The judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s plea deal reportedly torched the first son during his court appearance Wednesday.
CNN correspondent Kara Scannell, who was present in the courtroom, said Judge Maryellen Noreika confronted Hunter as the plea deal fell into jeopardy during the hearing. Noreika refused the initial plea deal to his tax misdemeanor charges agreed upon by the Department of Justice and Biden’s legal team, leading to a revised plea deal.
“We did hear a little bit about part of these charges that he’s pleading to is when he had told the judge he was already sober and she said to him, ‘You were sober, so why didn’t you pay your taxes?’ and he essentially said he had just become sober, his life was an enormous mess, he was trying to pick up the pieces and put it together, and that essentially fell through the cracks,” Scannell said.
Hunter changed his plea to “not guilty” during the hearing after the defense and prosecution reached a disagreement about the terms of the agreement. (RELATED: Hunter Biden Appears In Court For Tax Charges)
Noreika refused to sign onto the plea deal arguing the agreement between prosecutors with the Justice Department and the defense legal team did not clarify whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) could prosecute Biden for other crimes.