On Wednesday, the proposed settlement involving Hunter Biden’s plea deal was made public after a federal judge turned it down.
NBC reporter Tom Winter successfully requested that Judge Maryellen Noreika release the complete details of Hunter Biden’s plea arrangement, as reported by The Messenger. Both the legal team representing Biden and the prosecutors did not raise any objections to this request.
Last week, the media was buzzing with a leaked version of the plea deal that had been widely circulated.
The plea deal, significant portions of which were read aloud in court on July 26, met a roadblock when Judge Noreika declared that she needed additional time to evaluate the agreement. Hunter Biden had aimed to plead guilty to tax-related offenses, thus sidestepping a gun charge, but this proposal fell through.
Winter’s request for the documents to be released to the public stated, “Those agreements should be publicly docketed since they were brought up in open court and influenced Your Honor’s ruling on the suggested plea deal.”
Judge Noreika also made public the diversion agreement, stating that the U.S. would “refrain from prosecuting Biden criminally, outside the scope of this Agreement, or any federal offenses encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts (Attachment A) and the Statement of Facts included as Exhibit 1 to the Memorandum of Plea Agreement submitted on the same day.”
Hunter Biden was initially prepared to admit guilt to two counts of tax evasion and lesser gun-related charges, a decision that sparked outrage among Republican legislators.
However, after the deal was shot down by Judge Noreika, Biden pleaded not guilty to the accusation of failing to pay taxes on over $1.5 million in earnings for 2017 and 2018, while allegedly owing in excess of $100,000, according to the prosecution.
The Republican chairs of three House committees announced an investigation into the circumstances of Biden’s unsuccessful plea agreement, as reported by the New York Post on Monday.
The investigative letter, endorsed by Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), was dispatched to Attorney General Merrick Garland shortly after Judge Noreika’s refusal of the plea deal, criticizing it as “unusual” and scrutinizing the accompanying diversion agreement.
Judge Noreika instructed the lawyers on Friday to communicate any concerns directly with her chambers rather than the court clerk. This directive was issued after an incident in which an employee from the law firm representing Biden reportedly gave a false identity during a call to the clerk’s office.
