Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Deal Explained by Celebrity Lawyer

[Source: Fox News]

Celebrity lawyer Christopher C. Melcher, who is ranked as a best family law attorney in California, explains Hunter Biden‘s Sweetheart Deal to settle tax fraud and other charges against him for no expected jailtime on Fox News.

Now, first off, a lot of folks have heard about this case as it’s developing, but can we kind of go back to basics? Can you break down some of those allegations here against the President’s son?

Hunter Biden’s Charges

(00:12):

“Hunter Biden was charged with not reporting and paying taxes on substantial amounts of income for 2017 and 2018. There was a million and a half dollars in income, I believe each year, that he did not pay taxes on. So he was charged with this as a criminal offense, a felony by the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit. And this is very serious, because it’s a large amount of taxes. We all pay, hopefully, our tax burden. He didn’t do that, so they brought these charges against him, and ordinarily he would land in jail for something of that magnitude. But a plea agreement was announced with the US attorney who is in charge of prosecuting this matter for a plea agreement that would allow him to plead guilty, but probably not serve any jail time.

He was also charged with a gun offense because he’s admittedly was addicted to or using crack cocaine at the time that he purchased a firearm. One of the questions that you have to answer when you purchase a gun is whether you’re addicted to these kinds of substances-and he said no. And so he acquired that gun and was in possession of it when he was admittedly was addicted to crack cocaine. He’s now in some kind of diversion program where he will not do any jail time for that offense,” states Christopher C. Melcher who is ranked as a best family law attorney in California and is a partner of top family law firm Walzer Melcher Yoda LLP.

Host (01:40):

And the hearing that is set is a combined initial appearance, but also a plea agreement hearing. How is that likely to all play out?

What Will Happen in Court

(01:49):

“So what happens is, is that he’ll be brought into court. He has to personally appear before the judge. The judge will listen to what the prosecutor has to say here about this plea agreement. And then the judge will inquire of Hunter whether he agrees to this, whether it’s voluntary, whether he understands all of the conditions of this agreement. It’s up to the judge to accept or reject a plea agreement. So the judge will inquire that there is a factual basis for this plea, and the judge could reject it, but ordinarily will go along with what the parties want. What is unknown is whether other charges could still be brought or being investigated. What the plea is, is to these tax offenses and to the gun charge. There may be other investigations going on that may be affected by this or not. We’re going to find that out during the plea,” explains the top family law attorney.

Host (02:48):

What are we talking about for a possible punishment here? Is it possible that the President’s son actually spends time in prison?

Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Deal

(02:57):

“It’s my understanding of the plea agreement that he would not do jail time as a result of this. There is a lot of discussion about whether that’s a sweetheart deal or whether that’s appropriate under the circumstances. These are all nuanced and depend on the circumstances here. He was addicted to drugs, so some might view that as a mitigating factor, meaning that he should somehow get an excuse for this. In my mind, there’s an aggravating factor that he was an attorney at the time. He’s taken an oath to and certainly knows the law, so he should be held to a high standard. And then certainly being a member of a prominent political family who would also know the importance of paying taxes and the consequences of lying on your tax returns. So to me, those look like aggravating factors,” states family law expert Chris Melcher.

David Weiss in Charge of Investigation

(03:47):

“But this is a US attorney out of Delaware that was appointed by President Trump that was held over after the change of presidency to continue prosecuting this. That is David Weiss out of Delaware and U.S. Attorney Weiss said that he was given free rein over what charges to bring and what district to bring them in- and certainly over the plea agreement. Now we’ve heard information contrary to that recently. So that’s going to have to be looked into to see how did this plea agreement really come about?”

Host (04:23):

And we’ve heard a lot recently about this whistleblower situation. You have his attorney responding to testimony from the IRS whistleblower who claims that the agency actually obtained a WhatsApp message in which the President’s son invoked his father’s name. How does that play a role in any of this legally speaking? Is it going to be factored in? Is it just something that is just kind of making headlines but really doesn’t have any sort of legal impact?

Hunter’s Threatening WhatsApp Messages

(04:52):

“Well, Josh, this is really concerning. And so there were messages by Hunter Biden invoking his father’s name and basically threatening this person that he was contacting to cut him in on some kind of deal, and that if he didn’t do that, his father would be upset. Now President Biden has responded to that through his office, basically, I think discounting the credibility of his own son saying that, you know, Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine using crack cocaine at that moment probably, and therefore is not a reliable witness and was, I guess, acting on his own accord and just completely out of control or out of his mind on drugs. So that’s the explanation for it. The charges that he’s going to be pleading guilty to do not directly relate to that. So that might be part of an ongoing investigation. David Weiss had the U.S. attorney in Delaware mention something about further investigations, so we’re unclear of other aspects of Hunter’s criminal problems that might go on beyond Monday,” states Chris Melcher, international family law attorney.

Host (06:05):

What role, if any, does his Father being the President play in in any of this? Does he get, I don’t know, any kind of special treatment, just in your opinion and what you’ve seen legally speaking? Or is that just another fact that, hey, this guy’s father happens to be the U.S. president?

(06:24):

“Well, it shouldn’t make a difference. We have one justice system and it should apply to all of us equally, but we know realistically that that’s not the case. That people of money and privilege tend to do a lot better in criminal court. We’ve also seen though people that are have high profiles might face charges that the ordinary person might not. So, you know, this can work both ways. I think that here the importance for us, as the public, is to fully understand what happened, because transparency is extraordinarily important to make sure that our government’s working properly. And the press is really at the forefront of that to ask these questions and not just accept what we’re being told. And here we’re giving conflicting stories by the Justice Department saying that there was absolutely no interference. In David Weiss’s investigation (the US attorney of Delaware) confirmed that in writing that he had full authority. But now we’re hearing from others that David Weiss was interfered with or restrained in what he could do. So, we need to know the answers to that. Wherever it winds up, it just needs to be examined.

Host (07:43):

My last question for you here, we did learn about the charges being announced, but also the agreement itself having already been reached for the most part there. Is it normal to have both of those kind of happen at the same time?

Hunter Biden’s Court Settlements

(07:56):

“It, it is. When people have lawyers, they will generally communicate with the prosecutor on a pre-filing basis. So there’s nothing really out of the ordinary of that. I think it’s good communication to have people work stuff out. I don’t find anything unique about that under this circumstance. Many times a prosecutor will reach out to defense counsel pre-filing and see if something could be worked out and it’s the defendant and the prosecutor’s right to reject that or make a deal,” stated the high net worth family law attorney.

Host (08:27):

Alright. Christopher C. Melcher there, legal analyst. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Anything else that you want to add about that before I let you go?

(08:36):

“We also have the child support case that was settled. So there was a relationship there between the child support case that he brought – but he’s also settled that case also. So basically all within one week he’s attempting to clear all of his legal problems,” stated Chris Melcher, a top California family lawyer.