BREAKING: Hunter’s Plea Deal Goes Sour
Well, that’s a bullet dodged for proponents of what’s left of our justice system…
There are two directions this could go in – as you’d imagine, they’re good and bad.
The bad direction is that the prosecution continues to dither and more potential charges against Hunter Biden for his various crimes find themselves vanishing via the statute of limitations.
The good direction is there’s an honest-to-goodness prosecution and a trial, as unlikely as that might have seemed at the beginning of the revelations about the one-man crime spree Hunter showed himself to be when his laptop computer surfaced in the reporting of the New York Post nearly three years ago.
But today, at least we know the chance for some real justice still exists…
Hunter Biden’s plea deal fell apart during his first court appearance Wednesday morning and pleaded “not guilty” as federal prosecutors confirmed the president’s son is still under federal investigation.
The president’s son was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, as part of plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.
But Judge Maryellen Noreika did not accept the plea agreement, questioning the constitutionality–specifically the diversion clause and the immunity Hunter Biden would receive.
The judge pressed federal prosecutors on the investigation and questioned whether there was the possibility for future charges, and asked prosecutors if Hunter Biden was currently under active investigation. Prosecutors said he was, but would not answer specifically what the president’s son is under investigation for.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said Hunter Biden pleading guilty to the two misdemeanor tax offenses would not immunize him from future charges.
The judge asked whether a potential violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act was under consideration, but prosecutors were tight-lipped on the matter.
The judge put the court in recess and asked that federal prosecutors and Biden’s legal team discuss the plea deal, telling the court that they did not appear to be in agreement on the terms.
There is a great deal of doubt that David Weiss, the US Attorney in Delaware whose role in the prosecution of Hunter Biden’s crimes has been so greatly scrutinized of late – and not favorably – would ever prosecute Hunter under FARA. That’s something Democrats tend to weaponize against Republicans, with Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, perhaps the most prominent example, but it’s not something commonly pushed by federal prosecutors.
And then there’s the question of bribery, which is where this obviously ought to go, but you can’t prosecute Hunter for taking bribes without turning the guns on his father.
Nobody thinks Weiss’ boss Merrick Garland, who has been meddling in this investigation in the worst ways possible ever since he took office as Biden’s attorney general, will allow the main event here. It’s going to be up to Congress, with an impeachment, to go there.
Which is a whole other post, one you might see here at RVIVR later today.
