Hunter Biden's Indictment & Trial (Consolidated Thread)

[schwartzie]

Conservatives Slam DOJ’s ‘Sweetheart Plea Deal’ for Hunter Biden: ‘Two-Tiered Justice System’

NICK GILBERTSON
20 Jun 2023

Conservatives blasted the “sweetheart plea deal” federal prosecutors have given to Hunter Biden, where he will plead guilty to two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax” and enter a “pretrial diversion program” for a firearm offense.

The deal indicates that Hunter Biden will not face prison time, as Breitbart News Senior Editor Joel Pollak noted.

Former President Donald Trump likened the punishment to a “traffic ticket” in a Truth Social post this morning.

truthsocial.com/@realdonaldtrump/posts/110576886163364876

“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

The deal comes exactly a week after Trump was arraigned on 37 counts relating to classified documents he allegedly took to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency. If convicted on all counts and a judge imposes the maximum sentence for each count consecutively, he could face 400 years in prison, Pollak reported.

The 45th president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also weighed in, tweeting that the deal “reeks of favoritism and brazenly reveals a system where there are two-tiers of Justice.”

“If you are a Republican, Biden’s DOJ will throw the book at you and try to put you in prison for 100 years, but if you happen to have the right last name like Hunter, they will protect you and treat you with kid gloves,” he added.

Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, tweeted that the “sweetheart plea deal” is “an ‘in-your-face’ show of contempt for the rule of law.” He asserted that it “Avoids prosecutions tied to foreign bribery and Joe.”

Dr. Sebatsian Gorka agreed with Fitton that it is a “sweetheart plea deal from his Daddy’s DoJ and IRS.”

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy contended the deal is “a feigned retreat & reveals they’re even more scared than ever of scrutiny for the real crimes.”

Conservative social media influencer Rogan O’Handly quipped, “Boy it sure pays to have your daddy in the Oval Office.”

Businessman Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, suggested any other American would receive a harsher punishment on the same charges.

“Instead of receiving the punishment any other American would receive, he gets a slap on the wrist,” Moreno wrote. “America gets another slap on the face as they see a two tiered justice system.”

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who has endorsed Moreno, also asserted the deal signals a “disgrace[ful]” double standard of the law.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) shared the same sentiment, tweeting that “if anyone without the Biden last name engaged in even a fraction of Hunter’s misconduct, they’d face real consequences.”

Journalist Jack Posobiec noted news of the deal comes the same day Trump’s trial date has been “fast-tracked” in the classified documents case.

GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rick Scott (R-FL) pointed to what they see as disparities in how Biden’s DOJ handled this case versus how it is pursuing charges against Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate.

“So Hunter Biden gets a special plea deal, slap on the wrist – probably won’t do a day of time – while DOJ charges Trump as a spy and tries to put him in prison forever,” Hawley tweeted. “Two standards of “justice

“A slap on the wrist for Hunter Biden while ‘The Big Guy’ continues to hunt down his top political opponent,” Scott wrote in a tweet. “This doesn’t show equal justice. It’s a mockery of our legal system by a family that has no respect for our laws.”

Watch — Marsha Blackburn: Trump Indictment Exposes Two-Tiered Justice System

Video at link

[schwartzie]

Hunter Biden to Plead Guilty in Deal: 2 Tax Counts, 1 Gun Charge


JOEL B. POLLAK
20 Jun 2023

Hunter Biden, 53, son of President Joe Biden, has agreed to plead guilty to two federal tax violation charges and one violation of gun laws, per reports Tuesday morning.

Biden will plead guilty to willful failure to pay federal income tax — most likely on his foreign earnings — and will enter a “pretrial diversion program” regarding his gun crime, indicating that he will face no jail time.



Biden’s dubious business exploits came to light during the Obama administration, after he was discharged from the Navy for drug use and immediately found employment on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.



Reporters briefly questioned the White House about Hunter Biden’s role, given that his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, had been placed in charge of Ukraine policy under President Barack Obama. State Department officials complained about the conflict of interest, but were told that the Vice President was grieving for his other son, Beau Biden, who died after a battle with brain cancer. The issue was never resolved.



President Donald Trump raised the question of Hunter Biden’s role with then-newly-installed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2019 — an overture for which House Democrats impeached the president.



Trump’s concerns were vindicated by the discovery and publication in 2020 of a laptop apparently belonging to Hunter Biden, which contained emails and other records documenting his business interests. But Silicon Valley social media companies, and the mainstream media itself, suppressed and censored the story, and intelligence figures created the false impression that it was Russian propaganda. After the election, Hunter Biden admitted that he had been under investigation for tax violations, but the Bidens continued to deny claims of corruption.



Critics also pointed out that Hunter Biden had likely lied on a federal gun purchase form when lying about his addiction to drugs. The topic surfaced periodically as President Biden vowed to take executive action on guns.



The plea deal will likely involve Hunter Biden admitting to misdemeanor charges that will keep him from jail — and will avoid a trial. President Biden could pardon his son at any point, voiding any criminal consequences.



News of the plea deal emerged less than two weeks after the Department of Justice indicted former President Donald Trump on felony charges with lengthy prison terms related to his handling of presidential documents.



This story is developing.

 \link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Trump: Hunter Biden Plea Deal ‘A Massive Coverup,’ ‘Full Scale Election Interference Scam’



KRISTINA WONG
20 Jun 2023


Former President Donald Trump, a Republican presidential candidate, slammed the plea deal announced for Hunter Biden on Tuesday, calling it a “massive coverup” and election interference.



He posted in a statement on Truth Social:



The Hunter/Joe Biden settlement is a massive COVERUP & FULL SCALE ELECTION INTERFERENCE ‘SCAM’ THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN OUR COUNTRY BEFORE. A ‘TRAFFIC TICKET,’ & JOE IS ALL CLEANED UP & READY TO GO INTO THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – AND THIS AS CROOKED DOJ, STATE, & CITY PROSECUTORS, MARXISTS & COMMUNISTS ALL, HIT ME FROM ALL SIDES & ANGELS WITH BULL….! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!



truthsocial.com/@realdonaldtrump/110577688926740790




As part of his plea deal, Biden, 53, will plead guilty to willful failure to pay federal income tax — most likely on his foreign earnings — and will enter a “pretrial diversion program” regarding his gun crime, indicating that he will face no jail time.



Meanwhile, Trump is facing up to 400 years in prison related to retaining allegedly classified information at his home in Mar-a-Lago.



Conservatives on Tuesday slammed the plea deal as evidence of two tiers of justice in America — one for the president’s son and another for the president’s political enemies.



link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

The Bidens Release Blood-Boiling Statement After Hunter Agrees to Plea Deal



By Rachel Emmanuel

June 20, 2023 at 3:11pm


According to a report from CNN, Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors regarding his federal tax misdemeanors and a felony gun possession charge.



President Biden and his wife Jill Biden, didn’t have much to say after the news broke. They didn’t need to. They’re having the last laugh. (They won't be laughing in hell!) 


White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement, “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment.”



This, from the man who just three days ago was calling for stronger gun laws in another shameless display of rules for thee but not for me.

Hunter Biden’s firearm charges involved a 2018 incident in which Hunter’s firearm was thrown into a dumpster by his then-girlfriend in Wilmington, Delaware.



Previous reports suggested that prosecutors were considering charges related to false statements made during the gun purchase, not to mention that it is a violation of federal law for individuals who use or are addicted to drugs, which Hunter Biden has publicly admitted to, to purchase a firearm.



Authenticated emails from 2018 and 2019 revealed that Hunter Biden’s debts were accumulating despite warnings from his bank, accountant, and others about his tax obligations. His attorney has attributed these difficulties to his addiction issues but stated that his client has now fully paid his IRS tax debts.



A Fox News report states that the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, David C. Weiss, revealed that Hunter Biden had received taxable income exceeding $1.5 million annually in 2017 and 2018 but failed to pay the income tax owed, accumulating a debt of over $100,000 each year.


“Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year,” Weiss’ office told Fox News. “According to the firearm Information, from on or about October 12, 2018, through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance.”



Weiss’ office said if convicted, Hunter Biden faces a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges — a total of two years — and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge.



However, according to CNN sources, it is expected that the Justice Department will recommend probation for the tax crimes.



And, the felony gun possession charge will be “diverted,” meaning it will be dismissed if Hunter Biden fulfills certain conditions for a specified period.

A statement from Hunter Biden’s attorney reads, in part, “With the announcement of two agreements between my client, Hunter Biden, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”

So Hunter Biden may get probation for his six-figure tax crimes and a “diverted” sentence for his felony gun possession, and then it’s “resolved.”



Is anyone surprised?



And what about the investigation report that Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin initiated into Hunter Biden’s foreign business activities in 2019?



Grassley and Johnson said they obtained records from the U.S. Treasury Department that showed “potential criminal activity relating to transactions among and between Hunter Biden, his family, and his associates with Ukrainian, Russian, Kazakh and Chinese nationals.”



According to the report, Senate investigators discovered millions of dollars in “questionable financial transactions” involving Hunter Biden, his associates, and foreign individuals. These transactions included dealings with the wife of the former mayor of Moscow and individuals connected to the Chinese Communist Party.



And what about the separate whistleblower allegation that the FBI and the Justice Department have a document that describes a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions?



Or the whistleblower allegations suggesting that the FBI had significant and impactful evidence regarding potential criminal conduct related to Hunter’s work with Burisma Holdings?



I guess that’s all “resolved” too.



Once again, the party that consistently complains about the two-tiered system of justice is the one that uses it most effectively.



So Hunter Biden gets away with a slap on the wrist for tax and gun charges, and the media will close the book and report that “justice has been served.”



Jonathan Turley put it best when he said, “I think for many this is going to look like you ticketed the getaway driver after a bank robbery.


link

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Even CBS Admits Truth About Hunter Biden Case, It's Not Looking Good for Them



By Warner Todd Huston

June 20, 2023 at 2:31pm


Democrats are widely claiming that these small charges and sparse punishments Hunter Biden just pleaded guilty to is the “end” of the troubles he is facing. But even CBS News is warning that this may not be altogether true.



Early on Tuesday, it was reported that President Joe Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, had reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would deliver scant consequences for a few of the crimes that he is accused of committing.



Hunter pleaded guilty to two federal charges of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes, according to a court filing submitted Tuesday by federal prosecutors.



Citing what it said were sources who had seen the full plea agreement, NBC News claimed that U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss will recommend that Hunter Biden be sentenced to probation for the two tax crimes.



The reports also say that Biden is entering a pretrial diversion agreement to resolve the charge of illegal possession of a gun by a drug user or drug addict.



If he remains drug-free for two years and agrees to never own a gun again, the gun charge will be erased from his record, The New York Times reported.



Chris Clark, Hunter Biden’s criminal defense lawyer, has insisted that these deals mean that “the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”



Democrats are touting the plea deals Hunter made as evidence that the investigations into his activities are now over and that it proves he has been held accountable for his actions. CNN’s Dana Bash, for instance, claimed that the plea deals prove that there isn’t a “two-tiered justice system” where regular Americans and Republicans are sent to jail for decades for the least violations and Democrats — especially those named Biden — are given the least possible punishments for everything, and that is if they are even prosecuted at all.



So, don’t you worry America.


Yet, even these little slaps on Hunter’s wrists don’t quite square with Joe Biden’s constant proclamations that Hunter “did nothing wrong.”



You may remember this proclamation:







It all begs the question, if Hunter “did nothing wrong,” Joe, why is your son making plea deals?



Regardless, not everyone agrees that the Hunter plea deals are justice well served.



Tucker Carlson, for one, shredded these sweetheart deals in episode 5 of his Twitter series.

Even CBS has admitted that Hunter may not quite be out of the woods on these investigations into his probable criminal behavior.



Left-wing reporter Catherine Herridge hit the air on Tuesday and insisted that “This may just be the beginning.”



“I can tell you having covered this for several years, now, that this is likely to be a very controversial plea agreement,” Herridge said during a special report on the news of Hunter’s deals. “Especially with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Over the last few years — not only in the House but in the Senate — their investigators have raised very serious questions about these business deals with Chinese nationals as well as this Ukraine energy firm, Burisma. And then more recently we’ve had whistleblowers come forward — an IRS whistleblower spoke on the record with CBS News — as well as whistleblowers from the Justice Department had gone to Capitol Hill complaining that this investigation has been slow walked, and that standard investigative procedures have not been followed.”



“So, this may just be the beginning of the story in many respects,” Herridge concluded.

Certainly, it remains to be seen if these investigations into Hunter Biden will fade away resulting in no serious consequences and if these light slaps on his wrist will remain his only comeuppance. But there are far more serious charges lurking that may be filed against him in the near future.

We shall have to wait and see if there really is a two-tiered justice system after all.


link

[schwartzie]

Conservatives Slam DOJ’s ‘Sweetheart Plea Deal’ for Hunter Biden: ‘Two-Tiered Justice System’


NICK GILBERTSON
20 Jun 2023



Conservatives blasted the “sweetheart plea deal” federal prosecutors have given to Hunter Biden, where he will plead guilty to two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax” and enter a “pretrial diversion program” for a firearm offense.



The deal indicates that Hunter Biden will not face prison time, as Breitbart News Senior Editor Joel Pollak noted.



Former President Donald Trump likened the punishment to a “traffic ticket” in a Truth Social post this morning.

truthsocial.com/@realdonaldtrump/110576886163364876



“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.



The deal comes exactly a week after Trump was arraigned on 37 counts relating to classified documents he allegedly took to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency. If convicted on all counts and a judge imposes the maximum sentence for each count consecutively, he could face 400 years in prison, Pollak reported.



The 45th president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., also weighed in, tweeting that the deal “reeks of favoritism and brazenly reveals a system where there are two-tiers of Justice.”

“If you are a Republican, Biden’s DOJ will throw the book at you and try to put you in prison for 100 years, but if you happen to have the right last name like Hunter, they will protect you and treat you with kid gloves,” he added.



Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, tweeted that the “sweetheart plea deal” is “an ‘in-your-face’ show of contempt for the rule of law.” He asserted that it “Avoids prosecutions tied to foreign bribery and Joe.”

Dr. Sebatsian Gorka agreed with Fitton that it is a “sweetheart plea deal from his Daddy’s DoJ and IRS.”



BREAKING



Hunter Biden gets sweetheart plea deal from his Daddy’s DoJ and IRS.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy contended the deal is “a feigned retreat & reveals they’re even more scared than ever of scrutiny for the real crimes.”

Conservative social media influencer Rogan O’Handly quipped, “Boy it sure pays to have your daddy in the Oval Office.”

Businessman Bernie Moreno, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, suggested any other American would receive a harsher punishment on the same charges.

“Instead of receiving the punishment any other American would receive, he gets a slap on the wrist,” Moreno wrote. “America gets another slap on the face as they see a two tiered justice system.”



Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who has endorsed Moreno, also asserted the deal signals a “disgrace[ful]” double standard of the law.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) shared the same sentiment, tweeting that “if anyone without the Biden last name engaged in even a fraction of Hunter’s misconduct, they’d face real consequences.”

Biden's son got a sweetheart deal for laundering money, accepting millions in bribes, committing gun crimes, and evading taxes & child support.


Journalist Jack Posobiec noted news of the deal comes the same day Trump’s trial date has been “fast-tracked” in the classified documents case.

GOP lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rick Scott (R-FL) pointed to what they see as disparities in how Biden’s DOJ handled this case versus how it is pursuing charges against Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate.

“So Hunter Biden gets a special plea deal, slap on the wrist – probably won’t do a day of time – while DOJ charges Trump as a spy and tries to put him in prison forever,” Hawley tweeted. “Two standards of “justice”

“A slap on the wrist for Hunter Biden while ‘The Big Guy’ continues to hunt down his top political opponent,” Scott wrote in a tweet. “This doesn’t show equal justice. It’s a mockery of our legal system by a family that has no respect for our laws.”

Watch — Marsha Blackburn: Trump Indictment Exposes Two-Tiered Justice System



Video at link

[Honoria]

Former Dem Senator Goes on TV, Breaks Down Defending Hunter Biden: 'Back Off!'



By C. Douglas Golden

June 21, 2023 at 6:15am

On Tuesday, Hunter Biden — a man who was facing down criminal allegations that have sent less-connected defendants to prison for years — agreed to a sweetheart deal with federal prosecutors in which he’ll only have to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax and gun charges.



This, naturally, attracted the ire of Republicans, who noted that while Attorney General Merrick Garland and his Department of Justice are engaged in multifarious witch-hunts against conservatives and conservative causes — including having a special counsel indict President Joe Biden’s top political rival — they don’t seem to be incredibly interested in the fact that the president’s son didn’t pay taxes on income he earned primarily from grifting off his last name and lied on a federal firearms form to illegally obtain a gun while he was a drug-fueled wreck.



But to all of those who smell something rotten in the residence of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., a teary-eyed former Democrat senator has a message for you: “Back off!”



On Tuesday, the lachrymose former Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, now an MSNBC political analyst, chastised Republicans for insisting Hunter be held to account for crimes he allegedly committed while under the influence of drugs and alcohol — and to which he pleaded guilty, according to Reuters — the way others who commit crimes under the influence of drugs and alcohol are held responsible for their actions.



“I don’t know what America they live in. And I don’t know how they sleep at night,” McCaskill said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.”



Trending: Biden's Armed IRS Agents are Already Making Raids, GOP Congressman Demands Answers

“Alcoholism and addiction are probably the most pervasive diseases in America. I don’t know of one family that hasn’t been touched by the pain of these diseases. And it’s particularly painful when you have someone you love unconditionally that is suffering from these diseases,” she continued.



“I think Joe Biden has shown a wonderful role model to the country about unconditional love. What do these jerks in the House want Joe Biden to do? Throw him out? Refuse to speak to him? Say he doesn’t love him publicly? Do they not understand this disease and how it works?”



I dunno, perhaps the Big Guy might have requested that his son take responsibility for not paying taxes in 2017 and 2018 and lying on a federal background check form to purchase a firearm — which, according to Reuters, is what he pleaded guilty to on Tuesday.



While the specifics of the tax cases were a bit hazy, the gun charge was straightforward: Biden said on the form that he was not an addict or user of illegal or controlled substances when he purchased the weapon; in his autobiography, he confirmed that during this period, he was a crack-and-alcohol-addled mess. Addiction or not, it’s a crime to lie on a form to get a gun you don’t have the legal right to purchase.


And it’s a crime other defendants — who aren’t the son of the president — have gone to prison for.



However, McCaskill — looking every bit like she was on the edge of an emotional breakdown — said Hunter Biden “has gone through recovery under the brightest lights imaginable, and recovery is not easy for anybody. I—he’s being held accountable for bad judgments he made, and he should be. But the point is that he now has to stay sober in order to avoid a felony. And he has been treated as he should under the law.


“Everyone should understand here that this man, this has paid a very high price for his addiction in the public arena,” McCaskill said. “And by the way, everybody needs to back off Joe Biden about this. He loves his son. Back off!



“It is OK for him to love his son. And there’s nothing wrong with it. They have no evidence of any kind of wrongdoing by Joe Biden, and it infuriates me that they’re using this heartbreak against Joe Biden in this way. It’s just not right.”



Related: Former Dem Senator Floats Deranged Theory: GOP Will Empower Vigilantes to Round Up Foreigners

As misguided, impassioned defenses of questionable characters go, this isn’t exactly “Leave Britney Alone” — but McCaskill was, not too long ago, a member of the Senate; she lost her seat in 2018, during the Trump administration.



(During that campaign, she attempted to appeal to Show Me state voters by claiming she wasn’t one of the “crazy Democrats.” She’s showing otherwise, now.)



I know, I know, we play the switcharoo game quite frequently as conservatives and it gets us nowhere, but it does lay bare how idiotic McCaskill’s defense — which was materially similar to what other Democrats are saying, just more needlessly emotive — really is.



Say any one of the Trump kids was a wastoid polysubstance addict who didn’t pay his taxes and lied about his sobriety to obtain a firearm. Let’s also say he was shown fooling around with the firearm during a romp with a prostitute, as pictures on Hunter’s laptop show. Would this be the tune Claire McCaskill would be singing: a paean to Donald Trump’s fatherly love in getting his addicted son help as the Department of Justice, which just happens to be under his direct control, gave him a sweetheart plea deal?



You can be sober as a Tibetan monk or as blasted as Hunter S. Thompson. The law still requires you to be responsible for your actions. Can addiction be considered a mitigating factor? Sure. Can it make crimes just go away? No, in italics.



And, as former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy noted in a piece at National Review, this plea deal was unusually generous.



“Under Justice Department policy, even with a plea agreement, the government is supposed to seek a plea to the ‘most serious,’ readily provable ‘offense that is consistent with the nature and full extent of the defendant’s conduct,'” McCarthy noted.



“Hunter Biden committed tax offenses that could have been charged as evasion, which is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment for each count. Furthermore, he made a false statement that enabled him to obtain a firearm; that’s a ten-year felony under legislation pushed through by then-senator Joe Biden to show how very serious Democrats are about gun crime.



“Biden apologists have tried to minimize that transaction as a ‘lie and try’ case, which they say is often not prosecuted. But such non-prosecution (though it shouldn’t happen) occurs because of what you’d infer from the ‘try’ part — i.e., the liar got caught and failed to obtain the gun. Hunter’s case, to the contrary, is a lie and succeed case. He got the gun.” [Emphasis in the original.]



And yet, he got no jail time. But no matter: Back off, wicked Republicans! How dare you demand Hunter Biden be sent to prison for being an addict? And, um, the other stuff he did. But forget about that.



This is all about addiction, as far as Claire McCaskill is concerned. And if you don’t drop it immediately, she’s really going to let the tears loose.

Video at link

[Midnight]

He "loves his son?" The Bible says a man who loves his son rebukes and corrects him, not is his partner in crime! 


MSNBC’s McCaskill to GOP: ‘Back Off Joe Biden,’ He Loves His Son

136

PAM KEY
21 Jun 2023


MSNBC political analyst Claire McCaskill said Tuesday on “Deadline” that House Republicans criticizing President Joe Biden after his son, Hunter Biden, reached a plea deal with the Department of Justice needed to “back off.”



When asked about Republican lawmakers comments on the plea deal, McCaskill said, “I don’t know what America they live in and I don’t know how they sleep at night. Alcoholism and addiction are probably the most pervasive diseases in America. I don’t know of one family that hasn’t been touched by the pain of these diseases. And it’s particularly painful when you have someone you love unconditionally that is suffering from these diseases.”



She continued, “What do these jerks in the House want Joe Biden to do? For now, refuse to speak to him so he doesn’t love him publicly? Do they not understand this disease and how it works? Hunter Biden has gone to recovery under the brightest lights imaginable, and recovery is not easy for anybody.”



McCaskill added, “And by the way, everybody needs to back off Joe Biden about this. He loves his son. Back off! It is okay for him to love his son and there’s nothing wrong with it. They have no evidence of any kind of wrongdoing by Joe Biden. And it infuriates me that they’re using this heartbreak against Joe Biden in this way. It’s just not right.


link

[schwartzie]

DOJ Tipped Off Hunter Biden Before a Search of His Storage Unit, IRS Whistleblowers Say (VIDEO)

By Jim Hoft J
un. 22, 2023 4:00 pm





This is the biggest coverup of the most criminal political family in U.S. history.



A recent executive meeting of the Ways and Means Committee resulted in a decision to release to the public testimony from two whistleblowers. The whistleblowers, both IRS employees, made shocking revelations about misconduct and abuse of power by Biden’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) during the investigation of Hunter Biden’s tax evasion case.



The whistleblowers claim that the Department of Justice (DOJ) tipped off Hunter Biden prior to a federal search of his storage unit.



The information revealed during the Ways and Means Committee’s executive meeting shows that Hunter Biden appears to have received preferential treatment in the investigation of his tax crimes.



Beef Company CEO: “I’ll Shut Down the Company Before We Ship a Single Bag With mRNA-Injected Meat”



Despite IRS officials recommending that Hunter Biden be charged with criminal activity for attempts to evade or defeat taxes, fraud and false statements, and willful failures to file returns, supply information, or pay taxes for over $8.3 million in income, the testimony alleges that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment during the investigation.



Further allegations point to the DOJ interfering in the investigation, deploying a strategy of “Delay, Divulge, and Deny” to shield Hunter Biden, according to the news committee’s press release.



Delays in the investigation were allegedly unjustified and pervasive, the DOJ was accused of divulging information about the investigation to Hunter Biden’s lawyers in advance, and there were several denials of attempts to bring charges or achieve special counsel status from the DOJ.



The Department of Justice interfered in the investigation into Hunter Biden’s clear tax issues with a “Delay, Divulge, and Deny” campaign – that ultimately shielded him by allowing the statute of limitations to pass on his tax crimes.



DELAY: Recurring unjustified delays pervaded the investigation, including in authenticating the message between Hunter Biden and Chinese officials. Investigators were told by U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that “there is no way” a search warrant for evidence would get approved because the evidence of interest would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden.

DIVULGE: Investigators found out that attorneys for Hunter Biden were tipped off about actions relating to the investigation in advance. For example, even as investigators had probable cause to search a Northern Virginia storage unit in which Hunter Biden had stored files, attorneys for Biden were tipped off.

DENY: U.S. Attorney of Delaware David Weiss tried to bring charges in District of Columbia around March 2022 and was denied. Weiss sought special counsel status from DOJ in the Spring of 2022 and was denied. Weiss sought to bring charges in the Central District of California in the Fall of 2022 and had that request denied in January 2023.

The testimony also details the retaliation against IRS employees who blew the whistle on this misconduct. These employees reportedly faced hostility after raising concerns up their chain of command. Actions were taken to cut the IRS investigative team out of the process, and in some cases, unrelated investigations were hampered with limits and pauses. The whistleblowers and their entire team were eventually removed from the investigation on May 15, 2023, after blowing the whistle to Congress.



The testimony of two whistleblowers puts the DOJ and IRS under intense scrutiny and highlights the urgent need for investigation and accountability within these agencies.



WATCH:



BREAKING: The DOJ allegedly tipped off Hunter Biden before a search was conducted on his storage unit & stopped an investigation into “a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden demands payment from Chinese officials, noting that his father is in the room.”



Holy s***!!… pic.twitter.com/Zq9gVe5Id1



— Collin Rugg (@collinrugg) June 22, 2023



Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement:



“Today, the Ways and Means Committee voted to make public the testimony of IRS employees blowing the whistle on misconduct at the IRS and the Biden Department of Justice regarding unequal enforcement of tax law, interference and government abuse in the handling of investigations into criminal activity by President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and retaliation against IRS employees blowing the whistle on this abuse.



“The American people deserve to know that when it comes to criminal enforcement, they are not on the same playing field as thewealthy and politically connected class. The preferential treatment Hunter Biden received would never have been granted to ordinary Americans.



“Whistleblowers describe how the Biden Justice Department intervened and overstepped in a campaign to protect the son of Joe Biden by delaying, divulging, and denying an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes. The testimony shows tactics used by the Justice Department to delay the investigation long enough to reach the statute of limitations, evidence they divulged sensitive actions by the investigative team to Biden’s attorneys, and denied requests by the U.S. Attorney to bring charges against Biden.



“IRS employees who blew the whistle on this abuse were retaliated against, despite a commitment IRS Commissioner Werfel made before the Ways and Means Committee to uphold their legal protections. They were removed from this investigation after they responsibly worked through the chain of command to raise these concerns.



“The Committee has acted in good faith with participation from both Democrats and Republicans, as the issues raised today ought to be a bipartisan concern. Hopefully we can find a path forward to continue to go where the facts lead us. If the federal government is not treating all taxpayers equally, or if it is changing the rules to engineer a preferred outcome, Congress has a duty to ask why and to hold agencies accountable and consider appropriate legislative action. The scales of justice must not be skewed in favor of the wealthy and the politically connected.”



The transcripts for the whistleblower testimony are posted below via Ways and Means Committee:



Whistleblower #1 redacted transcript

Whistleblower #1 redacted affidavit

Whistleblower #2 redacted transcript

Whistleblower #2 redacted supplemental submission

June 7, 2023 letter


At link

[schwartzie]

Biden Ignores Question on Son Hunter Sweetheart Deal and ‘Two-Tier Justice System’ As the Reporter’s Microphone is Cut! (VIDEO)

By Cristina LailaJun. 22, 2023 2:41 pm



Joe Biden on Thursday held a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Modi.



Of course Biden called on a list of pre-approved reporters.



After mumbling through remarks and reading his answers, Biden shuffled away from the lectern.



A reporter shouted a question about Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal.



Conservatives Are Looking For Ways To Boycott and Move Spending Away From Woke Corporations -- Here Is One Way To Do It



Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges and a ‘gun charge’ after a five year investigation.



“Hunter Biden received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018. Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year,” David Weiss’s office said in a statement on Monday.



Prosecutors ignored Hunter Biden’s tax evasion on income he earned from 2014 to 2016.



Hunter will avoid prison time after he got a sweetheart deal from his father’s corrupt Justice Department.



“What’s your response to Republicans who say your son got special treatment? Do we have a two-tier system of justice?” a reporter shouted at Joe Biden.



The reporter’s microphone was cut!



Biden ignored the question and shuffled away.



WATCH:




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[Midnight]

Dershowitz: Hunter Plea Deal Can’t Be Accepted As Is, ‘We Can’t Trust’ This DOJ and Weiss Has Too Many ‘Restrictions’


IAN HANCHETT
19 Jul 2023
1:56

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Harvard Law Professor and Newsmax Legal Analyst Alan Dershowitz stated that we cannot trust the Department of Justice “to investigate the son of the man who appointed everybody in the Justice Department” and U.S. Attorney David Weiss “is not able to do the job with the restrictions that have been placed on him.” Dershowitz also argued that Hunter Biden’s plea deal shouldn’t be accepted without investigating what kind of jurisdiction Weiss had.



Dershowitz said, “Weiss is not able to do the job with the restrictions that have been placed on him. We need to either give him the status of a special prosecutor, an independent prosecutor or create one. We can’t trust this Justice Department to investigate the son of the man who appointed everybody in the Justice Department, even if they didn’t — if he didn’t technically appoint this person. The American people have no faith in Weiss. They have no faith in the Justice Department. They have no faith that we’re seeing administration of justice fairly.”



He continued, “It’s not going to work to have the Democrats investigate the Republicans, the Republicans investigate the Democrats. We need somebody of extraordinary credibility, with no limitations on his authority, to look into all of these issues and tell the American people, look, this is the truth, the nonpartisan, the objective truth.”



Dershowitz further stated that there is a huge problem with merging the politically-appointed Attorney General and prosecution.



Dershowitz added, “I hope the judge doesn’t accept the plea bargain…without asking questions about who’s telling the truth regarding the jurisdiction of Weiss. The plea bargain may be based on an incomplete investigation and not in the interests of justice.

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[schwartzie]

Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal Falls Apart in Court: ‘Dead and off the Table’

David Hawkins
July 26, 2023 - 12:20 pm


Hunter Biden’s cushy plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) unexpectedly crumbled during an initial hearing on the case on Wednesday.



Hunter is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.



He was expected to get a slap on the wrist as part of the plea deal to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.



But U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, expressed concerns about the terms of the agreement, according to CNN and the Associated Press.



NBC reported lawyers for both sides were continuing to huddle nearly two hours after the plea hearing began.



Fox News is reporting that Judge Noreika “pressed federal prosecutors on the investigation and questioned whether there was the possibility for future charges.”



CNN is reporting that the “sweetheart deal” is now “dead and off the table” after Hunter’s lawyers said they wouldn’t sign the agreement if there was any chance of FARA charges coming later.



WATCH:

As Slay News reported earlier, Judge Noreika also threatened to sanction Biden’s lawyers for lying to the court.



Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, tried to scuttle Hunter’s plea deal by adding recent claims from IRS whistleblowers to the file.



“The Defendant appears to have benefited from political interference which calls into question the propriety of the investigation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Smith’s attorney wrote in a court filing, which went on to say, “it is critical that the Court consider the Whistleblower Materials before determining whether to accept the Plea Agreement


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[Honoria]

Is this guy for real? They have undisputable PROOF!!! SMH...


Hunter Biden Pleads Not Guilty After Plea Deal Falls Apart


WENDELL HUSEBØ
26 Jul 2023

Hunter Biden pled not guilty on Wednesday to gun and tax charges, refusing to accept a new plea deal laid out by prosecutors.



The original plea deal fell apart after the judge questioned if it covered future potential charges of the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation. The prosecution reportedly said the deal did not include any alleged Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations.



MSNBC reported the court took a ten-minute recess to determine if the two parties could quickly come to an agreement. When the deal got back on track, reports indicated it would “be more limited in scope,” only including specific charges related to tax and gun wronging. “The two sides have agreed that this deal does not shield him from potential future charges,” CNN reported.



But the judge said she was not ready to accept the plea deal and asked both the prosecutor and Hunter Biden to submit additional briefs, according to reporters inside the courthouse. The parties will have to return to court in the future.



The hearing ended with Hunter Biden pleading not guilty.



Sen. Josh Hawley told CNN the high court drama shows the plea “sweetheart” deal was flawed, and additional charges could be brought:



It’s very telling that the judge intervened here and said basically, ‘No, I’m not going to approve some sweeping blanket deal.’ … I mean, that tells you the court has serious concerns about other potential charges here, and also the scope of the deal, which has seemed outrageous from the beginning.



“This, I think, signals that they’re [sic] still very much potential for prosecution forward,” he added.



U.S. prosecutor David Weiss admitted in July that the FBI informant form alleging the Biden family bribes is part of an ongoing investigation.



Last month, Chris Clark, Hunter Biden’s attorney, appeared to have a different understanding of the status of the case. He said the plea deal meant no further charges in the future could be brought outside the of it.

What the deal includes and excludes is important because of IRS whistleblower allegations. They contend FARA violations were a part of the Hunter Biden criminal probe, warranting a special counsel.



As Breitbart News reported, CEFC China Energy Co., a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), paid Hunter Biden a $1 million legal retainer and $3.8 million in consulting fees. Two months later, Hunter Biden told whistleblower Tony Bobulinski that he did not want to register as a foreign agent on behalf of CEFC.



In addition, Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company, from which he earned $83,000 a month. During that relationship, Hunter Biden was possibly involved in a phone call between then-Vice President Joe Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, a National Archives email shows.



Poroshenko was the Ukrainian politician that fired a prosecutor probing Burisma, and Joe Biden later bragged about the firing.


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[Honoria]

Report: Plea Deal Would Have Given Hunter Biden Immunity ‘in Perpetuity’


KRISTINA WONG
26 Jul 2023

The plea deal struck between federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden’s defense team that fell apart in court Wednesday would have given the first son “broad immunity from prosecution in perpetuity,” according to a report from the courtroom.



The New York Times‘s Glenn Thrush reported Wednesday that the unusual plea deal had “offered Hunter Biden broad immunity from prosecution in perpetuity.”



Thrush reported that Judge Maryellen Noreika was highly skeptical of the plea deal, “questioning why it had been filed under a provision that gave her no legal authority to reject it.”



“When she asked Leo Wise, a prosecutor, if there was any precedent for the kind of deal being proposed, he replied, ‘No, your honor,'” Thrush reported.



Noreika also questioned the discrepancy between Hunter Biden’s lawyers “repeatedly” casting the deal as the “final chapter of the five-year inquiry” into Hunter and the government’s position that the Biden investigation was “ongoing.”



Wise confirmed that the investigation was “ongoing” and said that if Biden’s team thought otherwise, “Then there’s no deal.”

The failed plea deal involved Hunter Biden pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax violations and entering a pretrial diversion program for a gun charge to avoid jail time.

The deal fell apart after Noreika questioned if it meant that Biden would be immune from prosecution for other potential crimes in perpetuity, including, for example, not properly registering as a foreign agent.



After Wise confirmed that the investigation would not give Biden immunity in perpetuity, Biden’s lead lawyer, Chris Clark, called the agreement “null and void.”



Clark then reportedly asked for a recess to try to salvage the deal.



One prominent criminal defense attorney opined that a deal “not enforceable by a court” had been made under the table.



“Whatever happened in the Hunter Biden case wasn’t based on what was filed publicly. The fallout was due to something that the parties had agreed to privately, something that was not enforceable by a court. This is shady [as f*ck],” Marina Medvin tweeted.

She added, “There is no way that the feds gave Hunter blanket immunity and a global plea deal but then failed to write it down. But the defense lawyers seem to have believed there was some kind of promise made under the table.

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[maybetoday]

Judge Sets ‘Conditions of Release’ For Hunter Biden – Orders Him to Get a Job, Submit to Drug Testing – READ THE FULL LIST HERE

By Cristina Laila Jul. 26, 2023 3:20 pm

Hunter Biden arrived at court today in Delaware to agree to a sweetheart deal by the Biden Department of Justice on his years of criminal drug use, trafficking prostitutes, and multi-million dollar pay-for-play and bribery schemes with foreign officials from China, Ukraine, Romania, etc.

Hunter was only charged with two misdemeanors related to tax fraud and he will avoid prison time on the gun charge.

According to the DOJ’s sweetheart deal, Hunter Biden would receive immunity from future charges.

This is unprecedented.

The judge was not having it!

Prosecutors tried to quietly slip immunity into Hunter’s plea deal so the deal blew up on Wednesday.

Hunter pleaded not guilty to the charges so the case is ongoing.

Delaware judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, set new ‘conditions of release’ for Hunter Biden.

If Hunter does not comply with any part of the judge’s order, he can be arrested.

HUNTER IS REQUIRED TO:

1) NOT possess a firearm

2) NOT use or possess any controlled substances (including marijuana) unless prescribed

3) Submit to full federal supervision

4) NO use of alcohol AT ALL

5) Seek active employment

6) Submit to testing for prohibited substances

7) Participate in substance abuse therapy

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATING COULD INCLUDE:

1) Immediate issuance of an arrest warrant

2) Revocation of release

3) Forfeiture of bond

4) Prosecution for contempt of court

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[maybetoday]

NO DEAL! HUNTER PLEA DEAL FALLS APART! – ACCORDING TO PROSECUTORS THE AGREEMENT IS “NULL AND VOID” – NEW DEAL LIMITED IN SCOPE

By Jim Hoft
. 26, 2023 10:42 am
NO DEAL!



NO DEAL! Hunter Biden deal was called off following disclosure of many crimes.

According to CNN reporter Kara Scannell: “Hunter’s attorneys said the plea agreement as they understand it is now null and void.”



“The deal appears to be dead and off the table…one thing we’ve learned is that this investigation very much is still ongoing.”

CNN reported:



JUST IN: Hunter Biden plea deal has fallen apart


From CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Marshall Cohen, Kara Scannell, Holmes Lybrand



There is no Hunter Biden plea deal, according to the prosecutors and the defense.



President Joe Biden’s son had been expected to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors.



More from MSNBC:

More from CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins.

Here is the live stream from outside the court:







This is a developing story. Check back for updates.



UPDATE: The new deal is limited in scope — DOES NOT SHIELD HIM FROM FUTURE CHARGES.



CNN reported:



The Hunter Biden plea proceedings have restarted and the president’s son has agreed to a limited agreement that covers 2014 to 2019 and only includes conduct related to tax offenses, drug use and gun possession.



President Joe Biden’s son will still plead guilty to the tax misdemeanors for 2017 and 2018, but the agreement will also cover his tax-related conduct for the three years prior.



The two sides have agreed that this deal does not shield him from potential future charges.



The proceedings are ongoing.



More…

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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Hunter Biden set to plead guilty to tax charges — as lawyer tries to pull dirty trick ahead of court appearance


First son Hunter Biden’s legal team appeared to pull a dirty trick Tuesday to block the release of damning evidence ahead of his expected guilty plea to federal charges of tax evasion and weapons crimes.



The drama began in the morning when the House Ways and Means Committee filed an amicus brief to Delaware US District Judge Maryellen Noreika arguing that the 53-year-old had benefited from “political interference which calls into question the propriety of the investigation” into alleged crimes including money laundering, felony tax evasion and failure to register as a foreign agent.



The filing included testimony by two IRS whistleblowers who sat for transcribed interviews on May 26 and June 1.



What happened next was outlined in a letter sent to the judge Tuesday afternoon by the committee’s top lawyer, Theodore Kittila.


“t approximately 1:30 p.m., we received word that our filing was removed from the docket,” Kittila said. “We promptly contacted the Clerk’s office, and we were advised that someone contacted the Court representing that they worked with my office [emphasis original] and that they were asking the Court to remove this from the docket. We immediately advised that this was inaccurate. The Clerk’s Office responded that we would need to re-file. We have done so now.”



Kittila included email exchanges with court officials and Hunter Biden’s attorneys in the fresh filing.


Hunter faces testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who sat for transcribed interviews concerning his willing failure to pay income taxes.

AP

“Hi Ted, Following up on our recent telephone conversation, the woman who called was a Jessica Bengels,” confirmed court official Samantha Grimes. “… She said she worked with Theodore Kittila and it was important the document was removed immediately or they could file a motion to seal. I do deeply apologize for all the confusion on our part.”



Bengels is the director of litigation services at the New York-based law firm of Latham & Watkins, where Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark was formerly a partner.



When Kittila confronted the first son’s legal team, Hunter’s attorneys tried to claim the filing contained confidential tax and identifying information, even though the whistleblower testimony has been public for more than a month.




Law enforcement officers secured the area before Hunter’s arrival to plead guilty in federal court.

REUTERS

The time stamps from the emails also indicated the request to take the document down was made after Kittila refused a request to file the testimony under seal.



“As far as I am aware, the managing attorney from Latham called the clerk’s office to note that personal tax information of the defendant had been filed in a non reacted [sic] manner and to inquire regarding having the information sealed, as we told you we would and as you said you understood,” Clark wrote. “As far as I am aware the clerk took the filing down on their own accord. Your attempts to publicly file my client’s personal financial information with no protection ls [sic] are improper, illegal, and in violation of applicable rules … We will seek all appropriate sanctions in response to your actions.”


“You should probably take a step back from your statements,” Kittila warned. “The clerk’s office advised that it was represented to her that the request was being made by my firm. We will be advising Judge Noreika of this improper conduct.”



“I stand by all of my statements and I hope you have an affidavit from the clerk in support of yours,” Clark replied.



Theodore Kittila

Theodore Kittila included email exchanges with court officials and Hunter Biden’s attorneys in the fresh filing.

HALLORAN FARKAS + KITTILA LLP

In an evening order, Noreika gave Hunter’s attorneys until 9 p.m. to “show cause as to why sanctions should not be considered for misrepresentations to the Court” — while noting they had not formally filed any request to seal evidence in the matter.



However, she also ordered the filing sealed until the close of business Wednesday.



“We filed what was already public (voted out by Congress) as something for the judge to be aware of,” Ways and Means Committee spokesperson JP Freire told The Post. “They then misrepresented themselves to get it taken down.”



Shortly before 9 p.m., Bengels submitted an affidavit in which she blamed a miscommunication among the clerks for the removal of the Ways and Means filing.



“I am completely confident that I never indicated that I was calling from Mr. Kittila’s firm or that I worked with him in any way,” she said. “The only mention of his name was when [the clerk] had asked me if the filings had been entered by Mr. Kittila’s firm and I answered that I believed that to be the case.”



Judge Maryellen Noreika

The House Ways and Means Committee filed an amicus brief to Judge Maryellen Noreika arguing that Biden benefited from “political interference which calls into question the propriety of the investigation” into alleged crimes.

United States District Court for the District of Delaware


In a letter to the judge, Hunter’s lawyers said: “We have no idea how the misunderstanding occurred, but our understanding is there was no misrepresentation.



“We hope this letter and the attached declaration dispels any suggestion that undersigned counsel or our staff would ever intentionally misrepresent or mislead the Court with respect to any matter,” the defense team added.



It remains unclear whether the controversy will affect Noreika’s decision about whether to accept the first son’s plea, which Republicans have derided as a “sweetheart” deal.



This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.


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[schwartzie]

Probably needed a fix. 


Report: Hunter Biden Appeared Agitated, Worried as Plea Deal Fell Apart


WENDELL HUSEBØ
27 Jul 2023

Hunter Biden reportedly appeared “agitated” and “worried” as his original plea deal fell apart in court on Wednesday.



The president’s son entered the courtroom with hopes the judge would approve his “sweetheart” plea deal with the Justice Department (DOJ). As he walked into the courtroom, Hunter Biden drew a deep breath and bolted to greet the prosecutors with “handshakes” and a “smile,” the New York Times reported.



Hunter Biden’s prosecutors investigated him for five years before leveling charges of tax and gun violations. In June, Hunter Biden agreed to a plea deal that his lawyers believed would keep him out of prison and immunized from further legal action.



U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika asked the defense and the prosecutors specific questions about the plea deal. Disputes arose about what exactly it entailed. Both the prosecutors and the defense tried to save the original deal.



As the deal broke down, Hunter Biden “appeared agitated and worried,” CNN reported. The judge ultimately tabled the deal and requested additional specifics.



The hearing produced significant information previously unconfirmed, appearing to anger both the defense and the prosecution, according to reporters in the courtroom.



Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, admitted the president’s son received $664,000 from CEFC China Energy Co. in 2017, directly contradicting President Joe Biden’s claim that Hunter Biden never received money from a Chinese entity.



He also confirmed additional income from Hunter Biden’s business ventures, including $500,000 in director’s fees from his ventures with Burisma Holdings, a company whose executive told an FBI informant he bribed Hunter and Joe Biden each with $5 million.


Hunter Biden told the judge he last “used, ingested,” or was “under the influence of any drug, legal or illegal, medication, or alcoholic beverage” in June 2019.  LIAR!!!!link


He also said he was admitted to practice law in Washington, DC, and Connecticut, despite his illicit activity.



In addition, the judge revealed she did not have time to review the IRS whistleblower testimony provided in a brief by the House Ways and Means Committee. She said the new information might “cast doubt” on the DOJ’s probe into Hunter Biden.



The brief and the judge’s lack of time to review it before the hearing are notable. The original plea deal fell apart after the judge questioned if it covered future potential charges of the DOJ’s ongoing investigation. The prosecution said the deal did not include any potential future Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) charges against Hunter Biden.

[maybetoday]

Details of Hunter Biden’s Collapsed Plea Deal Released: Blanket Immunity Hidden in Paragraph 15 of Pre-Trial Diversion Agreement

By Cristina Laila
Jul. 27, 2023 5:10 pm



Details of Hunter Biden’s collapsed plea deal were released and it is much worse than what is being reported by the liars in the mainstream media.



On Wednesday Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the shameless sweetheart plea deal for Hunter Biden.



Hunter was only charged with two misdemeanors related to tax fraud and he will avoid prison time on a felony gun charge.



According to the DOJ’s sweetheart deal, Hunter Biden would receive blanket immunity from future charges.


The sweetheart deal fell apart and Hunter Biden ended up pleading not guilty to the charges.



Former Assistant US Attorney, Will Scharf, broke down the DOJ’s sneaky sweetheart plea deal – and the sweetest part of the deal, the ‘blanket immunity,’ wasn’t even in the plea agreement!



Hunter Biden’s blanket immunity was hidden in paragraph 15 of the Pre-trial Diversion Agreement on the felony gun charge.



“In Hunter’s case, according to what folks in the courtroom have told me, Hunter’s plea was structured under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(B), which is usually just a plea in return for a joint sentencing recommendation only, and contained no information on its face about other potential charges, and contained no clear agreement by DOJ to forego prosecution of other charges,” Will Scharf said.



“Instead, DOJ and Hunter’s lawyers effectively hid that part of the agreement in what was publicly described as a pretrial diversion agreement relating to a § 922(g)(3) gun charge against Hunter for being a drug user in possession of a firearm,” Scharf said.



The lawyers slipped Hunter’s blanket immunity in the pre-trial diversion agreement so the judge could not accept – or reject – the blanket immunity part of the deal.



However, the judge smelled a rat and blew up the entire plea deal!



“So they put the facts in the plea agreement, but put their non-prosecution agreement in the pretrial diversion agreement, effectively hiding the full scope of what DOJ was offering and Hunter was obtaining through these proceedings. Hunter’s upside from this deal was vast immunity from further prosecution if he finished a couple years of probation, and the public wouldn’t be any the wiser because none of this was clearly stated on the face of the plea agreement, as would normally be the case,’ Will Scharf said.

William Scharf joined Charlie Kirk to discuss the Biden DOJ’s unprecedented sweetheart deal and blanket immunity.



“What we saw with this Hunter Biden deal was an attempt by the DOJ and Hunter’s legal team to let him walk out of court with total immunity,” Will Scharf told Charlie Kirk.



WATCH:

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[schwartzie]

Report: Hunter Biden Heading for Trial; Sweetheart Plea Deal Abandoned

SIMON KENT
11 Aug 2023

Court papers revealed Friday the president’s son Hunter Biden’s tax and gun crimes case will now likely go to trial, with negotiations over a new sweetheart plea deal appearing to collapse.



The case will likely now be moved out of Delaware. The court papers indicated a plea deal had reached an “impasse” and the case is headed toward trial.



NBC News reported, “Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges related to his failure to pay income taxes earlier this year. But while standing in court last month waiting to enter the plea, the agreement fell apart over confusion about a separate gun charge.”



Lawyers for Hunter Biden had also indicated they believed the botched plea agreement would settle all matters facing the president’s son, but prosecutors said other investigations remain ongoing.

“After the hearing, the parties continued negotiating but reached an impasse. A trial is therefore in order,” prosecutors said in their Friday filing, the NBC News report sets out.



The White House declined comment, referring reporters to the Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s lawyers.

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[Honoria]

Pollak: Appointment of David Weiss as Special Counsel May Be Unlawful, Despite Precedent

JOEL B. POLLAK
11 Aug 2023

Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden contradicts federal regulations requiring that a special counsel be chosen from outside the government.



However, it would not be the first time that an Attorney General had ignored those regulations. In 2003, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed as Special Counsel in the Valerie Plame affair. He was appointed by Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who would later depart from procedure and regulations in announcing that Hillary Clinton would not be prosecuted. In 2020, Attorney General William Barr appointed John H. Durham as Special Counsel to investigate the Russia “collusion” hoax.



Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which deals with judicial administration, states in section 600.3(a) (emphasis added):



An individual named as Special Counsel shall be a lawyer with a reputation for integrity and impartial decisionmaking, and with appropriate experience to ensure both that the investigation will be conducted ably, expeditiously and thoroughly, and that investigative and prosecutorial decisions will be supported by an informed understanding of the criminal law and Department of Justice policies. The Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government. Special Counsels shall agree that their responsibilities as Special Counsel shall take first precedence in their professional lives, and that it may be necessary to devote their full time to the investigation, depending on its complexity and the stage of the investigation.



Weiss is currently a presidential appointee working in the U.S. government. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation of former President Donald Trump, had left the Department of Justice (DOJ) to work as the chief prosecutor for the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Special Counsel Robert Hur, who is investigating President Joe Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, had also left the DOJ and was working outside government at the time of his appointment last year.



However, as the Congressional Research Service (CRS) has noted, others have been appointed Special Counsel despite being U.S. Attorneys. (CRS quotes the regulations as saying the Attorney General “may,” not “shall,” choose from outside the government.)



In his brief statement on Weiss’s appointment, Garland claimed to have followed relevant regulations. He noted that Weiss “will continue to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware.” He did not elaborate on any contrast with DOJ regulations.


Republicans had long urged the appointment of a special counsel due to the evident conflict of interest in investigating the president’s son, who is alleged to have involved his father in his business activities (despite President Joe Biden’s denials).



However, the timing of the appointment drew criticism, as did the choice of Weiss, whose office offered Hunter Biden a plea bargain described by many as a “sweetheart deal” that would have immunized him from future, related prosecutions.

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[schwartzie]

Hunter Biden’s Lead Lawyer Asks to Withdraw from Case After Plea Deal Blows Up

By Cristina Laila
Aug. 15, 2023 12:30 pm




Hunter Biden’s lead lawyer Christopher Clark asked the Delaware judge overseeing Hunter’s case for permission to withdraw from the case after the plea deal fell apart.



Christopher Clark said he could be called as a witness in the future.



CNN reported:



Hunter Biden’s lead criminal defense attorney asked a federal judge on Tuesday for permission to withdraw from the case because he could now be called as a witness in future proceedings.



Christopher Clark, Biden’s longtime defense lawyer, filed a motion with the Delaware judge who has overseen the case since a plea deal was announced in June.



“Based on recent developments, it appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues,” Biden’s lawyers said in the filing.



Last Friday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that US Attorney for Delaware David Weiss was appointed Special Counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation.



Stockpiling Critical Medications Has Never Been More Important



Weiss asked for special counsel status in the Hunter Biden case as the First Son’s plea deal fell apart.



Plea talks related to Hunter Biden’s tax-related misdemeanor charges and diversion agreement blew up last week.



After the special counsel was announced federal prosecutors said that Hunter Biden’s plea negotiations are at an impasse and asserted the case is headed for a trial in a court filing.



Prosecutors say the venue for Hunter Biden’s tax-related charges lies either in California or DC, not Delaware.



“Venue for these offenses does not lie in Delaware. Rather, venue for these offenses and any other related tax offenses lies either in the Central District of California or in the District of Columbia. The information was filed in this District because the parties had previously agreed that the Defendant would waive any challenge to venue and plead guilty in this District. However, during the July 26, 2023, hearing that the Court set on this matter, the Defendant pled not guilty. Since that time, the parties have engaged in further plea negotiations but are at an impasse. The Government now believes that the case will not resolve short of a trial,” the filing said.



“Now that the parties are at an impasse, a trial is in order,” they wrote. “Venue must be proper for each count of an indictment.”


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[ExquisiteGerbil]

Hunter Biden Lawyer: He Won’t Testify Before House Committees



IAN HANCHETT
19 Aug 2023
1:53

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell stated that Hunter Biden would not testify before the House committees investigating him, because until House Republicans “show that they have a serious intent, are operating within the rules, and have a proper legislative purpose, nobody would go before them.”



Lowell said, “I think that’s just premature. But I think, as you pointed out…you have to have a serious congressional proceeding in order to consider having somebody like your client come. And there’s been nothing serious about this set of proceedings. This is a set of Republican chairpeople who have done the least the following: They basically started by admitting that the whole point of their proceeding was to use his phrase, move the political needle. Since then, they’ve basically said the reason the United States is helping Ukraine [is] because of the bribes that occurred between the two. Then, they have said that the reason that the Titan submarine news was suppressed was to cover up for the deal that was going to be announced for Hunter. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) used an oversight hearing in order to show naked photos of our client. Comer has basically just been bragging that he’s the one, to use his phrase, who shoved the plea bargain up the you know what of the Justice Department. There have been allegations that there was a whistleblower, which turns out to be — first, they said that the guy was missing, and then it turns out that he is a fugitive and that he’s involved in obstruction and being a foreign agent. With that panoply and laundry list of the things that these members of Congress have done, until they show that they have a serious intent, are operating within the rules, and have a proper legislative purpose, nobody would go before them.

Video at link

[maybetoday]

NYT: DOJ Planned to Let Hunter Biden Off the Hook Until Whistleblowers Emerged


JOEL B. POLLAK
20 Aug 2023

The Department of Justice (DOJ) planned to let Hunter Biden off the hook without charges until two whistleblowers came forward to expose political interference in the investigation, despite the claims of Attorney General Merrick Garland.



The New York Times exposed the inside dealings of Hunter Biden’s attorneys with senior officials at DOJ, who had constrained U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss even as Garland was testifying to Congress that Weiss had full authority to act in the case.



The president's son is reportedly under investigation for tax fraud, money laundering, and gun and foreign lobbying violations by Trump-appointed United States Attorney David C. Weiss.


The Times reported that not only did the whistleblowers stop the cover-up, but that Hunter Biden’s lawyers now want them to be prosecuted for speaking out against his special treatment — a violation of President Biden’s promise to protect whistleblowers:



Now, the I.R.S. agents and their Republican allies say they believe the evidence they brought forward, at the precise time they did, played a role in influencing the outcome, a claim senior law enforcement officials dispute. While Mr. Biden’s legal team agrees that the I.R.S. agents affected the deal, his lawyers have contended to the Justice Department that by disclosing details about the investigation to Congress, they broke the law and should be prosecuted.



Earlier this year, The Times found, Mr. Weiss appeared willing to forgo any prosecution of Mr. Biden at all, and his office came close to agreeing to end the investigation without requiring a guilty plea on any charges. But the correspondence reveals that his position, relayed through his staff, changed in the spring, around the time a pair of I.R.S. officials on the case accused the Justice Department of hamstringing the investigation. Mr. Weiss suddenly demanded that Mr. Biden plead guilty to committing tax offenses.



…



As the testimony from the I.R.S. agents took hold, Mr. Biden’s legal team felt the ground shift beneath them. The U.S. attorney’s office suddenly went quiet.


Key figures that emerge from the Times narrative are Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, who has been accused of interfering on Hunter Biden’s behalf; and Christopher J. Clark, a well-connected lawyer for Hunter Biden.



The whistleblowers, IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary A. Shapley Jr. and IRS Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, told the House of Representatives that prosecutors would not let them pursue Hunter Biden’s tax crimes, and had sometimes tipped off the president’s son about impending searches or interviews.



The result was a “sweetheart” plea deal that would have prevented Hunter Biden from being investigated further — until federal judge Maryellen Noreika, a Donald Trump appointee, balked.



Earlier this month, Garland named Weiss a Special Counsel in the case, raising suspicions that his real purpose was to continue the cover-up. Charges were withdrawn from Noreika — ostensibly to be pursued elsewhere, but possibly to avoid her jurisdiction.


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[maybetoday]

Report: Hunter Biden Downsizes to $15,800 a Month Ocean View Malibu Home
WENDELL HUSEBØ
25 Aug 2023579


Hunter Biden, who is embroiled in a tenuous legal position, reportedly downsized to a $15,800 a month ocean view Malibu home, a substantial cut back from his previous $20,000 a month California residence.



While the national average rental price is just north of $2,000 a month, Hunter Biden, the first family’s business rainmaker, pays $15,800 a month for a beautiful residence on the Pacific Ocean, the Daily Mail reported.



Hunter Biden’s new home is a three-bed, three-bath compound with panoramic sea views, built on a cliff in a gated community. The rental’s listing calculates the home’s square footage to be 2,500, with an estimated value of over $4 million.



The property’s listing describes it as having “mesmerizing ocean views that are the ultimate backdrop for dining alfresco or stargazing over the shimmering Pacific” and a “vastly open floor plan, beautiful wood-beamed ceilings and large windows that give the illusion of being fully immersed and in total harmony with nature.”



The house also boasts a luxurious kitchen and a “guest studio with private balcony overlooking the ocean that creates the perfect artistic space.”



For Hunter Biden’s protection, the Secret Service reportedly rents a home nearby for $16,000 a month, which reportedly enjoys an ocean view and a hot tub.



Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen moved into the Malibu rental from their $4.2 million canal-side Venice Beach house. Hunter Biden reportedly rented that property for $20,000 a month.



“Hunter and Melissa were horrible tenants. Not only did they stiff the owner for months of rent, they left the house in terrible condition,” a source told the Daily Mail.



“Melissa was rude and entitled. They destroyed the stereo equipment in the home and when someone came to fix it, they were uncooperative. They also left the place dirty,” the source added.



Hunter Biden’s move to Malibu comes as he is under investigation for tax, gun, and Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations.



In July, Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal with the Justice Department fell apart under scrutiny from a Delaware judge.



The agreement would have afforded Hunter Biden the ability to plead guilty for not paying taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018, receiving probation rather than jail time.



In addition, U.S. Prosecutor David Weiss devised a separate diversion agreement that gave Hunter Biden immunity from potential future charges, including a provision to essentially wipe a felony gun violation from his record.



Upon request from President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, the judge dismissed the plea deal on August 17. Moving forward, prosecutors expect the case to go to trial, where it will likely be tried in Delaware or California.


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