Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett praised United States District Judge Maryellen Noreika for rejecting a plea deal federal prosecutors reached with Hunter Biden Wednesday, saying it was “insidious and dishonest.”
Biden pleaded not guilty to all charges after a plea bargain collapsed when Noreika rejected both the initial plea deal and a more limited revision Wednesday. Congressional Republicans, candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2024 and legal experts all criticized the plea agreement announced June 20, with some calling it a “sweetheart deal.” (RELATED: ‘I Hope The House Does Proceed’: Ron Johnson Says Hunter Biden Should Be ‘Concerned’ About House Investigation)
“It was blanket immunity and what is so insidious and dishonest, Larry, is how prosecutors tried to hide it, not just from the American public, but from the judge. They concealed it, not where it belonged in the plea agreement itself, but rather in the diversionary program document which they didn’t give the judge until literally the outset of the hearing, hoping they could slip it to her, this gift to Hunter Biden and she would just rubber stamp it and sign it without reading,” Jarrett told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow.
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Noreika, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump in 2017, questioned the terms of the diversion agreement on the felony gun charge during Wednesday’s hearing, causing the deal to fall apart when prosecutors and Biden’s defense attorneys couldn’t agree if potential charges under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) would be precluded by the agreement.
“Well, she knew better. She knew what was going on and she read it and she asked a lot of penetrating pointed questions at the prosecutor. She said ‘Look, I’m reading this immunity thing. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Is there any precedence for this?’ And the prosecutor sheepishly answered ‘Well, no, it is unprecedented,’ and then she said ‘If this is an ongoing investigation as you publicly claim, then why are you now negotiating a plea deal?’” Jarrett continued.
Two Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Zeigler testified about interference with the investigation into Biden during a July 19 hearing held by the House Oversight Committee.
“This is not an adversarial relationship between defense counsel and prosecution counsel, this is the same team playing on the same side to cover up not only the initial crimes, but the crimes of the Justice Department for slow-walking and obfuscating and obstructing justice,” Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said.
“Like I said, who knows how far this is going to lead us, this investigation, but they have been stymieing us at every level and look, the speaker talked about an impeachment proceeding and that will hopefully open up things so that we can quickly get to the answers here,” Perry continued.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called for an impeachment inquiry Tuesday following revelations from the two IRS whistleblowers.
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