Hunter Biden
A longtime attorney and criminal-defense expert, with a record of writing critically about favoritism Hunter Biden has received in his tax and gun-possession cases, says he was shocked after reviewing documents related to Biden's plea deal.
Donald Watkins, who spent most of his career in Alabama and now lives in California, writes at his Web site under the headline "Hunter Biden's Plea Deal Explained":
Thanks to outstanding reporting yesterday from Politico, we now know what was in Hunter Biden’s Plea Agreement and Pretrial Diversion Agreement.
During my 46-year legal career, I have seen hundreds of plea agreements and quite a few pretrial diversion agreements in federal criminal cases. However, Hunter Biden’s plea deal documents truly shocked me. They exemplified a level of favoritism and preferential treatment that I have never seen before.
I am explaining these agreements in this article because no ordinary American citizen in a similarly situated circumstance will ever get Hunter Biden's plea deal.
Watkins warns his readers that if they ever find themselves in criminal hot water, they should not expect to get a plea deal like Hunter biden received. Writes Watkins:
An exhibit to the Pretrial Diversion Agreement described Hunter Biden’s crack and powder cocaine drug addiction since 2016. At times, this addiction caused Hunter Biden to get high as often as every 15 minutes.
Hunter Biden was hooked on crack and powder cocaine. He has been in and out of outpatient drug treatment facilities for years.
Hunter Biden now claims that he got sober in May of 2019, and he has been sober since.
However, there is no mention in the Statement of Facts accompanying the Plea Agreement that Hunter Biden has been regularly tested for cocaine use since 2019. Appropriate drug testing would have confirmed whether Biden is sober, or not (as of yesterday).
Furthermore, there is no mention whatsoever of whether Hunter Biden was tested for and cleared of any drug abuse after powder cocaine was found in the White House during the 4th of July weekend. Hunter Biden was staying at the White House during this period of time.
Finally, the Plea Agreement is completely silent on how the government corroborated Hunter Biden's self-asserted claim that he has been sober since 2019.
Perhaps the issue that jumps out most to Watkins is Biden's possession of a firearm while using crack cocaine:
On October 12, 2018, Hunter Biden purchased a firearm and ammunition that federal law prohibited him from possessing. Biden lied about his drug use on the ATF form that was required for his purchase of the firearm from a licensed gun dealer.
During the time Hunter Biden purchased and possessed the firearm, he also purchased and smoked crack cocaine on a regular basis. Hunter Biden also brandished the firearm in the presence of those who engaged in his orgy of illegal drug use, prostitution, and sexual debauchery.
On October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden's firearm was located in his car, along with drug remnants and paraphernalia. The firearm was subsequently discarded in a trash can outside a supermarket in Greenville, Delaware. It was later recovered by law enforcement.
The outlook for a regular American under such circumstances would be dire, but Watkins sees little sign that Hunter Biden received anything approaching hard-ball treatment:
Nowhere in his Plea Agreement was Hunter Biden required to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in an effort to identify, arrest, and prosecute the drug dealers and sex traffickers who facilitated Biden's violations of federal criminal laws.
Furthermore, there is no mention of any contemplated obstruction of justice charge against Hunter Biden in connection with his act of discarding the firearm in a trash can.
In Section 15 of the Pretrial Diversion Agreement, the government agreed that it would NOT prosecute Hunter Biden for any of the uncharged criminal offenses encompassed within the broad scope of the Statement of Facts accompanying each agreement.
As expected, the Statement of Facts attached to each agreement supports a host of potential criminal offenses against Hunter Biden, including many offenses that arise from his work for Ukrainian and Chinese foreign nationals.
None of these potential offenses can be prosecuted, unless they are based upon Hunter Biden's future conduct.
As such, Section 15 is the government’s gift to Hunter Biden of a platinum “get out of jail free card" for some pretty serious felonies against him based upon his past conduct (i.e., criminal conspiracy; working as an unregistered agent for foreign nationals who sought to influence U.S. government policies; additional income tax-related charges arising from Hunter Biden's previously undisclosed foreign sources of income; obstruction of justice for discarding the gun in the trash can; etc.).
Finally, despite Hunter Biden's wide range of felony offenses, the government agreed to recommend that the judge sentenced him to "probation."
If you or I were facing such a laundry list of felony charges and potential felony charges, should we expect to receive a recommended sentence of "probation"? Watkins seems to be saying: "You would be wise not to count on that":
Hunter Biden did not need a lawyer to negotiate his plea deal. The Department of Justice effectively served as Biden's lawyer with its end-runs around the litany of felony statutes that would have landed Hunter Biden in federal prison for 10 or more years.
Hunter Biden's plea deal was the most egregious and aggressive “fix” of a federal criminal case I have seen in my entire legal career. This plea deal was an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It also dishonored the honest members of the federal law-enforcement community.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika stopped the “fix" in Hunter Biden's criminal case. Going forward, Judge Noreika must do everything within her power to protect and promote the fair administration of our federal criminal laws in Delaware because the Department of Justice has abandoned this important function for the sole privilege of kissing Hunter Biden’s ass.
