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Another day, another Hunter Biden update. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules!
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A plea deal the younger Biden struck back in June would have required him to plead guilty to two charges of failing to pay taxes, in a standard agreement that requires judicial approval, and agree to a pretrial “diversion agreement”—under which he would admit to unlawful gun possession and agree to conditions such as not purchasing a firearm in the future, and not using drugs—in order to avoid actual charges of unlawful possession of a firearm.
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Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika—an appointee of disgraced former president Donald Trump—questioned the nature of the agreement, and in her line of inquiry uncovered the extent of the dispute between federal prosecutors and Biden’s lawyers over whether the agreement would protect him from the possibility of additional criminal charges. Noreika expressed her displeasure, saying that the lawyers had crafted a two-step plea deal that may not be reviewable or enforceable by the court. After that, the two sides worked together on a revised and limited plea deal. But Noreika then said she was not ready to accept the jointly revised agreement.
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Noreika accurately stated that the type of agreement reached between DOJ prosecutors and Biden’s attorneys is not typically approved by a judge, because a judge is not party to a diversion agreement, nor are judges generally responsible for pursuing criminal charges. Biden’s attorneys argued that his case has been politicized, and that the deal struck was meant to protect him from a biased prosecutor in the future. Noreika said she understood that argument but added that the agreement may be unconstitutional, and prosecutors could avoid it with traditional pleas or by leveling all of the charges against Biden.
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Clearly, this was never going to be a cut-and-dry tax evasion case.
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For now, the criminal charges laid out against Hunter Biden in the proposed plea deal are still active. Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss (also a Trump appointee!) continued to describe the federal investigation as ongoing, but would not reveal further details when pressed. Judge Noreika asked the younger Biden a series of questions to ensure that he understood the details of his agreement. He repeatedly responded in the affirmative, then detailed to the judge his history of drug abuse, how his addiction has ruined his business relationships, and that he has received in-patient treatment for drug and alcohol addiction at least six times in the past two decades.
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From the outset, Hunter’s case has been plagued with prosecutorial delay, and debate over whether he is being either treated too harshly or not harshly enough because he is a member of the First Family. The trial has also unlocked a latent—or in the case of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), very active—psychosis in many congressional Republicans, particularly members of the Freedom Caucus, who have spun anything Hunter-related into full-blown conspiracy theories. Just this week, members of the House GOP filed a brief with the court in the hope of torpedoing the plea agreement, in the naked (sorry) hope of prolonging the aroma of scandal around the Biden family, and maybe even getting Hunter into more trouble than he’s agreed to accept in order to hurt his dad. Sick people!
Ideally, Biden’s case should be handled swiftly and fairly, as if he were any other American, but his last name makes that prospect unlikely, not least because the GOP is out for blood. Regardless of outcome, Republicans will doubtless make Hunter one of their chief talking points for the next 16 months, because they want to neutralize their own, much more serious brushes with crime and corruption, and—as always bears repeating—they have nothing to offer the public apart from outrage at the president’s adult son, who has never held public office.
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In case you missed it, Lovett or Leave It is bringing the Errors Tour to New York City on July 27 and Philadelphia on July 28 with some amazing guests, including Jeanene Garafalo, Isaac Mizrahi, Mary Radzinski, R. Eric Thomas, and more! Head to crooked.com/events to get your tickets today!
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The ultra-wealthy using private “charitable foundations” as tax shelters for their personal fortunes is not a new practice in the United States. They may “sell” their art to be put on public display, or stocks to fund programs for charitable causes to get that sweet, sweet tax write-off. But a new ProPublica investigation reveals that some foundation donors have obtained millions of dollars in tax deductions without even pretending to hold up their end of the deal. Sometimes, the ultra-rich even personally benefit from donations meant for public use. Billionaires use their charitable foundations to buy real estate for themselves, designate their personal art collections as nonprofit museums, but never open them to the public, and so on. Unlike public charities, private foundations have very little oversight, and the individual donor or family retains a high degree of control long after the initial “donation.” It is—in theory, at least—illegal to make personal use of foundation assets or withhold them from public benefit. Unfortunately, the rules regarding what defines the public interest are vague, and Republicans have spent the better part of four decades defunding the IRS, so enforcement of the law has been scant. About 100,000 foundations file their tax returns each year, and the IRS only has the capacity to review about 225 of them. Across the United States, private foundations hold over $1 trillion in assets, so it’s all but certain that the amount of money being illegally sheltered in fraudulent foundations is beyond comprehension. Not tough to understand why Republican officials are constantly calling for the abolition of the IRS! So, thanks, Joe, for refunding the tax police.
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In a late-Tuesday court filing, former New York Mayor and full-time MAGA psycho Rudy Giuliani admitted that he made defamatory comments about two Georgia election workers, in an effort to resolve their lawsuit against him and stave off possible sanctions from a judge. He went so far as to specifically state that he “does not contest” that the statements he made about them were false. Well okay, then! In the filing, however, Giuliani still added that he plans to argue that his lies about voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 election were protected under the First Amendment. He also refused to concede that his lies caused damage to the two election workers in question, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. This filing doesn’t resolve the case against Mr. Scary Teeth, as the federal judge assigned to the case must still review the documents, which also attempt to explain why Giuliani didn’t search his records more thoroughly, but lawyers for the election workers called his admissions a “major milestone.” CNN legal analyst Elie Honig called this move by Giuliani a “desperate” attempt to “cut his losses here.” Almost like he knows there’s much worse out there than we already know, and he’s trying to keep it concealed. Whatever it is, we love to see it!
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