UPDATE II: After the original plea deal fell apart and was rejected by the judge, Hunter Biden has entered a not guilty plea.
#BREAKING: Hunter Biden pleads NOT GUILTY in a Delaware courtroom on gun and tax charges, REFUSING to accept the plea deal previously laid out by prosecutors.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 26, 2023
NBC's Tom Winters says the judge "will not accept or reject the plea agreement" b/c "she wants more information" pic.twitter.com/nrvuV7wt0y
UPDATE: The plea deal is being narrowed. The judge is reportedly asking Hunter about which foreign companies he worked for and is dissatisfied he was able to skate a felony after lying on a federal firearm background check form.
CNN — "The deal appears to be back on track."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 26, 2023
"Biden's team is agreeing to the plea deal, but a much more limited in scope deal." pic.twitter.com/pIXTGmT7NB
Again from NYT's Glenn Thrush reporting from the courtroom. From the start, the judge seemed highly skeptical of the unusual deal — which offered Hunter Biden broad immunity from prosecution in perpetuity, questioning why it had been filed under a provision that gave her no…
— Sol Wisenberg (@WisenbergSol) July 26, 2023
***Original post***
Hunter Biden entered a federal courtroom in Delaware Wednesday morning with the expectation of pleading guilty to a pair of misdemeanor tax charges after being given a sweetheart plea deal by prosecutors in June.
"The court papers indicate the younger Biden has tentatively agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges of failure to pay in 2017 and 2018. The combined tax liability is roughly $1.2 million over those years, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of the agreement that are not yet public. Prosecutors plan to recommend a sentence of probation for those counts, these people said. Biden's representatives have said he previously paid back the IRS what he owed," the Washington Post reported at the time. "Additionally, Biden plans to admit to illegally possessing a weapon following his 2018 purchase of a handgun. As part of that admission, he expects to be entered in a diversion program, a less punitive form of sentence typically applied to people with substance abuse problems. In all, prosecutors would recommend two years of probation and diversion conditions. If Biden successfully meets the conditions of the diversion program, the gun charge would be removed from his record at the end of that period, the people said."
After more than an hour inside the courtroom (for a procedure that was expected to be routine and quick), where technology is not allowed, the plea deal is falling apart. The judge has the authority to throw it out.
"This deal is by no means being accepted by a judge," Fox News reports.
Fox News' @GriffJenkins has the latest info on Hunter Biden's plea deal falling apart:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 26, 2023
"This deal would possibly give Hunter some immunity to future charges, and [the judge] is not okay with that." pic.twitter.com/ITY9gZSCjN
CNN says it's dead.
NEW — CNN is reporting that "as of right now" the Hunter Biden plea deal "appears to be dead and off the table." pic.twitter.com/ocrfdl8EYc
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 26, 2023
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith urged the judge to consider new testimony from IRS whistleblowers that the case was not handled properly and unethically. The whistleblower testimony came nearly a month after Biden was given his plea deal.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley➡️DOJ prosecutors and even U.S. Attorney David Weiss thought Hunter Biden should be charged with multiple FELONIES.
— Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) July 19, 2023
Yet, Hunter's sweetheart plea deal only included a few MISDEMEANORS.
Wonder what changed? pic.twitter.com/Qi4tmt3dIz
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