WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to tax fraud and a gun charge after a federal judge put the brakes on a no-jail deal struck between prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The scuttled deal would have allowed President Biden’s son to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and escape a charge of falsifying a federal background check form to buy a firearm.
U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by President Trump, questioned the constitutionality of the deal on the gun charge, which would have spared Hunter Biden any prosecution if he completed a court diversion program.
“I will not accept or reject this plea deal,” Judge Noreika told Hunter Biden, his attorneys and prosecutors. “It seems to me like you are saying, ‘Just rubber-stamp the agreement, Your Honor.’”
The judge forced prosecutors to acknowledge that Hunter Biden remains under criminal investigation, including for working as an unregistered foreign agent.
The defense attorneys balked when prosecutors told the judge that Hunter Biden would not be protected from further criminal charges for unrelated crimes.
SEE ALSO: Prosecutors track Hunter Biden’s lucrative dealings abroad for foreign agent violations
The abrupt demise of the plea deal was welcome news for Republicans who criticized it as a “sweetheart deal” that let the president’s son off the hook for serious crimes.
The fact that the deal couldn’t pass Judge Noreika’s smell test also fueled Republican complaints about political bias at the Justice Department.
For the White House, the turn of events guaranteed the legal cloud would persist over Hunter Biden and the president as he runs for reelection. The plea deal was supposed to mark the culmination of a five-year investigation by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tried to fend off questions about the outcome in court.
“Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him,” she told reporters. “As we have said, the president, the first lady — they love their son and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre stressed that the case was handled independently by a “prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump.”
In the courtroom, Judge Noreika told the prosecutors and defense attorneys to file additional information within 14 days.
Judge Noreika called the deal for illegal possession of a handgun “unusual.”
The judge said the deal, in which Hunter Biden would enter the diversion program to resolve the charge, contained some “non-standard terms” such as “broad immunity” from other potential charges.
“We don’t usually make diversion agreements public,” said the judge, referring to the move to make that aspect of their agreement public and discuss it in open court.
Judge Noreika asked whether the ongoing investigation acknowledged by prosecutors involved violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. She sought details from Hunter Biden about the foreign companies he worked for.
He provided details about his employment on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which paid him up to $1 million a year, as well as CEFC, a Chinese energy firm tied to the Chinese Communist Party, which paid millions of dollars to Biden family members and their close circle of business associates.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, who is leading an investigation of the president and his family, commended the judge and promised more congressional scrutiny of the Bidens.
“District Judge Noreika did the right thing by refusing to rubberstamp Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal. But let’s be clear: Hunter’s sweetheart plea deal belongs in the trash,” Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, said in a statement.
“Last week we heard from two credible IRS whistleblowers about the Department of Justice’s politicization and misconduct in the Biden criminal investigation. Today, the Department of Justice revealed Hunter Biden is under investigation for being a foreign agent,” he said. “We will continue to follow the Bidens’ money trail to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised, and our national security is threatened. We will also continue to work with the Ways and Means Committee and Judiciary Committee to investigate the Department of Justice’s coverup and hold bad actors accountable.”
As part of the plea deal, Mr. Weiss recommended probation on the tax charges. The maximum sentence for each of the charges is 12 months in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Mr. Weiss agreed to allow Hunter Biden to enter a pretrial diversion program for illegal possession of a firearm in exchange for his agreement to remain drug-free and never again own a firearm.
Standing before Judge Noreika, prosecutors said Hunter Biden’s crimes resulted from the throes of addiction.
“He did in fact have the funds available to pay his taxes on time but didn’t pay. Instead, he continued to spend wildly on personal luxuries and expenses,” one of the federal prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Christopher Clark explained that Hunter Biden wanted to make amends.
“I know he believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life. He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward,” Mr. Clark told the judge.
Hunter Biden bought a Colt Cobra .38 Special in 2018 despite being prohibited from owning a gun because of his history of drug abuse. If he reneged on the drug-free pledge, he would have faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a stiff fine for the gun charge.
Hunter Biden received more than $1.5 million in annual income in 2017 and 2018 but didn’t pay taxes on it, despite owing more than $100,000 each year. He paid roughly $1 million in back taxes in 2021.
When the hearing concluded, Hunter Biden and his attorneys walked out of the courtroom without speaking to reporters. Before the deal unraveled, his attorneys suggested that Hunter Biden would speak to the media after the hearing.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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