The Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted during Wednesday’s hearing that there is no precedent for the aspect of Hunter Biden’s pretrial diversion agreement that prevented prosecution for crimes unrelated to the case, according to the transcript.
The deal — which the judge declined to accept Wednesday — involved two documents: a plea deal for two misdemeanor tax charges and a diversion agreement allowing him to avoid jail time for a felony gun charge. The provision in question by the judge was paragraph 15 of the diversion agreement, which affirmed that the United States would not prosecute Hunter Biden for any crime “encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts” in the diversion agreement or plea deal, according to the written deal obtained by Politico.
Under Judge Maryellen Noreika’s questioning, DOJ prosecutor Leo Wise confirmed he was “not aware” of precedent for a plea agreement that agrees not to prosecute future crimes unrelated to the case or diverted charges, according to the hearing transcript.
Moreover, the judge saw from the beginning that the plea deal was unusual, noting early on that there are “some provisions in those agreements that are not standard and are different from what I normally see.”
“So have you ever seen — I think I just asked you this, but have you ever seen a Diversion Agreement where the agreement not to prosecute is so broad that it encompasses crimes in a different case?” the judge asked.
“No,” Wise replied. “And I would say, Your Honor, I don’t think it is broad in the sense that — ”
“We’re going to talk about that. You can sit down,” the judge interjected.
Moreover, at another point, Wise affirmed there is an “ongoing” investigation into Hunter Biden. He answered “yes” when the judge asked whether the government could bring a charge under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
Under FARA, Hunter Biden could be required to register as a foreign agent for his businesses dealings in Ukraine and China.
Hunter Biden was appointed to the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2014. The company’s CEO, Mykola Zlochevsky, told a confidential FBI source Bien was appointed to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems,” according to an FBI report released last week by Republican congress members.
Additionally, CCP-linked CEFC China Energy paid around $5 million to business linked to Hunter Biden in 2017, according to a Senate report, in transactions that Republicans have alleged were for the purpose of influence peddling.
According to the plea agreement, in 2017 Hunter earned “just under $1 million from a company he formed with the CEO of a Chinese business conglomerate; $666,666 from his domestic business interests; approximately $664,000 from a Chinese infrastructure investment company; $500,000 in director’s fees from a Ukrainian energy company; $70,000 relating to a Romanian business; and $48,000 from the multi-national law firm.”
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