Well, I've gotta be honest. I didn't see this one coming.
It's been a busy day in Delaware and, after several back and forths between the Hunter Biden defense team and U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, Hunter Biden has chosen to plead NOT GUILTY after his sweetheart deal turned sour.
He rejected the plea bargain.
The judge would not agree to an amended plea deal and refused to let Hunter walk away with a deal granting him an extreme level of immunity for his crimes.
Before this morning, everyone expected Hunter to waltz into court, plead guilty to the tax and gun charges brought by the DoJ, and walk out no worse for the wear.
Then, shortly after getting to court, the plea deal appeared to have completely fallen apart.
CNN:
Fox reported the same:
The plea deal apparently began to fall through because it would let Hunter get away with charges related to these cases in the future, particularly in relation to his gun charge.
From NBC:
There were questions about whether the gun charge was tied to the plea deal.
(Judge) Noreika asked if there were more serious charges that could still be brought and the prosecutors and Hunter Biden's lawyer both said there were not.
Noreika later asked if the investigation was ongoing, to which Weiss responded that it was, but said he could not share any further details.
Hunter is still under investigation for this gun charge, but the plea deal as it stands would render any further charges related to it moot.
The judge isn't going for it.
Hunter Biden's team came back to an amended plea deal which would have Hunter plead guilty to the crimes he's being charged with today, but would keep the door open for future prosecution, but that fell apart too.
Even this deal, which let Hunter walk away without going to jail, wasn't good enough for Hunter and his pals.
