Hunter Biden officially pled guilty to federal tax evasion charges on Thursday, changing course at the eleventh hour. As a result, he narrowly avoided a messy trial that could've aired the Biden family's dirty laundry.
Over 100 prospective jurors were waiting and ready to undergo the painstaking jury selection process until Hunter abruptly announced that he had changed his mind. Hunter instead hoped to enter an Alford plea, in which he would maintain his innocence while acknowledging that there was enough evidence to convict him. However, the prosecution objected, and Hunter ultimately entered an open plea, saying he was straight-up guilty to every count, without any type of deal in place regarding sentencing.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, whose bombshell testimony exposed the U.S. Department of Justice's efforts to influence the investigation into Hunter Biden, had a lot to say about the case's outcome, given how hard the Biden DOJ had tried to hand Hunter a free pass.
Shapley's whistleblowing, as well as that of Joseph Ziegler, had helped implode Hunter's sweetheart plea deal, which would have granted President Joe Biden's son blanket immunity. That fell apart thanks to the two insiders detailing the DOJ's interference.
IRS WHISTLEBLOWER SHAPLEY:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 19, 2023
"The Justice Department allowed the president's political appointees to weigh in on whether to charge the president's son...I watched United States Attorney Weiss tell a room full of senior FBI and IRS senior leads...that he was not the deciding person… pic.twitter.com/nwBYWmaJRa
Shapley, weighing in on Hunter's about-face, reacted to the development in an on-camera Fox News interview:
We came forward because of what we saw the DOJ doing, providing preferential treatment and political inteference in this case. It's a little vindication, but it's really not why we came forward. Now, we're more focused on how we are going to hold the DOJ accountable for the things that they have actually proved themselves that we were right in the way that they were handling this case. Hopefully there will be some mechanism to do so.
[...]
I think the steps that the DOJ has taken has proven that they didn't do the right thing in the first place. On May 15, 2023, David Weiss' office was offering this defendant a non-proseuction agreement, and of course, that morphed into the sweetheart plea deal that fell apart.
[...]
It goes to show the DOJ is proving that what they did initially was wrong. It shouldn't have taken two of us to really ruin our careers to bring this forward to the American people.
Empower Oversight, the watchdog organization representing Shapley, released a statement also emphasizing that although Hunter pled guilty Thursday to all nine charges, including three felonies, previously on May 15, 2023, he was offered a deferred prosecution agreement that didn't even require a single guilty plea.
"That was the same day the IRS retaliated against SSA Gary Shapley by removing his entire team from the case in reprisal for protected whistleblowing about exactly that kind of special treatment," Shapley's legal team stated. "Shapley risked his career for the principle of equal treatment under the law, and now that principle has been vindicated."
Hunter Biden Guilty Plea
— Jason Foster (@JsnFostr) September 5, 2024
Statement by SSA Gary Shapley's Legal Team https://t.co/CgRsqdKOjC pic.twitter.com/uHlgmRFP2Z
Empower Oversight's president Tristan Leavitt also shared his thoughts on Hunter's plea change:
Flashback to June 20, 2023, when Hunter’s former attorney Chris Clark thought they were walking away with the sweetheart plea deal and told @KatyTurNBC prosecutors were “very diligent, very dogged. It took five years, and it was five years of work they put in.” I’ve never heard a… pic.twitter.com/5Hlu2erSVY
— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) September 5, 2024
But Clark had definitely already heard what SSA Shapley had to say on CBS News on May 24 of that year—just nine days after prosecutors contacted Clark out of the blue to unexpectedly offer a plea deal. pic.twitter.com/qs2XAvVuF5
— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) September 5, 2024
In the aftermath of Thursday's events, Hunter's defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, painted Hunter as a victim of the prosecution and a dedicated family man, saying the president's son "put his family first today."
It was "a brave and loving thing to do," Lowell added.
"After watching prosecutors who exploit his family’s grief during the Delaware trial and realizing they were planning to do it again in California, Hunter decided to enter his plea to protect those he loves from unnecessary hurt and cruel humiliation," Lowell told reporters. "This plea prevents that kind of show trial that would have not provided all the facts or served any real point in justice."
Hunter issued a statement of his own:
I went to trial in Delaware not realizing the anguish it would cause my family, and I will not put them through it again. When it became clear to me that the same prosecutors were focused not on justice but on dehumanizing me for my actions during my addiction, there was only one path left for me. I will not subject my family to more pain, more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment. For all I have put them through over the years, I can spare them this, and so I have decided to plead guilty.
Like millions of Americans, I failed to file and pay my taxes on time. For that I am responsible. As I have stated, addiction is not an excuse, but it is an explanation for some of my failures at issue in this case. When I was addicted, I wasn't thinking about my taxes, I was thinking about surviving. But the jury would never have heard that or know that I had paid every penny of my back taxes including penalties. That I have been clean and sober for more than five years now because I have had the love and support of my family.
I can never repay them for showing up for me and helping me through my worst moments. But I can protect them from being publicly humiliated for my failures. For anyone now going through the scourge of addiction, please know there is a light at the end of that seemingly endless tunnel. I was where you are now. Don't quit right before the miracle.
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