Hunter Biden’s plea deal has been put on pause after a judge expressed concerns about it and a connected arrangement called a pretrial diversion program on Wednesday.
In court, attorneys discussed the potential agreement in depth, but the papers themselves weren’t made available on the docket. They were acquired by POLITICO, which is posting them here.
Biden was going to enter a guilty plea to 2 misdemeanor tax charges over the proposed plea deal and diversion arrangement, and if he remained out of jail for 2 years, he could avoid penalty on a felony weapons charge.
However, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika queried the legitimacy of the diversion agreement and declined to approve the settlement, at least for the time being, during an emotional court hearing. In a few weeks, the matter will be brought up again in court by the attorneys.