CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said a trial for Hunter Biden is the only way to establish “credibility” into the outcome of his criminal charges.
Honig said the American public is likely to distrust the outcome of the younger Biden’s verdict since the bombshell testimony from whistleblowers with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in June that the Department of Justice (DOJ) lied when it said it would not interfere in the investigation into Biden.
“It may well be that any deal is never going to be accepted as fair, so if I’m in David Weiss’ shoes here, heaven help me, I would just say, ‘look, we’re charging everything we have. We’re not in a position to make a deal, it’ll go to trial and we’ll let the jury decide this.’ I think that’s the only way to restore any credibility to this matter,” Honig said.
Honig said the DOJ “made a real mess for themselves” due to allegations that the agency slow-walked the investigation by withholding certain pieces of evidence regarding Biden’s alleged tax violations in 2017 and 2018. They alleged the DOJ did not follow recommendations by agents to prosecute Hunter in relation to his alleged tax violations. (RELATED: ‘A Debacle For The Justice Department’: CNN Guest Criticizes Merrick Garland’s Handling Of Hunter Biden Probe)
Ziegler, who worked on the investigation until May 15, told the House Weaponization Committee in July that the DOJ blocked investigations from accessing a WhatsApp message sent by Hunter threatening a Chinese official that his father, then-former Vice President Joe Biden, was in the room with him.
Biden entered a June 20 plea deal with prosecutor David Weiss in which he agreed to plead guilty to the tax violations and for illegally purchasing a gun while under the influence of drugs. The initial deal agreed he would spend no time in jail if he pleaded guilty.
The plea deal fell through after Judge Maryellen Noreika refused to sign onto the agreement during a July 26 court appearance. The judge said the prosecution and defense teams did not agree on the scope of immunity tied to the first son, particularly on whether the DOJ could charge him on Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations in the future.
After the legal teams agreed to allow Biden to be prosecuted by the DOJ in the future, the first son changed his plea to not guilty.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as the special counsel to investigate Biden on Aug. 11.