Feds say Hunter Biden gun deal now not valid

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said a pretrial diversion deal that they’d offered to Hunter Biden on a felony gun charge didn’t take effect, despite what lawyers for the son of President Joe Biden are arguing.

Special Counsel David Weiss also accused Hunter’s defense attorneys of “inaccurately” characterizing the collapse of renewed plea negotiations, which fell apart last week after a judge raised questions on the deals Weiss was offering.

Earlier Tuesday, one in every of Hunter’s lawyers asked the judge within the case for permission to withdraw from the case, citing the likelihood he will probably be a witness to the failed plea negotiations.

Weiss originally said he wouldn’t recommend jail time for Hunter if he pleaded guilty on July 26 to 2 misdemeanor counts of failure to pay federal income taxes.

And the prosecutor also was willing to permit Hunter to avoid conviction and have the felony firearm charge dropped if he abided by the conditions of the agreement over two years.

“The Government didn’t ‘renege’ on the ‘previously agreed-upon Plea Agreement,’ Weiss said in his recent filing in U.S. District Court in Delaware.

“The Defendant selected to plead not guilty on the hearing on July 26, 2023, and U.S. Probation declined to approve the proposed diversion agreement at that hearing,” wrote Weiss, who can also be the U.S. Attorney for Delaware.

“Thus, neither proposed agreement entered into effect.”

Weiss wrote that after the plea hearing, each side proposed agreements to one another to deal with the judge’s concerns.

“Without going into the substance of the negotiations between the parties, within the afternoon after the hearing on July 26, defense counsel asked to fulfill with the Government,” Weiss wrote.

He said that after Hunter’s lawyers proposed changes to the deal, prosecutors “didn’t consider they were in the very best interests of the US, and offered counterproposals.”

Hunter’s lawyers in turn rejected that provide on Aug. 7, the prosecutor wrote.

“Seeing that the parties were at an impasse, the Government informed the Defendant, in writing on August 9, 2023, that it was withdrawing essentially the most recent version of its proposed plea and diversion agreements,” Weiss said in his filing.

Tuesday’s separate withdrawal bid by Hunter’s attorney Chris Clark got here a day after the lawyer Abbe Lowell entered an appearance to represent Hunter within the case.

And it followed a court filing by Hunter’s legal team alleging that federal prosecutors reneged on the plea deal they’d offered.

Clark’s withdrawal request was based on the possibility — now confirmed by Weiss’s filing — that prosecutors will now oppose the diversion agreement and some other offers related to the tax crimes.

In a filing over the weekend, Hunter’s lawyers wrote that the diversion agreement is “valid and binding.” The judge within the case then asked Weiss to reply to that filing.

In his withdrawal request, Clark said his stepping down from the case “is necessitated by recent developments within the matter.”

“Pursuant to Delaware Rule of Skilled Conduct 3.7(a), ‘a lawyer shall not act as advocate at a trial in
which the lawyer is more likely to be a needed witness unless … disqualification of the lawyer would
work substantial hardship on the client,'” Clark wrote.

“It seems that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will probably be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues,” the filing said. “Under the ‘witness-advocate’ rule, it’s inadvisable for Mr. Clark to proceed as counsel on this case.”

Clark noted that Hunter will proceed to be represented by other lawyers within the case, so his withdrawal “will no cause a considerable hardship to Mr. Biden.”

Hunter appeared in court on July 26 prepared to plead guilty to 2 counts of failure to pay federal income taxes on annual income of greater than $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018.

He also expected to sign a diversion agreement, which related to his charge of possessing a gun while being a user and addict of illegal drugs, approved by Judge Maryellen Noreika.

But that plan fell apart when Noreika questioned prosecutors in regards to the terms of your entire deal, and the condition that she, and never the Department of Justice, be the one to make your mind up whether Hunter was complying with the conditions of the gun charge diversion over a two-year period.

The judge then gave prosecutors and Hunter’s lawyers time to resolve her questions before returning to court. Hunter left court after pleading not guilty to the tax charges.

But after those renewed talks failed, and Weiss last week requested to be appointed special counsel within the case by Attorney General Merrick Garland, an indication he could move to charge Hunter with other crimes.

Garland granted Weiss’s request. The prosecutor in a court filing then said Hunter would likely face trial in California or Washington, D.C., and that he is likely to be hit with other counts.

Clark in response, said on the time, “We’re confident when all of those maneuverings are at an end my client can have resolution and will probably be moving on together with his life successfully.”

Weiss’ moves last week have been eyed skeptically by Republicans.

Republicans in Congress, a few of whom initially sought Weiss’s appointment last yr as special counsel within the case, now claim he gave Hunter a sweetheart plea deal and due to this fact can’t be trusted.

Those criticisms were made despite the incontrovertible fact that Weiss was appointed U.S. Attorney by Republican former President Donald Trump.

Republicans also fear that Weiss’s recent special counsel status will effectively halt longstanding efforts by several GOP-led House committees to secure documents and testimony related to Hunter Biden’s case.