Justified

The editors of the Washington Post believe that the plea deal signed onto by Hunter Biden was justified:

That Hunter Biden will not spend time behind bars if the deal goes through is by no means exoneration. He’s pleading guilty to misdemeanors instead of facing a smorgasbord of charges that might or might not have stuck in a court of law. His laptop that became public in 2020 showcased questionable behavior, including dealings with a Chinese energy company. What’s more, Mr. Weiss said the investigation “is ongoing,” which indicates that issues beyond the tax and gun crimes are still under scrutiny.

The outcome appears similar to what other defendants might have gotten for similar violations of the law. Prosecutors will recommend two years of probation in exchange for Hunter Biden pleading guilty to two misdemeanors related to failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018. He previously paid the IRS about $1.2 million to cover what he owed for unreported payments and gifts, a move to lessen his legal exposure.

Instead of pleading guilty to a gun charge, he will not contest the government’s allegations that he illegally owned a handgun in 2018 because he was simultaneously using illegal drugs. In exchange, he has agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program for substance abuse and remain clean for two years. Such diversion is routinely offered to nonviolent offenders with substance abuse struggles.

while the editors of the Wall Street Journal remain unconvinced:

One question is why Hunter faced only “willful” misdemeanor tax charges rather than felony count of “tax evasion”—given April news reports that Mr. Weiss’s office felt it had enough evidence for the latter. It’s true DOJ has rarely pursued “lie and buy” gun cases—a longtime complaint of progressive gun-control groups. But DOJ has elevated its focus in recent years, and other attorneys have bragged about their aggressive pursuit of such cases.

There’s also the testimony by Internal Revenue Service agent Gary Shapley, a 14-year-veteran who oversees a team specializing in international tax crimes. The whistleblower says his team was assigned to the Hunter case in early 2020, and he “immediately saw deviations from the normal process.”

He says “multiple steps” were “just completely not done” and that “each and every time” decisions “seemed to always benefit the subject.” Mr. Shapley says when he pushed back, his team was excluded—and later removed—

I’m satisfied with the deal on the tax evasion and gun charges. The open question is whether this plea deal closes the matter or not. As the WSJ editors note:

DOJ said in a press release Tuesday that the “investigation is ongoing.” But Hunter’s attorney said “it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.” Which is it? Mr. Weiss ought to clarify matters and cooperate with Congress to put any suspicion of favorable treatment to rest.

The issues which are not included in this plea deal are actually the more serious. They include bribery, money laundering, and being an unregistered foreign agent. If investigations of those additional matters are still ongoing, well and good. If this plea deal concludes the matter, it stinks.