Few saw it coming.
News of the collapse of Hunter Biden’s sweetheart deal sent shockwaves throughout Washington on Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika’s refusal to sign off on the plea agreement was the worst possible outcome for the Biden family, but it was a great outcome for the rule of law in America.
This morning, Hunter was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of tax evasion and to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement on a “felony charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.”
But Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the plea agreement. It was a travesty that fell apart immediately under scrutiny. Of course, it didn’t help their cause when a lawyer associated with Hunter’s legal team called the court clerk on Tuesday to block an amicus brief filed earlier in the day by an attorney for the House Ways and Means Committee. When this “dirty trick” was discovered, Judge Noreika demanded that Hunter’s attorneys provide an explanation by 9 p.m. Their reply? It had all been a misunderstanding. Scott covered this story here.
Fox News reported that she “questioned the constitutionality–specifically the diversion clause and the immunity Hunter Biden would receive.”
Hours later, Hunter pleaded not guilty to all charges and left the courthouse.
This stunning turn of events has great implications for the 2024 presidential race. Although Democrats insist this case is only about Hunter, any honest person knows it is a case about President Joe Biden and his role in the family’s alleged foreign influence peddling business.
Although many have trivialized the investigations conducted by House Republicans over the past six months, the reality is that their work has turned up some pretty damning evidence of the Biden family’s pay-to-pay scheme, including Joe Biden’s knowledge of, likely involvement in and possible financial benefit from them, as well as the DOJ’s and FBI’s mishandling of the case.
House GOP investigators have exposed bank records showing millions of dollars flowing into the accounts of nine Biden family members, including a grandchild, from foreign sources. The funds were transferred via a network of up to 20 shell corporations set up by Hunter and his associates. And they have many more records to comb through.
Two days after the announcement of Hunter’s plea deal, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) released the transcribed interviews of two highly credible IRS whistleblowers who worked on Hunter’s case. The testimonies of IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley Jr., who ran the investigation, and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year veteran of the IRS who was part of his team, bolstered the widely-held belief that Hunter received a sweetheart deal from the DOJ.
Shapley claimed that DOJ officials intentionally slow-walked the investigation, allowing the statutes of limitations on several charges to lapse. As he put it, “Whatever the motivations, at every stage decisions were made that had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation.”
He testified that Assistant U.S. Attorney in Delaware Lesley Wolf, tipped off Hunter Biden’s attorneys ahead of a planned search of a storage unit in Virginia where Hunter Biden had transferred his business records.
I’m barely scratching the surface of their testimony. Suffice it to say that it was extensive and it was devastating.
Some of us are anxiously waiting to hear what Devon Archer, Hunter’s longtime friend and business partner, might reveal at his scheduled transcribed interview before the House Oversight Committee on Monday. As I mentioned in a recent post, Archer has postponed his appearance three times so far and I have to wonder if he was trying to avoid testifying before Hunter signed his plea deal.
According to what sources have told the New York Post’s Miranda Devine, Archer is expected to tell lawmakers that Joe Biden appeared either in person or by speakerphone at numerous meetings with their business partners, including Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky. Although the two are said to be estranged, Archer may still have preferred to delay his testimony until Hunter had resolved his case with the Department of Justice.
The House Republicans have been pursuing this case with a zeal I didn’t know they had in them. And their efforts are bearing fruit.
This is a mess. And it’s about to get a lot messier for both Hunter and Scranton Joe.
Good.
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