Hunter Biden Pleads Not Guilty … For Now
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor charges after a wild day in federal court that ended with U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika putting the case on hold.
The president’s son was expected to plead guilty to the two charges, which are related to failing to pay his taxes on time, before the proceedings unravelled. Judge Noreika earlier on Wednesday refused to sign off on Biden’s plea agreement, urging government prosecutors and Biden’s legal team to iron out its terms. They appeared to have done so, reportedly reaching a new deal that covered conduct related to tax offenses, drug use, and gun possession from 2014-2019.
Noreika didn’t sign off on that deal, either. “I cannot accept the plea agreement today,” she said.
Biden last month struck a deal to plead guilty to two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax.” He also agreed to admit to the facts of a separate charge of “possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.”
Noreika questioned whether the deal would preclude the Justice Department from charging Biden with other crimes, including those related to his foreign dealings. The government said it wouldn’t, to which Biden’s lead lawyer declared the agreement “null and void,” according to The New York Times, which also noted that Biden’s lawyers said it will take them about two weeks to honor Noreika’s requests.
Noreika’s refusal to sign off on the deal isn’t the first sign of trouble in the case. The judge accused a member of Biden’s defense team of misrepresenting herself to the court, claimed in an order on Tuesday that the lawyer painted herself as an employee of a Republican attorney in an effort to convince the court clerk to remove documents containing Biden’s personal tax information, according to Politico. The law firm representing Biden said chalked it up to an “unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication”
Donald Trump and congressional Republicans — who have been desperately trying to dredge up proof that Biden and his father were involved in a bribery scheme — have been furious over the deal. They have alleged the Justice Department is letting Hunter off easy as part of an effort to bury the family’s corruption, despite the fact that the U.S. attorney who offered the deal was appointed by Trump. Conservative media has also been obsessed with the issue. Independent journalist Aaron Rupar noted on Twitter that Fox News and Fox Business combined to mention Hunter Biden’s name over 100 times before 10 a.m. on Wednesday.