WHERE’S HUNTER, FAT? How A Federal Judge Turned The Tables On Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Plea Deal:
[U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump apointee] smelled a rat. She understood that the lawyers were trying to paint her into a corner and hide the ball while forcing her to rubber-stamp their absurd bargain. Instead of being that rubberstamp though, she backed DOJ and Hunter’s lawyers into a corner by pulling all the details out into the open, explaining the very serious legal and constitutional issues with this unprecedented method of structuring what should have been a simple plea agreement, and demanding that the lawyers explain themselves, which they simply couldn’t to her satisfaction.
DOJ, attempting to save face and save its case, stated on the record that the investigation into Hunter was ongoing and that Hunter remained susceptible to prosecution under FARA. Hunter’s lawyers exploded. They clearly believed that FARA was covered under the deal because as written, the pretrial diversion agreement language was broad enough to cover it. When the parties attempted to paper over the many issues raised, Judge Noreika was not satisfied. She demanded extensive briefing on the constitutional and legal issues raised during the hearing, leaving no chance that Hunter will be able to wrap up this case with any degree of rapidity.
And so here we are. Hunter’s lawyers and DOJ are going to go off and try to pull together a new set of agreements, likely narrower and less novel in its arrangement to satisfy Judge Noreika and move the case. They will have to explain their conduct in a public briefing which may shed some light on the obviously tortured negotiations that led us to this place. And, fortunately, the chances of any agreement proceeding with the kind of blanket immunity the parties had in mind as they walked into court yesterday are essentially nil at this point.
Read the whole thing.
According to Claire McCaskell the judge has it all wrong, of course: Republicans Are ‘Trying To Indict a Father For Loving His Son.’
Related: Flashback: Biden Denies What Hunter Just Admitted In Court.
Hunter Biden’s admission of business ties with Chinese companies flies in the face of previous comments by the president.
“My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China,” Joe Biden said to then-president Donald Trump in an October 2020 debate.
“The only guy who made money from China is this guy,” Biden added, referring to Trump. “He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”
Biden lies? But he had given us his “word as a Biden!”