Judge Hadn’t Reviewed IRS Whistleblower Transcripts Before Hunter’s Plea Deal Fell Apart

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika torpedoed Hunter Biden’s original plea deal without reviewing IRS whistleblower transcripts provided to the court by the House Ways and Means Committee, court records show.

During Hunter Biden’s court appearance on Wednesday, the judge said she did not have time to review the IRS whistleblower testimony provided by the committee, which she said might “cast doubt” on the Justice Department’s probe into Hunter Biden, according to the hearing transcript obtained by non-for-profit Marco Polo.

On Tuesday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) submitted a brief to the judge that argued she should reconsider the plea agreement in light of an IRS whistleblower’s recent claim the DOJ’s probe into Hunter Biden was politically influenced.

The brief was the center of the controversy over whether a member of Hunter Biden’s legal team “misrepresented her identity” to “improperly” convince the clerk to remove Smith’s brief from the docket.

“Yesterday, I received from third parties a letter with almost 900 pages of attachments in one case, and a memorandum of law with hundreds of more pages of exhibits in the other,” the judge told the court. “I have not had time to review those submissions.”

“Even though I have not been able to review the third-party submissions, I do understand that they request that I reject the plea agreement based on information that the filers submit cast doubt on the investigation performed or the charges brought or both,” she said.

The brief and the judge’s lack of time to review it before the hearing is notable because the original plea deal fell apart without the brief’s review. The original plea deal fell apart after the judge questioned if it covered future potential charges of the DOJ’s ongoing investigation. The prosecution said the deal did not include any future Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) charges against Hunter Biden.

Among the whistleblower’s allegations, they contend FARA violations were a part of the Hunter Biden criminal probe, warranting a special counsel. As Breitbart News reported, CEFC China Energy Co., a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), paid Hunter Biden a $1 million legal retainer and $3.8 million in consulting fees. Two months later, Hunter Biden told whistleblower Tony Bobulinski that he did not want to register as a foreign agent on behalf of CEFC.

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In addition, Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company, in which he earned $83,000 a month. During that relationship, Hunter Biden was possibly involved in a phone call between then-Vice President Joe Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, a National Archives email shows. Poroshenko was the Ukrainian politician that fired a prosecutor probing Burisma, and Joe Biden later bragged about the firing.

They allege the FBI’s investigation forewarned Hunter Biden of any future searches for materials that could be used as evidence. They say the DOJ twice prevented U.S. Prosecutor David Weiss from bringing stronger charges against Hunter Biden, that Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to name a special counsel in the tax investigation — which could have provided a degree of separation between Joe Biden and his DOJ — and that the IRS recommended charges against Hunter Biden that were not approved by Garland.

They also claim Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf refused to allow investigators to ask about Joe Biden being “the big guy.” Wolf allegedly cautioned the investigation team from searching Joe Biden’s guest house in Delaware for evidence against Hunter Biden because of “optics.”

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.