Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to charges after judge questions revised plea deal

Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges Wednesday pending a judge's approval of a revised plea deal his lawyers hashed out with prosecutors in court after an initial deal collapsed.

Biden's original agreement to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges fell apart amid a dispute over how his plea would impact an ongoing government investigation, NBC News reported.

The 53-year-old Biden had initially appeared in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, to enter a guilty plea a month after federal prosecutors first revealed the criminal tax charges against him. His attorneys had reached a separate pretrial diversion agreement with prosecutors on an unrelated firearms charge, those court filings showed.

But that plan fell apart under scrutiny from Judge Maryellen Noreika about the details of the plea deal.

Prosecutors said the agreements on the tax and gun charges were distinct — but during the hearing, Hunter Biden said he wouldn't agree to plead guilty to the tax charges without the diversion program and dismissal of gun charges, according to NBC News reporters in the courtroom.

Noreika, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, had pressed the prosecutors with questions after they indicated that their investigation into Biden is ongoing. That answer appeared to prompt confusion about the possibility that more charges could be brought down the road — a situation Biden's attorneys said they had not agreed to.

Noreika put the proceedings on hold as she asked the parties to work out their dispute.

After 1 p.m. ET, Biden entered a plea of not guilty, pending the approval of a revised plea deal. Noreika said she wanted written answers to certain provisions in the new agreement, and had concerns about her role in the proposed deal.

The breakdown in court marked the latest development in the controversies surrounding Hunter Biden, who has dealt with substance abuse and other issues that have provided fodder for the president's Republican critics to investigate his son.

A White House spokeswoman responded to questions about Wednesday's courtroom drama by emphasizing that Hunter Biden was a private citizen and this was "a personal matter for him."

"The president, the first lady, they love their son and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life," Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a daily press briefing. "This case was handled independently, as all of you know, by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president," she said.

That prosecutor, U.S. Attorney David Weiss, revealed last month that the younger Biden agreed to plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. A court document detailing the charges alleged that Biden did not pay any federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018, despite having made more than $1.5 million annually and owing more than $100,000 in federal taxes each of those years.

The outstanding tax bill has already been repaid, NBC News reported, and Weiss agreed to recommend that Hunter Biden receive a sentence of probation for the tax crimes, rather than serve time behind bars.

Weiss had also offered Biden a pretrial diversion agreement on a separate felony charge of possessing a firearm as a user of illegal drugs, Weiss said. Biden in 2018 owned a Colt Cobra revolver "despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance," court documents said.

The gun charge carries a penalty of 10 years in prison, but the deal with prosecutors is expected to mean that Biden will avoid any jail time.

A lawyer for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republicans have balked at the pretrial diversion agreement, accusing the Justice Department of giving Biden preferential treatment because he is the president's son. They have also raised concerns about allegations from whistleblowers that Weiss had sought authority to charge Biden with broader charges than the ones that were ultimately made public.

The Justice Department has denied those allegations. Weiss has offered to testify before Congress this fall, the DOJ said in a letter Monday to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

On the eve of Wednesday's proceedings, House Republicans and conservative groups attempted to file briefs urging the judge to consider rejecting the plea agreement, citing allegations from whistleblowers about potential meddling in the case.