1 year ago
Hunter Biden’s attorney suggested Sunday that it was political pressure, not new evidence, that torpedoed the president’s son’s plea deal last month.
The son of President Joe Biden was set to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion agreement related to a felony gun charge last month. But the agreement hit a roadblock during the federal court hearing, and the judge in Delaware ultimately declined to approve the deal.
Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Sunday that there were three possibilities for what went wrong.
“One, they wrote something and weren't clear what they meant; two, they knew what they meant and misstated it to counsel; or, third, they changed their view as they were standing in court in Delaware,” Lowell said of the prosecutors during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“One of the possibilities is the prosecutor stood up and decided for lots of reasons that might be apparent to the viewer, they didn't like what people were saying about the deal they approved,” Lowell added later.
Investigations into the business dealings and personal conduct of Hunter Biden have lasted five years. On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland granted special counsel status to David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who has overseen the probe.
After years of scrutiny, Lowell said Sunday that he does not believe new evidence against his client will emerge — and suggested that if Weiss’ findings do change, it will not be because of facts but because of political pressure from the right.
“I'm confident that if this prosecutor has done what has been done for the last five years, then the only conclusion can be what the conclusion was on July 26th,” Lowell said. “There's no new evidence to be found.”
“People should keep in mind," Lowell said, "that while Mr. Weiss' title changed last week, he's the same person he's been for the last five years. He's a Republican U.S. attorney appointed by a Republican president and attorney general who had career prosecutors working this case for five years looking at every transaction that Hunter was involved in. … if anything changes from his conclusion, which was two tax misdemeanors and a diverted gun charge, the question should be asked, what infected the process that was not the facts in the law?”
English (US)