Hunter Biden’s lawyers maneuvered to keep the terms of the “diversion agreement” within their failed plea deal intact after Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss was appointed special counsel in the case.
On Friday, prosecutors disclosed that plea negotiations fell apart, and Attorney General Merrick Garland named Weiss special counsel to continue the ongoing probe into Hunter Biden’s potential tax, gun, and FARA violations.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote in a court filing on Sunday that the Justice Department (DOJ) decided to “renege on the previously agreed-upon plea agreement,” but that the diversion agreement, providing Hunter Biden broad further immunity, is still in effect and binding.
“The Defendant’s understanding of the scope of immunity agreed to by the United States was and is based on the express written terms of the Diversion Agreement,” the lawyers wrote. “His understanding of the scope of immunity agreed to by the United States is also corroborated by prosecutors’ contemporaneous written and oral communications during the plea negotiations.”
“[T]he Defendant intends to abide by the terms of the Diversion Agreement that was executed at the July 26 hearing by the Defendant, his counsel, and the United States, and concurs with the statements the Government made during the July 26 hearing,” the lawyers continued, “and which the Government then acknowledged in its filings agreeing to the public disclosure of the Plea and Diversion Agreements2—that the parties have a valid and binding bilateral Diversion Agreement.”
The court filing was in response to Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika’s request after Weiss asked the judge to dismiss the case.
Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty last month.
But after the irregular plea deal broke down upon scrutiny from Judge Noreika, the prosecutors said Friday they expected the case to go to trial, indicating they wanted to try the case elsewhere, outside Delaware and away from the judge.
According to the Washington Post’s Editorial Board, the plea deal appeared to give Hunter Biden “special treatment,” an exception that Hunter Biden’s lawyers still claim is in effect and binding.
Critics argue that Weiss should not have been appointed special counsel due to his “sweetheart” plea deal, which collapsed under scrutiny.
United States Attorney David C. Weiss. (Screen shot/CBS News)
“Special counsels should not be appointed lightly. They have tended to overspend and overreach,” the Post‘s editorial board wrote. “One temptation in the Hunter Biden case might be to investigate the president himself, as many of his critics wish. So far, the record suggests President Biden’s behavior was not spotless — but also not criminal.”
The DOJ’s probe into Hunter Biden could implicate Joe Biden. A witness who testified before the jury was reportedly asked to identify the “big guy.”
A DOJ official declined to comment on whether President Joe Biden is under investigation.Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.