners, Ukraine, Romania—there’s a lot of information in there,” she told the DCNF. “I do think the statement of facts was broad and favored the defense.”
Will Scharf, a former federal prosecutor, said the plea agreement was “purposely written to include his foreign influence peddling operations in China, Ukraine, and elsewhere.”
“In an apparent effort to shield Hunter from a new administration, which might try to throw out the pretrial diversion agreement by claiming that Hunter had violated his probation terms, they included a provision — which they admitted was entirely novel, with no precedent — stating that the government could not deem Hunter to have violated the agreement without first proving up violations in front of the judge,” Scharf wrote, referring to the DOJ’s proposed agreement.
In the Statement of Facts, federal prosecutors specifically reference the business transactions that have been flagged as suspicious by multiple banks and turned over to the Treasury Department as part of House Republicans’ investigation into business activity by members of the president’s family.
Prosecutors write:
“Just under $1 million from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate; $666,666 from his domestic business interests; approximately $664,000 from a Chinese infrastructure investment company; $500,000 in director’s fees from a Ukrainian energy company; $70,000 relating to a Romanian business; and $48,000 from the multi-national law firm” in 2017.
“Certainly a significant portion of the Statement of Facts” was related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, wrote attorney Sol Wisenberg on Twitter. “This is not normal.”
Hunter Biden and his attorneys must now race to complete a new plea agreement in less than 30 days. The embattled first son is under tremendous pressure to do so, as going to a jury trial carries a “real risk” of prison time for tax and gun charges that have put others in Delaware behind bars.
The New York Post writes, “With the text of Hunter Biden’s plea deal now public, it’s no longer possible to deny that the Justice Department’s been bending over backward to protect the Biden family – including President Joe Biden.”
As to why the DOJ would extend such a deal in the first place, the Post notes that there are obviously more crimes to uncover in the Biden family, and the protection of Joe Biden is obviously of importance to the DOJ.
“Obviously, if prosecutors and agents did want to uncover Biden family corruption, they wouldn’t have precluded additional charges,” the Post notes.
“Certainly a significant portion of the Statement of Facts” was related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, wrote attorney Sol Wisenberg on Twitter. “This is not normal.”
I think you are right. Certainly a significant portion of the Statement of Facts is defense-oriented. This is not normal. https://t.co/O28viYKfaL
— Sol Wisenberg (@WisenbergSol) July 27, 2023
Former federal prosecutor Bill Shipley added on Twitter that he thinks the Statement of Facts was drafted by Hunter Biden’s attorneys and accepted nearly verbatim by lawyers for U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss.
Something noteworthy about the Hunter Biden plea agreement on the tax charges.
IMO, no way the prosecutors wrote the Statement of Facts. That was written by defense counsel because there is a purpose behind it, and it’s written in a style that I have NEVER seen come from a…
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) July 27, 2023
The New York Post also reported that an insider said “the FBI was never shown the plea agreement before it was submitted to the court, a shocking break with usual practice,” and that the insider continued that “FBI leaders would have objected to the deal as far too lenient if they had seen it.”
With Joe Biden facing impeachment, it certainly seems that the Biden family is grasping at straws in order to save themselves in any way they can.
The post Legal Experts Point Out A Very Sketchy Detail In Hunter’s Puzzling Plea Deal appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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