Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, arrives at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A lawyer for Hunter Biden asked a federal judge Tuesday for permission to withdraw from the case, citing the likelihood he will be a witness to failed plea negotiations in the criminal case against the son of President Joe Biden.
The withdrawal bid by attorney Chris Clark in U.S. District Court in Delaware came a day after the lawyer Abbe Lowell entered an appearance to represent Hunter Biden in the case, where he is accused of misdemeanor tax crimes and a felony gun-related charge.
And it followed a court filing Monday by Hunter’s legal team alleging that federal prosecutors reneged on the plea deal they had offered in the case.
That deal would have included a recommendation that Hunter receive no jail sentence on the tax crimes, and that he be granted a pretrial diversion agreement on the gun charge, which ultimately could have ended with that count being dropped, and no conviction on his record.
Chris Clark, attorney for Hunter Biden, speaking on MSNBC.
MSNBC
Clark’s withdrawal request is based on the possibility that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware will now oppose the diversion agreement and any other offers related to the tax crimes.
In a filing over the weekend, Hunter’s lawyers wrote that the diversion agreement is “valid and binding.” A federal judge has asked U.S. Attorney David Weiss to respond to that filing.
In his withdrawal request, Clark said his stepping down from the case “is necessitated by recent developments in the matter.”
“Pursuant to Delaware Rule of Professional Conduct 3.7(a), ‘a lawyer shall not act as advocate at a trial in
which the lawyer is likely to be a necessary witness unless … disqualification of the lawyer would
work substantial hardship on the client,'” Clark wrote.
“It appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues,” the filing said. “Under the ‘witness-advocate’ rule, it is inadvisable for Mr. Clark to continue as counsel in this case.”
Clark noted that Hunter will continue to be represented by other lawyers in the case, so his withdrawal “will no cause a substantial hardship to Mr. Biden.”
Hunter Biden appeared in court on July 26 prepared to plead guilty to two counts of failure to pay federal income taxes on annual income of more than $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018. He also expected to sign a diversion agreement, which related to his charge of possessing a gun while being a user and addict of illegal drugs, approved by Judge Maryellen Noreika.
But that plan fell apart when Noreika questioned prosecutors about the terms of the entire deal, and the condition that she, and not the Department of Justice, be the one to decide whether Hunter was complying with the conditions of the gun charge diversion over a two-year period.
The judge then gave prosecutors and Hunter’s lawyers time to resolve her questions before returning to court. Hunter left court after pleading not guilty to the tax charges.
But these renewed plea talks failed, and Weiss last week requested to be appointed special counsel in the case by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a sign he could move to charge Hunter with other crimes.
Garland granted Weiss’s request. The prosecutor in a court filing then said Hunter would likely face trial in California or Washington, D.C., and that he might be hit with other counts.
Clark in response, said at the time, “We are confident when all of these maneuverings are at an end my client will have resolution and will be moving on with his life successfully.”
Weiss’ moves last week have been eyed skeptically by Republicans.
Republicans in Congress, some of whom initially sought Weiss’s appointment last year as special counsel in the case, now claim he gave Hunter a sweetheart plea deal and therefor cannot be trusted.
This is in spite of the the fact that Weiss was appointed U.S. Attorney by Republican former President Donald Trump.
They also fear that Weiss’s new special counsel status will effectively halt longstanding efforts by several GOP-led House committees to secure documents and testimony related to Hunter Biden’s case.