2023-08-16 00:49:11
The decision by the lawyer, Christopher J. Clark, is the latest development in the long negotiation between the Department of Justice and Hunter Biden.
The attorney who represented Hunter Biden in settlement negotiations to end a five-year Justice Department investigation into gun possession and tax crimes resigned early today, saying he intends to testify on behalf of the son. of the president.
The decision by the lawyer, Christopher Clark, is the latest development in the long negotiation – which has now degenerated into a dispute – between the Justice Department and Hunter Biden.
The department has said that a substantial part of the plea agreement is no longer valid and suggested in court documents that it could indict Hunter Biden. Clark now maintains that Hunter Biden will need him as a witness to show that the department is trying to back out of a legally binding agreement meant to end the federal investigation for good.
“Based on recent events, it appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and a side agreement will be disputed, and Mr. Clark is a perceptive witness to those issues,” a new attorney for Hunter Biden said in a motion filed in a federal court in Delaware on Tuesday.
This week, Abbe Lowell, a veteran Washington attorney who has represented a wide range of clients, including Jared Kushner, filed court documents indicating he is now representing Hunter Biden in the case.
Clark has represented Hunter Biden for several years as Trump-appointed US Attorney in Delaware David Weiss investigated a number of matters in his life, including his finances, foreign dealings and drug use. This spring, Clark entered into lengthy and complex negotiations with Weiss’s office over a deal that would end the investigation and give Hunter Biden immunity from future prosecution.
Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two lesser charges of tax evasion stemming from his lucrative consulting work on behalf of companies in Ukraine and China during a period when he was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
The key element was his agreement to enroll in a two-year regeneration program for nonviolent firearms offenders that included a provision granting him broad immunity from further criminal prosecution for any crimes resulting from his activities during that period.
But at a hearing late last month, when the deal was supposed to be finalized, the judge suggested both sides were trying to get her to “pass with a blank check” a deal she believed to be legally and constitutionally problematic.
This created a wedge between the prosecution and Hunter Biden’s team, led by Clark, over what their deal covered. Weiss requested last week to be appointed special counsel in the matter, to which Attorney General Merrick Garland agreed.
On Sunday, Hunter Biden told Judge Maryellen Noreika that the Justice Department was trying to back out of a major part of the agreement and asked her to enforce it. She could make a decision on that as soon as Tuesday.
Republicans have criticized the deal as too favorable to Hunter Biden, and Weiss’s office said a substantial part of it — including the immunity provision — was no longer valid. Hunter Biden told a federal court Monday that his position is that he’s still standing and he intends to abide by it.
Weiss has said he will seek to indict Hunter Biden on tax charges, though it is unclear what he will do with the gun possession charge.
A lawyer may become a witness for a client if they have observed or participated in a legal dispute that ultimately must go before a judge or jury. Sometimes lawyers stop representing their client to act as witnesses, presenting facts in court and not as legal advocates.
“Under the ‘witness-counsel’ rule, it is not advisable for Mr. Clark to continue as counsel in this case,” Hunter Biden’s new legal team added. “The withdrawal will not cause substantial hardship for Mr. Biden because attorneys for the other firms that have filed an appearance will continue to represent Mr. Biden in this matter.”
By stepping down, Clark will no longer have to deal with an increasingly crowded — and mixed-opinion — cast of characters surrounding the president’s son.
One of Hunter Biden’s top advisers is a Hollywood lawyer named Kevin Morris, who made money brokering the licensing deal for the cartoon “South Park.” Morris lent Hunter Biden money to pay his taxes and has since become a key voice at the table telling him how to handle his high-stakes legal and public relations issues.
Last year, Hunter Biden hired Lowell to represent him in investigations by House Republicans into his conduct. He was present at Hunter Biden’s failed plea hearing last month, watching the proceedings from the visitors’ gallery, sitting behind Clark, who sat next to Hunter Biden at the defense table.
Many in the president’s circle have questioned the hiring of Lowell, who represented Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, when the Justice Department investigated an alleged scheme to offer a bribe for leniency when Trump was president.
Michael S. Schmidt y Glenn Thrush – The New York Times
Read the original article here.
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