Failed Plea Deal: ‘The U.S. Agrees Not to Criminally Prosecute Biden’ for Related Crimes

The terms of the failed plea agreement between federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden has been published — along with the extraordinary term that would have immunized the president’s son from further legal action.

Politico published the proposed plea deal, as well as a diversion agreement.

As Breitbart News noted last month, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay income tax, and to participate in a diversion program for the felony of unlawful possession of a firearm while addicted to drugs.

The plea deal also includes an extensive statement of facts relating to Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals, profligate spending, and former drug habits.

The diversion deal includes the following controversial statement:

The United States agrees not to criminally prosecute Biden, outside of the terms of the Agreement, for any federal crimes encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts (Attachment A) and the Statement of Facts attached as Exhibit 1 to the Memorandum of Plea Agreement filed this same day.

Effectively, that would have immunized Hunter Biden against any prosecution related to his past financial dealings, including the accusation that he failed to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

That, in turn, could allow Hunter Biden to refuse to cooperate with investigators, and could have shielded his father, President Biden, from the discovery of further evidence that might emerge in additional prosecution.

It was this paragraph that apparently caused U.S. Judge Maryellen Noreika to balk at approving the plea deal, especially when neither the prosecution nor the defense could provide a legal precedent for such an agreement.

Former federal prosecutor Will Scharf, who is currently running for attorney general in Missouri, had predicted exactly what later emerged — that the immunity clause had been hidden in the diversion agreement.

He posted: “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.”

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:…

— Will Scharf (@willscharf) July 26, 2023

Judge Noreika gave both sides 30 days to reach a new deal. In the meantime, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.