It has not been a good week for the Biden White House. The evidence of wrongdoing from their alleged bribery operation hasn’t been refuted or disproven. Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal got tossed by a judge who apparently saw it as a perversion of justice. Hunter was about to plead guilty to gun and tax evasion charges and get no jail time. It was a crock.
Spencer wrote today that more unethical activities were uncovered through new emails, where Hunter wanted a $2 million retainer to recover frozen Libyan assets in 2015. The emails were sent among Democratic donors, who mulled the proposal due to Hunter's access to then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Leah added that Hunter is also being investigated for being a foreign agent by the Justice Department, which law professor Jonathan Turley said is a charge the Biden White House fears most. Turley added that pardoning Hunter remains the “break-the-glass” option regarding this emerging scandal that could detonate the Biden presidency. Ironically, Biden signing the pardon can only end with the end of this administration, which is why this White House is never going to do it:
...This statement would be more reassuring if KJP did not just make an overtly false statement to deal with the President's prior false statements on his son. https://t.co/2nU2nThpc4
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 27, 2023
The collapse of the Hunter Biden plea bargain has left many in Washington shocked. After all, this is a city that knows how to fix a fight. After five years, the Biden corruption scandal was supposed to die with a vacuous plea bargain and no jail time. Most everyone was in on the fix, from members of Congress to the media to the prosecutors. The problem was the one notable omission: Judge Maryellen Noreika of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
The sentencing hearing was a moment that made the Hindenburg disaster look like a seamless landing. Noreika asked a basic question on the implications of the agreement, and the entire deal immediately collapsed.
Now the Justice Department is in a bind. It could not admit in the hearing that Hunter Biden could escape future liability for a host of uncharged crimes. Yet, when a defendant backs out of a generous plea deal, federal prosecutors ordinarily will pursue all of the available charges — and jail time.
While President Joe Biden once declared, in more colorful terms, that no one messes with a Biden, the Justice Department may now find it has no choice. It could be forced to actually treat Hunter like an ordinary citizen.
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A FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] charge could further expose Hunter’s alleged influence-peddling operations, with what House GOP investigators say were millions in foreign payments from a virtual rogue's gallery of foreign officials. The Justice Department also would face pressure to seek the same long jail sentence given to Manafort; he was sentenced to 73 months of imprisonment, which included the statutory maximum 60 months for a conspiracy to violate FARA. (That same year, political consultant W. Samuel Patten pleaded guilty to lobbying and consulting on behalf of the Opposition Bloc, a Ukrainian political party, and received 36 months of probation.)
That is not even including potential felony charges for the original gun violation, money laundering, or other crimes. If the Justice Department were to show the same aggressive effort toward Hunter Biden that was shown to figures like Manafort, Hunter could be looking at a real possibility of years in jail.
There is, however, the ultimate "break-the-glass" option that I raised previously if the Bidens and their supporters could not rig the process: Joe Biden could pardon his son and then announce that he will not run for reelection.
Turley adds that the pardon would have to include numerous crimes, but the Biden family would keep the millions of dollars they’ve accrued through these schemes. The impeachment threat from House Republicans would be neutralized, as Joe would be heading for the exits in 2025. The media would breathe a sigh of relief not having to comb over evidence of Biden corruption they’ve buried out of loyalty to the Democratic Party. He called it a “happy ending” for all, though that’s not going to happen (via Axios):
The White House said Thursday that there is no possibility that President Biden would end up pardoning his son, Hunter Biden.
The big picture: A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Hunter Biden's plea deal on tax charges and said that she wasn't ready to accept the terms of a revised deal.
The case is on hold for at least a few weeks while both sides submit new materials to Judge Maryellen Noreika.
President Biden supported his son last month after Hunter agreed to plead guilty to not paying taxes in 2017 and 2018.
Joe still controls the Justice Department, which has kept his family safe from criminal prosecution for years. He knows he holds the cards, at least for now.
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