'Astonishing': Ex-prosecutor stunned by 'remarkably rare' chaos that scuttled Hunter Biden plea deal
In a stunning twist of events, Hunter Biden's plea agreement related to his federal tax and firearm charges fell apart on Wednesday as prosecutors unexpectedly revealed they weren't foreclosing additional investigation and charges, with him entering talks with prosecutors about a new arrangement and a judge giving them a month to hammer out the details.
This sort of occurrence is incredibly unusual, said former federal prosecutor Elie Honig on CNN Wednesday — and represents a breakdown of communication between the parties.
"What do you make of what happened today?" asked anchor Bianna Golodryga. "How often is it that plea agreements like this fall apart?"
"It does happen sometimes in federal court. Sometimes a plea agreement will fall apart on the day of the plea in court," said Honig. "But when that happens, it is [usually] because the defendant gets cold feet and is unwilling or unable to admit his guilt in front of the judge. What happened here today is reparkablely rare and frankly sort of astonishing, that the parties would go into court, on a matter of this degree of importance, without a full agreement in place."
"It is not what Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to," added Honig. "There was no question to that. And the two tax charges and have the gun charge thrown out if he complies. They did not have an agreement about what else beyond that Hunter Biden was covered for. I could not begin to explain how the parties did not have that locked in place before they headed into court. But they didn't. And that is why the judge rejected it."
"She gave them 30 days," said Golodryga. "What happens next, Elie?"
"Either they reach an actual agreement as to the entire scope of this plea deal, in which case the judge seems likely to approve it as often happens in the normal course and if not this could head to trial and I mean the tax charges, I also mean that gun charge, which could carry jail time, plus potentially all of that other pending material that the judge alluded to today," said Honig. "So there is a lot of risk for Hunter Biden here if they don't get a deal done."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
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