Hunter Biden’s lawyers threatened last year to put his father, President Joe Biden, on the witness stand if the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought charges for an illegal firearm purchase, Politico reported Saturday.
In October 2022, reports surfaced that federal prosecutors felt they had enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden over a false statement related to buying a gun, according to Politico, citing internal communications between Hunter’s legal team and the DOJ. Hunter Biden’s attorney Chris Clark wrote in a 32-page letter to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, arguing that the leak was “illegal,” and any charges brought would violate the Second Amendment and be viewed as a partisan attack.
“President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial,” Clark wrote in the letter obtained by Politico. “This of all cases justifies neither the spectacle of a sitting President testifying at a criminal trial nor the potential for a resulting Constitutional crisis.” (RELATED: ‘Incompetence Or Corruption’: Legal Experts Explain What Judge’s Refusal To Accept Hunter Biden Plea Deal Reveals)
Weiss did charge Hunter Biden with misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun charge, but only did so after first offering a more favorable deal that was later changed following the airing of an interview with an IRS whistleblower investigating Hunter, Politico reported. The initial deal would not have necessitated a guilty plea.
Weiss received sharp criticism for the final deal, which was still viewed as highly favorable and included a pretrial diversion agreement to protect the president’s son from being charged by the DOJ for potential crimes unrelated to the gun and tax charges.
I mean you gotta respect the brazenness of Hunter’s lawyers.
Threatening to call Joe Biden to the stand and calling it a “constitutional crisis” lolhttps://t.co/hT28w61SRB
— Michael Duncan (@MichaelDuncan) August 20, 2023
However, the plea deal collapsed in late July when the Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the deal’s immunity provision. The DOJ now expects the case to go to trial.
Weiss allegedly told lawmakers last fall that he didn’t have the ultimate authority when it came to which charges should or shouldn’t be brought against the president’s son, an email presented by IRS Whistleblower Gary Shapley revealed. Shapley further alleged that the DOJ had been slowing and obstructing the investigation into Hunter Biden.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel on Aug. 11 to continue the investigation into Hunter Biden. The move came after Weiss suggested to Garland that the case had reached the point to where he needed the new legal status to proceed.
Hunter’s lawyer and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment, and the DOJ pointed the DCNF to Weiss’ office for comment.
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