House Panels to Investigate Hunter Biden Plea Deal

The Republican heads of three House committees on Monday announced in a letter that they will investigate the circumstances surrounding Hunter Biden’s recent failed plea deal, The New York Post reports.

The letter, signed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., was sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday morning, less than one week after Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the plea deal after describing it as “not standard” and questioning the deal’s diversion agreement.

“The Department’s unusual plea and pretrial diversion agreements with Mr. Biden raise serious concerns — especially when combined with recent whistleblower allegations — that the Department has provided preferential treatment toward Mr. Biden in the course of its investigation and proposed resolution of his alleged criminal conduct,” the letter reads.

The committee heads add that they are “concerned that, contrary to its representations to the Judiciary Committee, the Department may be claiming that other investigations into Mr. Biden are ongoing to shield the Department from Congressional oversight about this matter.”

The letter continues, “In that regard, it was notable that Mr. Biden’s counsel stated at the hearing that it was his understanding that the immunity provision in the pretrial diversion agreement would preclude the Department from bringing charges against Mr. Biden under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

They add, “While the Department did not agree with that position, it is difficult to understand how the parties would not have a meeting of the minds regarding a clause of the agreement as fundamental as the scope of the immunity provision, and it raises questions about what discussions have taken place between the Department and Mr. Biden’s counsel regarding the status of those investigations.”

The committee heads also list various questions that they request the Department answer mostly concerning how many times the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware has made similar diversion agreements in the last 10 years, and whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office or Hunter Biden’s attorneys suggested “placing in the pretrial diversion agreement immunity for conduct described in the plea agreement?”

The panel heads also request “A generalized description of the nature of the Department’s ongoing investigation(s) concerning Hunter Biden” and “An explanation of why the Department originally agreed to a plea agreement if other investigation(s) concerning Hunter Biden are ongoing.”