Prosecutors Snipe at Hunter's Attorneys Over Defunct Plea Deal

Katie Pavlich | August 15, 2023 2:45 PM

Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed as Special Counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland last week, is responding to allegations from Hunter Biden's legal team that the Department of Justice "reneged" on a sweetheart plea deal struck in June.

"The Government did not 'renege' on the 'previously agreed-upon Plea Agreement,' as the Defendant inaccurately asserts in the first substantive sentence of his response. The Defendant chose to plead not guilty at the hearing on July 26, 2023, and U.S. Probation declined to approve the proposed diversion agreement at that hearing. Thus, neither proposed agreement entered into effect," newly filed court documents state. "Instead, as of the end of the hearing on July 26, the two proposed agreements were drafts that either party could propose changes to. And both parties did so following the hearing. Without going into the substance of the negotiations between the parties, in the afternoon after the hearing on July 26, defense counsel asked to meet with the Government."

"At that meeting, defense counsel proposed changes to both documents. The Government considered the Defendant’s proposals but did not believe they were in the best interests of the United States and offered counterproposals on July 31, 2023. The Defendant rejected these counterproposals on August 7, 2023. Seeing that the parties were at an impasse, the Government informed the Defendant, in writing on August 9, 2023, that it was withdrawing the most recent version of its proposed plea and diversion agreements," Weiss continued.

The plea deal fell apart in July after U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika asked basic questions about broad immunity contained in the deal, which all parties said was unusual and unprecedented. Hunter Biden planned to enter guilty pleas for two tax misdemeanors and entry into a gun diversion program. He left the courtroom after pleading not guilty, which was a rejection of the agreement.