Hunter Biden Guilty Plea Deal on Hold

WILMINGTON, Del. — Hunter Biden's plea agreement with the Justice Department is on hold after a contentious three-hour Wednesday hearing concluded with prosecutors and defense attorneys for President Joe Biden's son agreeing to further explain the rationale for their deal to a federal judge.

The unexpected delay stems from a dispute over the ongoing nature of a wider federal investigation into business dealings tied to President Joe Biden's family that has prompted House Republicans to threaten impeachment proceedings back in Washington, D.C.

For now, Hunter Biden's fate remains up in the air while the federal judge overseeing the case awaits more information about the deal structured between the president's son and federal prosecutors.

As a perfunctory move, Hunter Biden at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing entered a plea of not guilty, though that will likely change when he returns to court at an undetermined later date. Without the plea agreement, Hunter Biden left the courtroom to be processed by the U.S. Marshal Service.

This is the first time in U.S. history a sitting president’s offspring has faced such serious legal consequences.

At the core of the dispute: Whether the plea deal agreement that Hunter Biden and DOJ previously agreed to after a nearly 5-year long investigation meant he would be immunized from future prosecution for other related potential crimes.

The answer to that question appears to be no for now — Hunter Biden could still face additional charges if the plea deals fall through or if prosecutors found sufficient evidence to bring another case.

David Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware leading the Hunter Biden probe, has said that a wider investigation of the Biden family remains "ongoing." That sticking point prompted questions during Wednesday's hearing from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, also a Trump appointee, who was trying to get a better handle on just how sweeping in scope the Hunter Biden plea agreement before her was.

"These agreements are not straightforward," Noreika said at the conclusion of the hearing, adding that the deal DOJ and Hunter Biden's attorneys had reached contained "atypical provisions."

The judge accused both prosecutors and defense attorneys of trying to get her to "rubber stamp" the plea agreement, making a point that Leo Wise, an assistant U.S. attorney working on Weiss's team, disputed.

Hunter Biden had arrived in the federal courthouse in Wilmington with his attorneys intending to enter a guilty plea on two federal tax misdemeanors and an agreement to enter a diversion program stemming from a firearms felony. Inside the courtroom, the president's son and his team of attorneys appeared in good spirits as they greeted the federal prosecutors. Reporters were even buzzing about Hunter Biden possibly making a public appearance to deliver remarks at a nearby square at 11:30 a.m. local time. But by the time the hearing concluded, Hunter Biden had a much more somber demeanor.

During an early phase of the hearing, the 53-year old artist and businessman acknowledged he had been in and out of patient treatments "over the course of 20 years" and had been sober from both alcohol and drugs since June 2019.

Noreika pressed the lawyers for DOJ and Hunter Biden to spell out how the drug and gun charges interconnected. Appearing under oath on two separate occasions during the hearing, Hunter Biden both told the judge he would accept a guilty plea on the tax charge with or without an agreement for a pretrial diversion offer on the firearms charge. That discrepancy and other apparent confusion between the prosecution and defense parties about the agreement left the judge concerned.

She recessed the hearing at one point while the attorneys met in a side conference, raising the prospect that the entire deal was in jeopardy.

"The plea agreement is null and void," said Christopher Clark, a Hunter Biden defense attorney, interjecting at a moment when the hearing appeared to be heading very much off the rails.

After an intermission, Biden's attorneys and federal prosecutors acknowledged the plea deal was limited in its scope to the specifics on the drug and gun charges and that Hunter Biden could still be charged on unrelated crimes.

Even so, they did not conclude the hearing with a final agreement on the plea deal.

Addressing Hunter Biden, Noreika acknowledged the desire to wrap up the case. "I'm sorry," she said, "I do want to make sure I'm careful in my view of this" so that Biden can both get the deal he thinks he's getting and so that the judge can ensure that appropriate justice is served.

Wise, the federal prosecutor, suggested needing another 14 days to file a brief spelling out additional information on the plea agreement, though no deadlines were set. Noreika said she will either issue an order or hold a status conference for an update.

Part of the diversion agreement that Noreika questioned was a stipulation that if Biden violated its conditions, that her court would have to rule on whether or not a breach occurred — essentially meaning the DOJ couldn’t bring further charges until she made a ruling.

Details on the agreement as it stood at the conclusion of Wednesday's hearing included a two-year diversion arrangement from the date of approval. Once that period ends, within 30 days, the government would seek dismissal of the firearms charge.

Under the arrangement Biden would be prohibited from purchasing, owning or trying to purchase any firearms. He'd also be required to have a permanent entry in a criminal background record flagging him as ineligible for firearms. His gun in question must be forfeited and he'd be subjected to supervision and drug testing. He also could not consume any drugs or alcohol, he'd be subject to FBI fingerprinting and he would have to communicate in writing any international travel plans. Hunter Biden also couldn’t break any local, state or federal law.

It also came out in court Wednesday that an unidentified third party paid Hunter Biden's tax debts, including any penalties and interest. The sums of the tax payments by the third party were: $45,661 for 2016, $955,800 for 2017, $956,632 for 2018 and $197,372 for 2019. Hunter Biden testified that the money was provided as a personal loan that he has not yet started making payments on.

No cameras or electronic equipment were allowed in the Wilmington federal building, leaving the public with sporadic reports from the cable network journalists who raced out of the courthouse to share updates during the ongoing proceedings. At least 40 reporters, mostly from national media outlets, filled the benches in the wood-paneled courtroom.

Also present for the hearing: Attorneys for the House Ways and Means Committee and the Heritage Foundation, which had tried to file last-minute amicus briefs on Tuesday raising their own concerns about the Hunter Biden plea deal.

The tax charges stem from findings that Hunter Biden received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in 2017 and 2018 and failed to pay the income tax due for either year “despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year,” Weiss said in a statement last month. Wednesday's hearing also revealed details about Hunter Biden's income, including more than $2 million made each year, a large portion of which came from business dealings with Chinese, Ukrainian and Romanian partners.

Biden is also accused of possessing a Colt Cobra revolver from Oct. 12 to 23, 2018 while “knowing that he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance,” according to a felony information document filed by federal prosecutors.

The federal pretrial diversion program is designed to “divert certain offenders from traditional criminal justice processing into alternative systems of supervision and services,” according to the Department of Justice. 

Defendants successfully complete rehabilitation, drug treatment or other programs as part of pretrial diversion may be eligible for case outcomes “including the declination of charges, dismissal or reduction of charges, or a more favorable recommendation at sentencing,” according to DOJ.

There is currently no indication in public court filings that President Joe Biden is involved in either the tax or the firearms offenses that his adult son is accused of. 

However, the criminal proceedings have been watched closely from Capitol Hill, where Republican leaders have said they believe Hunter Biden has received special treatment in the case.

“It continues to show the two-tier system in America,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. said of Hunter Biden’s plea deal last month. “If you are the president’s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. But if you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”

Appearing Wednesday on CNN, Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., praised Norieka for scrutinizing the agreement and forcing attorneys for DOJ and Hunter Biden to clarify what's what in the plea deal. "I think the judge really was on top of this high-profile case," he said. "Everything's gotta go right."

Buck, a former federal prosecutor and a senior member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, added: "Obviously, there are other investigations that are ongoing, other changes may or may not be brought. But it's important for the defendant to know, on the record, that there's a possibility of other charges."

In advance of Wednesday’s proceedings, outside groups asked Norieka to either delay or reject Hunter Biden’s plea agreement in last-minute filings in her Delaware federal court.

The right-leaning Heritage Foundation on Tuesday filed an amicus brief in the criminal docket citing “grave concerns” about the case and suggesting that Noreika should delay acceptance of the plea agreement. 

House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., also filed an amicus brief arguing against the plea deal, which led to a flurry of last minute arguments and finger-pointing Tuesday after an administrative staff member of Latham & Watkins, a law firm representing Hunter Biden, asked for some of the filings to be sealed. 

After Noreika entered an order saying the law firm staffer “misrepresented her identity” and ordered the firm to explain why they should not be sanctioned, the firm said in a filing late Tuesday night that it was due to a misunderstanding.

The dispute over the Latham & Watkins staffer didn't come up during Wednesday's court hearing. In a brief interview with The Messenger, an outside lawyer representing the Ways and Means Committee said it's unclear whether the federal court will ultimately allow the House panel's material to be entered into the record.

"The court can still consider it," said Theodore Kittila, the managing partner of Halloran Farkas + Kittila. "It depends."

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Hunter Biden could have faced a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge, Weiss said in a statement last month. It is common practice in criminal cases for prosecutors to agree to seek a reduction in a defendant's punishment in exchange for a guilty plea.

While Hunter Biden’s legal team has said they believe the plea agreement marks the end of the federal probe into the president’s son, Weiss has said on multiple occasions recently that his investigative work concerning Hunter Biden is not yet formally closed. Weis, one of his deputies, declined to elaborate on Wednesday when Noreika pressed him on the topic during the hearing.

"I can tell you what I think we can't charge," Wise said, noting the tax and firearm charges central to the at-issue plea deal.

Weiss’ June 20 statement announcing charges against Hunter Biden ended with: “The investigation is ongoing.” 

In a July 10 letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Weiss said he could not answer questions concerning allegations of a Ukrainian bribery scheme involving Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden because the questions “relate to an ongoing investigation.” 

Weiss was responding to an inquiry from Graham regarding an FD-1023 form, which is a document used by FBI special agents to record unverified raw information from informants.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the federal prosecutor speaking several times during Wednesday's hearing. It was Leo Wise, an assistant U.S. attorney.