Posted on 07/27/2023 5:42:47 AM PDT by george76
the judge handling Hunter Biden’s plea agreement threw a wrench in the process on Wednesday morning after it became apparent that there were issues with the sweetheart deal.
That revelation came after a night of controversy when someone representing Hunter Biden’s legal team called the court to get an amicus brief removed from the docket. The clerk’s notes indicated some subterfuge was afoot, but after the judge demanded an explanation, Hunter Biden’s lawyers submitted a letter asserting it was a misunderstanding.
As the actual hearing began, the judge was immediately skeptical of what the DOJ and Hunter Biden’s team had worked out. Hunter Biden’s lawyers have proclaimed for weeks that their acceptance of the plea deal brings an end to the five-year investigation into the president’s son, forgoing any further charges. Meanwhile, the DOJ has said publicly that the investigation into Hunter Biden is ongoing.
That led the judge to question whether she would be providing global immunity by allowing the deal to go through. Once she pressed the prosecution, things fell apart.
...
Hunter Biden’s lawyers repeatedly cast the deal as the final chapter of the five-year inquiry into the president's son. But Judge Noreika quickly punctured that assertion when she asked a prosecutor, Leo Wise, if the Biden investigation was “ongoing.” He replied “yes,” adding that if Biden’s team thought otherwise, “then there’s no deal.” No plea deal should be so ambiguous that the parties disagree about the basic terms.
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Plea deals are normally structured to have the defendant plead guilty to certain crimes in exchange for not being charged with other crimes. What other crimes were in the plea deal as being taken off the table? We don’t know the answer to that, but the judge seemed completely unimpressed with what the two sides had brought her. Further, when asked by the judge if such a deal had any precedent, the prosecutor was forced to admit that there was none.
As mentioned by Glenn Thrush’s reporting above, the deal was attempting to give Hunter Biden broad immunity into perpetuity from future crimes. That led the judge to ask whether the investigation was still ongoing, at which point the DOJ admitted it was. That put the two sides at a technical impasse, and one the judge wasn’t willing to overlook.
Zooming out, it appears that Hunter Biden’s team was intent on getting it on the record that by signing the plea, all investigations into Hunter Biden (and by virtue, possible future charges related to them) would be ended. Meanwhile, the DOJ seemed happy to let that happen until the judge threw up a roadblock.
That begs the question of why the DOJ didn’t speak up to fix the inconsistency prior to the hearing if this was really just a misunderstanding. As I noted above, Hunter Biden’s lead lawyer stated publicly multiple times that the plea deal meant all other charges would be off the table. Why didn’t the DOJ immediately move to clarify that point in the plea deal if that wasn’t their intention?
One would be forgiven for suspecting corruption, especially given the protection from oversight that is provided by technically keeping the Hunter Biden investigation open. It appears that the DOJ wanted to let Hunter Biden off the hook while also keeping their wall up between them and Congress. Thankfully, the judge saw through the ploy.
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It is highly improper that the DOJ allowed things to get to this point, and I doubt very many onlookers will be giving the department the benefit of the doubt that it was all just a mistake. If the prosecutors involved, including David Weiss, were trying to give Hunter Biden global immunity via a wink and a nod while still keeping the investigation open, that’s scandalous and a clear attempt to try to manipulate the judge.
Give that clerk a raise!.....................
Corruption at the DOJ how shocking.
A judge who believes that a lawyer is trying to pull a fast one on the court is a fierce opponent.
Give that clerk a 6 SUV armed escort convoy.
Giving Hunter IMMUNITY in Perpetuity—
BOLD AS BRASS THESE BIDENS-——
Wrong. The real reason was the DOJ wanted to have it both ways. DOJ was in a Catch 22 situation, they had to say he was under investigation because otherwise they could not use that excuse to avoid answering Congress Questions about the investigation.
If they said he was no longer under investigation then they would have to answer questions that would bury Weiss and Garland and destroy the DOJ’s credibility completely (not that it is in good shape now).
Hunter became a sacrificial lamb.
PDJT chose well in that nomination.
The entire case was a setup to allow Hunter to plead to jaywalking and get a guarantee by the government that all his other crimes would never be prosecuted.
The DOJ got caught by the judge.
Ask that clerk to write up a RICO indictment of the Biden crime family and their crooked attorneys.
And where are the defense attorney’s filing brief after brief to get their clients out of federal prison, given the treatment Biden has received.
In the real world, if the ATF doesn’t want to prosecute him for lying on the 4473, then no one gets prosecuted for lying on the 4473, thus there would be no need for it. All a dealer would have to do is run your name through NICS just like a cop runs a drivers license.
Elections have consequences.
It is apparent that the prosecutors working for the United States Department of Justice had arranged to include in the plea deal an incredible arrangement whereby the criminal would be protected, immunized and have his past and future wrong doing and evidence thereof hidden from any future inquiry or criminal charges.
We do win ‘some’...
uh oh
leo blinked
at the moment of truth
he was not willing to fall on his sword
in the name of the king
polish up that cv, leo, the deep state is done with you
Well, the Democrats have been telling us for years that “no one is above the law.” Looks like that is exactly what the DOJ was trying to set up with the Bidens,
“Here, sign this stating you’re guilty of misdemeanors and we won’t you with any other crimes, including felonies, for the rest of your life.”
Yeah, every citizen has that offered to them . . .
There has to be more to this story. How could they think a judge wouldn’t find out ? I doubt the plea deal would even be legitimate if they were able to hide this until afterwards.
Nailed it.
Plus, the fact that both sides knew what the Committee’s amicus brief would do to the ‘deal’ and threw another sacrifice on the fire (Bengels). Furthermore, they tried to hide it by having the call to the court misrepresenting Kitilla originate not from Biden’s team, but from Latham & Watkins, ‘where Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark was formerly a partner.’
Details on Bengels have also been intentionally misreported to obfuscate the seriousness of the event. Clark then ran cover firing threatening salvos at Kitilla re ‘tax details’.
https://twitter.com/mirandadevine/status/1683991220463497216
Theodore Kittila wasn’t having any of that.
Thankfully, neither was Judge Noreika.
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