Hunter Biden: the agreement with the Justice Department is frozen and he pleads innocent
Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Justice Department fell through on Wednesday, according to federal prosecutors and the defense. The "First Son" was expected to plead guilty to two felony tax charges and failed to pay federal crime taxes. Instead it was not like this and he pleaded innocent, starting a real criminal trial.
#BREAKING : The Hunter Biden plea deal is DEAD after the judge expressed MAJOR concerns about the pretrial diversion program for Hunter's felony gun charge that would wipe out additional tax charges. pic.twitter.com/jJ63SwUHCm
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 26, 2023
Initially it seemed that Hunter Biden's plea deal was only being questioned again, after the defense accepted a limited settlement that covers the period from 2014 to 2019 and which only includes behavior related to tax crimes, drug use and gun possession, but this agreement was however much contested. During the day there were several confused evolutions.
It first appeared that Hunter would still be guilty of tax offenses for 2017 and 2018, but the settlement would also cover tax issues from the previous three years, with both parties agreeing that this settlement does not shield Hunter from future charges.
As CNN reported;
The judge asked Hunter Biden a series of questions about the facts included in the indictment documents.
The judge asked Biden for the names of overseas companies where he worked.
“The Ukrainian energy company was Burisma,” Biden said. Biden also mentioned his work for a Chinese energy company, CEFC. His ties to this company have come under intense scrutiny from House Republicans.
The judge asked Biden: "You knew you had to pay taxes, didn't you?"
Biden replied, "Yes, Your Honor."
Then something must have jumped. In another incredible turn of events, today's court session concluded with Hunter Biden's plea deal being suspended and Hunter pleading not guilty for the time being.
District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she was not ready to accept the settlement and asked both parties to file additional briefs explaining the legal structure of the revised settlement
The hearing was temporarily halted when Judge Noreika said he did not understand what Hunter Biden could be accused of. He asked questions that exposed a difference in understanding between Justice Department prosecutors and Biden's attorney, Chris Clark.
“I don't quite understand the scope of the deal,” Noreika said. He noted that Biden has had numerous foreign trade ties. At one point, he raised speculation about possibly charging Biden with acting as an unregistered foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. – Bloomberg
He also called the settlement that federal prosecutors reached with Hunter over his felony gun possession offense "unusual" and that it contains some "non-standard terms," such as "broad immunity" from other potential charges. In short, the Department of Justice cannot lump everything together and put together tax evasion, financial crimes, crimes related to drugs and weapons. The law is not a supermarket…
In theory, therefore, when the trial resumes, the judge could also ask for the arrest of Hunter Biden.
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The article Hunter Biden: the deal with the Justice Department frozen and he pleads innocent comes from Scenarios Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/hunter-biden-laccordo-con-il-dipartimento-di-giustizia-congelato/ on Thu, 27 Jul 2023 06:00:24 +0000.