Judge Mark Scarsi, a federal district judge in California’s Central district, rejected Hunter Biden’s legal argument that his previous plea agreement was enforceable to get his tax charges thrown out of court.
The plea agreement gave Hunter Biden immunity from potential future charges. Specifically, it afforded Hunter 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 prison time. In addition, it included a diversion agreement that gave Hunter immunity from potential future charges, including a provision to essentially wipe a potential felony gun violation from his record.
In a blow to Hunter, his diversion agreement with Special Counsel David Weiss fell apart in 2023 under judicial scrutiny. In December, Weiss indicted the president’s son in California on nine tax violations, including failing to file tax returns, inflating his business expenses, and underestimating his income.
Special Counsel David Weiss (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty)
In response to Hunter’s argument to enforce the plea deal, Judge Scarsi ruled Monday that the diversion agreement was null because it fell apart before preconditions were met:
Having found that the Diversion Agreement is a contract that binds the parties but that the parties made the Probation Officer’s signature a condition precedent to its performance, the Court turns to Defendant’s theory of immunity: that the United States’ obligation to refrain from prosecuting Defendant under section II(15) of the Diversion Agreement is currently in force. It is not. The immunity provision is not one exempted from the term of the contract under the survival clause.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s attorney, tried to convince Scarsi that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department targeted him selectively, but the judge said Hunter failed “to present a reasonable inference, let alone clear evidence, of discriminatory effect and discriminatory purpose.”
Hunter Biden and his attorney, Abbe Lowell (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
“Accordingly, the selective prosecution claim fails,” Scarsi ruled.
Hunter will go on trial on June 20, 2024, the judge ruled in January. If convicted, Hunter could face a maximum of 17 years in prison. The president’s son, in total, faces 42 years in federal prison for the nine tax and three gun charges.
The case is United States of America v. Robert Hunter Biden, No. 2:23-cr-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court Central District of California.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
