U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s proposed deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to tax charges and avoid a gun charge hit a snag on Wednesday when the judge in the case said she needed more time to review their agreement.
The news means that the younger Biden’s legal woes will continue to dog the president as he campaigns for re-election in 2024. His leading rival, former President Donald Trump, and Trump’s Republican allies in Congress had criticized the deal as unfairly favoring the president’s son.
The stunning turnabout came after what was expected to be a routine plea hearing turned into a three-hour affair featuring hushed negotiations between lawyers and pointed questions from U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s son “I cannot accept the plea agreement today,” she said, asking the parties to brief her on why she should accept it, meaning that Hunter Biden’s lawyers and prosecutors may yet persuade her to approve the deal as it was previously negotiated, or to alter it to a form she can accept. She said she did not want to “rubber stamp” a plea deal.
Hunter Biden at the hearing pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018 despite owing more than $100,000, prosecutors allege.
