House Republicans launched an investigation Monday into how the Justice Department bungled a plea deal with Hunter Biden so badly that a judge sent them back for a mulligan.
The committees conducting the investigation said several parts of the agreement were “atypical” to the point that the federal prosecutor who led the defense had to acknowledge under questioning that there was no precedent for such an arrangement.
One provision ruled out prosecutions for crimes beyond the scope of the case, and another limited the government’s authority to prosecute Mr. Biden should he violate the terms of the deal.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the committee chairmen asked how the bizarre arrangement was reached and whether the Justice Department or Mr. Biden’s attorneys first suggested the unusual arrangement.
“The Department’s unusual plea and pretrial diversion agreements with Mr. Biden raise serious concerns — especially when combined with recent whistleblower allegations — that the Department has provided preferential treatment toward President Biden’s son in the course of its investigation and proposed resolution of his alleged criminal conduct,” wrote Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith and Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer.
The letter was first reported by the New York Post.
Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and to enter a diversion program for a firearms felony charge.
He went to federal court in Delaware last week to officially enter his plea, but U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika poked holes in the deal. She said she had never seen an agreement limiting prosecutors’ ability to bring further charges.
She asked the government’s special assistant U.S. attorney about the plea deal, and the prosecutor acknowledged that he had never seen another court bless this type of arrangement.
“That seems like it’s getting outside of my lane in terms of what I am allowed to do,” she said.
After the judge’s questions, Mr. Biden entered a plea of not guilty.
Both sides are believed to be working to iron out the issues that Judge Noreika raised.
The Washington Times sought comment from the Justice Department on the latest investigation.
Republicans have accused the department of going soft on Hunter Biden because he is the president’s son.
They argue that Hunter Biden could have faced a wide range of charges based on the testimony of two IRS special agents who were part of a yearslong investigation into his dealings and his failure to pay taxes.
The agents described Hunter Biden’s behavior as more than forgetfulness. They pointed to a lengthy history of not filing, ignoring his accountants’ prods and taking dubious write-offs to lower his tax bill — had he been paying it.
Among those write-offs, the agents said, were claiming prostitutes were business expenses and claiming a sex club membership was a business-related golf membership.
Democrats say the Republican focus on Hunter Biden is a distraction and irrelevant to the president’s job performance or reelection prospects.
“The American people understand when folks are trying to distract the public,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters asking about Hunter Biden last week.
The deal that Mr. Biden struck with federal prosecutors, which has now been upended, included a plea agreement covering the tax misdemeanors and a diversion agreement covering a felony weapons charge.
In the agreements, Mr. Biden admitted he lied on his firearms background check form by answering “no” to a question about whether he was a user of illegal drugs. In fact, as he has previously admitted, he was addicted to crack cocaine.
He possessed a Colt Cobra .38 Special from Oct. 12, 2018, to Oct. 23, 2018. At that point, according to messages recovered from his laptop, Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother with whom he was having an affair, took the weapon out of his vehicle’s trunk and dropped it into a trash can at a Delaware supermarket.
Authorities recovered the weapon.
Hunter Biden said in email messages that Hallie Biden was worried that he would kill himself or harm her children.
As for the tax charges, Mr. Biden pointed to drug addiction as part of his excuse for failing to file. He also cited the 2015 death of his brother, Beau, which led to his affair with Hallie Biden and, according to the court documents reported by Politico, sent Hunter Biden into a relapse.
The problem with blaming the relapse, according to the IRS special agents who testified to Congress, is that Mr. Biden’s tax avoidance began in 2014.
The special agents said they were prevented from following some leads that could have implicated President Biden in his son’s business dealings with Chinese and Ukrainian firms.
They also said a special prosecutor should have been appointed to remove the case from political meddling.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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