In a late Sunday court filing, Hunter Biden’s attorneys claimed that federal prosecutors had broken the terms of their plea deal in the investigation into Biden’s business operations.
The application follows Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Friday appointment of David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, as special counsel to carry on the president’s son inquiry. Weiss, who was already in charge of the inquiry, was named special counsel on Friday after he made the request for it earlier in the week.
In California or Washington, D.C., where they had the venue for the federal tax charges, Weiss’ office informed the court that they would likely proceed with charges.
After agreeing to a plea deal with Weiss, Hunter Biden was anticipated to enter a guilty plea to two federal misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes. Due to misunderstandings surrounding a different felony accusation of gun possession, the agreement fell through last month, and Biden opted to enter a not-guilty plea.
Judge Maryellen Noreika stated at a court proceeding last month that she would neither approve or reject the plea bargain until both parties had addressed her concerns with regard to its conditions.
Biden’s legal team stated in the document filed late Sunday that while they were “still ready to respond to the questions Your Honor presented at the July 26 hearing, in light of the United States’ decision on Friday to renege on the before agreed-upon Plea Agreement, we agree on the fact that those issues are moot at this point.”
Additionally, they said that prosecutors “proposed and largely dictated the form and content” of both the plea bargain and the separate “pretrial diversion agreement” pertaining to Biden’s alleged illegal possession of a Colt Cobra.38 Special handgun on federal property. If Biden did not break any of the terms of the pretrial agreement, which included not being added to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, abstaining from using alcohol or drugs, and not breaking any local, state, or federal laws during that time, the charges could have been postponed for 24 months. He might face felony charges if he broke the terms of the deal.
Because it is a contract that both parties signed and normally does not require a judge’s approval, Biden’s attorneys claimed that the gun-related agreement was already in force.
When contacted by NBC News, the Department of Justice declined to comment.
The federal prosecutors’ notice to the court that they wanted to dismiss the charges brought against Biden because they were ready for trial prompted Biden’s attorneys to submit their filing on Sunday after a judge ordered them to do so.
In an earlier interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell accused the prosecution of altering “their decision on the fly,” in reference to the collapse of the plea agreement.
“One, they wrote something and weren’t clear about what they meant,” he said. “Two, they misspoke to counsel even though they knew what they meant. Or, third, they altered their opinion while appearing in Delaware court.
Lowell added that he is “confident” that no further proof or accusations would surface.
“I’m confident that when this prosecutor does what has been done over the last five years, look at the facts, the evidence, and the law, then the only conclusion may be what the conclusion was on July 26,” he declared. “No new evidence has been discovered.”