At a Delaware court on Wednesday, Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, pleaded not guilty to minor tax offenses after a deal with federal prosecutors fell apart.
Judge Maryellen Noreika’s unexpected intervention came when she raised issues about the validity of the original deal, in which Hunter Biden had agreed to enter a guilty plea and confess to illegal gun possession. This led the judge to place the initial agreement on hold.
Biden, who is 53 years old, has faced legal troubles that have cast a shadow over his father’s reelection campaign. Nonetheless, he reached an agreement with prosecutors that would result in probation for two counts of tax avoidance.
The terms of the deal specified that the firearms charge would be erased from his record if he followed through with a counseling-and-rehabilitation program.
US media sources indicated that the deal collapsed after Judge Noreika queried the inclusion of the gun charge in a tax case and expressed concerns about whether the plea agreement adequately safeguarded Biden from potential charges related to the ongoing investigation into his business dealings.
Read also: Biden’s Son, Hunter Strikes Plea Deal On Gun, Tax Charges
With the prosecutors unable to adequately address her inquiries, Noreika expressed her inability to accept the deal, prompting Biden to enter a not-guilty plea, which brought the session to a close.
As predicted, this outcome was anticipated to result in the deal being sent back for further negotiations, which could introduce more complexity to the process.
Noreika set a 30-day deadline for the two sides to report on their current standing.
While the proceedings were ongoing, prosecutor David Weiss confirmed to the court that his office is actively investigating other potential crimes related to Biden, but he did not go into further detail.
Among the matters brought up in court was the possible violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act concerning Biden’s business involvements in China, Ukraine, and other countries dating back to the early 2010s, while his father served as vice president.