House Republicans launched an investigation Monday into how the Justice Department bungled a plea deal with Hunter Biden so badly that a judge sent them back for a mulligan.
The committees conducting the probe said several parts of the agreement were “atypical,” to the point where the federal prosecutor who led the defense had to admit under questioning that there was no precedent for this kind of arrangement.
Among the aberrations were one provision that ruled out future prosecutions on other crimes beyond the scope of the current case, and another provision that limited the government’s ability to prosecute Mr. Biden should he violate the terms of the deal.
The committee chairmen, in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanded to know how the bizarre arrangement was reached and whether it was the Justice Department or Mr. Biden’s lawyers that first suggested the unusual arrangement.
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 President Biden’s son in the course of its investigation and proposed resolution of his alleged criminal conduct,” wrote Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith and Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer.
The letter was first reported by The New York Post.
Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and to enter into a diversion program for a firearms felony charge.
He came to federal court in Delaware last week to officially enter his plea, but U.S. District Maryellen Noreika Judge poked holes in the deal, saying she’d never seen an agreement that limited prosecutors’ future ability to bring charges in this way.
When she asked the government’s special assistant U.S. attorney about it and the prosecutor admitted he’d never seen another court bless this type of arrangement.
“That seems like it’s getting outside of my lane in terms of what I am allowed to do,” she said.
