House committees have begun new investigations into Hunter Biden, this time focusing on the botched plea deal he agreed to that would’ve seen him avoid jail time altogether for tax and gun possession charges.
On Monday, the committees officially launched their investigation into the manner. This came after last Wednesday, when Biden’s plea deal fell apart. A federal judge in Delaware who was overseeing the sentencing in the case said the plea deal acted as just a “slap on the wrist.”
The House panels are also investigating what role President Joe Biden may have played in the foreign business dealings of his son.
Earlier this week, they sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding he provide them further information about the plea deal. They are requesting that the information include relevant data that they believe would help prove that the terms of Hunter Biden’s plea deal were unprecedented and generous.
The New York Post obtained a copy of that letter.
The diversion agreement that was agreed to included two provisions that would’ve given Hunter Biden broad immunity over past crimes that he had committed, according to a leaked part of that agreement.
Those provisions are in direct contradictions to what one prosecutor claimed while in court. Essentially, the agreement would have prevented the Department of Justice from filing future charges against Hunter Biden if he violated the terms of his probation, unless it first got permission from a judge.
As the panel leaders wrote in their letter to Garland:
“The Department’s unusual plea and pretrial diversion agreements with Mr. Biden raise serious concerns – especially when combined with recent whistleblower allegations – that the Department has provided preferential treatment toward Mr. Biden.
“In short, the Department shifted a broad immunity provision, which benefits Mr. Biden, from the plea agreement to the pretrial diversion agreement apparently to prevent the District Court from being able to scrutinize and reject that immunity provision. And then, the Department has benefitted Mr. Biden by giving up its unilateral ability to bring charges against him if it concludes that he has breached the pretrial diversion agreement.”
The plea deal – which would have seen Hunter Biden plead guilty to two criminal tax crimes as well as a gun possession crime – was rejected by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika last week.
In the very early stages of that hearing, Noreika expressed confusion over the diversion agreement specifically. It said that Hunter Biden had to remain free of drugs and not commit any additional crimes if he wanted his gun charge to be dismissed.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers had sought to keep that agreement separate from the two tax crimes, but the judge asked if that was part of a “package deal.”
When asked directly, Hunter Biden said if the diversion deal wasn’t included with the provisions, he wouldn’t be pleading guilty.
Noreika ultimately said she couldn’t accept the deal as presented, which led Hunter Biden to plead not guilty.
