A Former Fed Prosecutor Breaks Down the Hunter Biden Plea Deal Circus

[JoeB131]

Their new deal wont include complete immunity, so your prediction is not going to happen.

Sure it will.
No one is ever charged with FARA violations now unless they are selling guns to the Ayatollahs. Not even a guy like Flynn, who was carrying water for the Russians all the way to the White House.

 

[pknopp]

Nope, she should have just accepted it, and if it wasn't Biden's kid, and she wasn't a Trumpbot, she would have. You can find a legal flaw in almost any plea agreement. Most judges just accept them knowing both sides just want this over.

No judge should accept what they know is wrong. No one should ever get blanket immunity for something they may have done but it's not proven yet.

People are charged with DEALING Crack. Not using it.

Not true but you know that.

Frankly, I think the war on drugs is kind of stupid, but my guess is that if we ever legalize it, we certainly won't be creating the rehab programs to replace it.

I lived in a community where a drug rehab organization wanted to buy up an unused hotel to make into a rehab center with a whopping 200 beds. The community went absolutely NUTS over it, organized boycotts, pressured the town board and it was abandoned.

As a country we fail in health care on so many levels.

 

[Godboy]

Sure it will.
No one is ever charged with FARA violations now unless they are selling guns to the Ayatollahs. Not even a guy like Flynn, who was carrying water for the Russians all the way to the White House.

Not true at all. Wishing upon a star isnt going to help the Bidens. If you cant see their impending doom, then you are either blind or just plain stupid.

 

[Independentthinker]

And it really turned into a circus in Delaware today.

Anyway, this short piece bears reading. It probably is a close as we'll get, barring a DOJ hack confessing to what they were trying to do here with this deal that no one else would ever receive.

Based on conversations with people who were in the courtroom today, and my experience as a former federal prosecutor, I think I know the full story of what happened with the Hunter Biden plea agreement blow-up this morning. ​

​

Bear with me, because this is a little complicated: ​

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Typically, if the Government is offering to a defendant that it will either drop charges or decline to bring new charges in return for the defendant's guilty plea, the plea is structured under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(A). An agreement not to prosecute Hunter for FARA violations or other crimes in return for his pleading guilty to the tax misdemeanors, for example, would usually be a (c)(1)(A) plea. This is open, transparent, subject to judicial approval, etc. ​

​

In Hunter's case, according to what folks in the courtroom have told me, Hunter's plea was structured under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(c)(1)(B), which is usually just a plea in return for a joint sentencing recommendation only, and contained no information on its face about other potential charges, and contained no clear agreement by DOJ to forego prosecution of other charges. ​

​

Instead, DOJ and Hunter's lawyers effectively hid that part of the agreement in what was publicly described as a pretrial diversion agreement relating to a § 922(g)(3) gun charge against Hunter for being a drug user in possession of a firearm. ​

​

That pretrial diversion agreement as written was actually MUCH broader than just the gun charge. If Hunter were to complete probation, the pretrial diversion agreement prevented DOJ from ever bringing charges against Hunter for any crimes relating to the offense conduct discussed in the plea agreement, which was purposely written to include his foreign influence peddling operations in China and elsewhere. ​

​

So they put the facts in the plea agreement, but put their non-prosecution agreement in the pretrial diversion agreement, effectively hiding the full scope of what DOJ was offering and Hunter was obtaining through these proceedings. Hunter's upside from this deal was vast immunity from further prosecution if he finished a couple years of probation, and the public wouldn't be any the wiser because none of this was clearly stated on the face of the plea agreement, as would normally be the case. ​

​

Judge Noreika smelled a rat. She understood that the lawyers were trying to paint her into a corner and hide the ball. Instead, she backed DOJ and Hunter's lawyers into a corner by pulling all the details out into the open and then indicating that she wasn't going to approve a deal as broad as what she had discovered. ​

​

DOJ, attempting to save face and save its case, then stated on the record that the investigation into Hunter was ongoing and that Hunter remained susceptible to prosecution under FARA. Hunter's lawyers exploded. They clearly believed that FARA was covered under the deal, because as written, the pretrial diversion agreement language was broad enough to cover it. They blew up the deal, Hunter pled not guilty, and that's the current state of play. ​

​

And so here we are. Hunter's lawyers and DOJ are going to go off and try to pull together a new set of agreements, likely narrower, to satisfy Judge Noreika. Fortunately, I doubt if FARA or any charges related to Hunter's foreign influence peddling will be included, which leaves open the possibility of further investigations leading to further prosecutions.​

Not only did we have Hunter's lawyer's office call the court trying to misrepresent themselves as the other side, but we've got this trickery by them all (including the DOJ), trying to get Hunter off of everything with just slap on the wrist, which wasn't even really a slap on the wrist.

 

[westwall]

Hunter isn't an elected official. He just happens to be Biden's troubled son. If he's guilty of whatever, punish him accordingly.
The fact remains that although a judge has the authority to reject a plea deal, it is VERY unusual.

The only thing unusual was how ridiculous the agreement was. It allowed good old hunter to commit crimes into the future.

Kinda weird huh....

Or do you think that's normal?

 

[Ringo]

 

[excalibur]

No judge should accept what they know is wrong. No one should ever get blanket immunity for something they may have done but it's not proven yet.




Not true but you know that.




As a country we fail in health care on so many levels.

Yep, the deal was basically a pardon without Joe issuing a pardon to Hunter.

 

[excalibur]

Precluding Congressional investigation. How convenient.

It isn't as if they haven't known for years he was in violation of FARA.

Another attempt at running out the clock?

 

[JoeB131]

No judge should accept what they know is wrong. No one should ever get blanket immunity for something they may have done but it's not proven yet.

Judges do it all the time.

Get real.

This is an exceptional prosecution because of who this man is.

 

[JoeB131]

Waste of time. He probably had to jump through a ton of regulatory hoops to work in foreign countries to start with.

 

[Hollie]

Seems pointless. It’s predictable that Biden’s lackeys in the DOJ will announce no wrongdoing and therefore, case closed.

 

[Ringo]

Seems pointless. It’s predictable that Biden’s lackeys in the DOJ will announce no wrongdoing and therefore, case closed.

That is why revolutions occur, during which such issues are solved quickly and the more the old society creates problems, the more rigidly these problems are solved during revolutions, up to terror.

 

[TroglocratsRdumb]

Biden and the corrupt Democrat DOJ want to keep Hunter out of any trial.
He could spill the beans under cross examination.

 

[Rawley]

The problem was the prosecutors didn't hammer out the FARA aspects of this deal, and they should have. FARA prosecutions are very rare, and unless you are selling weapons to the Ayatollahs or something, they are never prosecuted.

They need to have a clearer deal hammered out and then be ready to appeal above Judge Nitwit if she give you any more trouble.

WHy are you calling her a nitwit? Seems she was rather smart to ferret out the scam the DOJ and Biden's lawyers were trying to pull.

 

[Rawley]

Sure it will.
No one is ever charged with FARA violations now unless they are selling guns to the Ayatollahs. Not even a guy like Flynn, who was carrying water for the Russians all the way to the White House.

Does the name Manafort ring any bells?

 

[JoeB131]

WHy are you calling her a nitwit? Seems she was rather smart to ferret out the scam the DOJ and Biden's lawyers were trying to pull.

Because at the end of the day, the government is getting their money and this is a non-violent offense.

Does the name Manafort ring any bells?

Yes, he does. That's not what he was convicted of.

There was tax fraud, (Not just merely failing to report income), bank fraud and failure to disclose a bank account.

 

[Rawley]

Because at the end of the day, the government is getting their money and this is a non-violent offense.

??? This plea deal wasn't about $$. Someone paid his taxes for him years ago.

Yes, he does. That's not what he was convicted of.

There was tax fraud, (Not just merely failing to report income), bank fraud and failure to disclose a bank account.

??? He was convicted of FARA violations.

Paul Manafort Guilty Plea Highlights Increased Enforcement of Foreign Agents Registration Act

The guilty plea former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort entered Friday marks a milestone in the Department of Justice’s efforts to enforce the Foreign Agents

www.lawfaremedia.org

You should really do some homework before making such statements.

 

[JoeB131]

??? This plea deal wasn't about $$. Someone paid his taxes for him years ago.

??? He was convicted of FARA violations.

Paul Manafort Guilty Plea Highlights Increased Enforcement of Foreign Agents Registration Act

The guilty plea former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort entered Friday marks a milestone in the Department of Justice’s efforts to enforce the Foreign Agents

www.lawfaremedia.org

You should really do some homework before making such statements.

I did. He was convicted of bank fraud and tax fraud, not FARA violations.

 

[Rawley]

I did. He was convicted of bank fraud and tax fraud, not FARA violations.

?? Seriously, which of these words are you having trouble with?

"In Count One of the government’s superseding criminal information, Manafort pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with his failure to register under FARA as an agent of the government of Ukraine"

 

[westwall]

?? Seriously, which of these words are you having trouble with?

All of them. Joeb is one of the dumbest critters on the planet.