When asked if President Joe Biden will pardon his son, Hunter, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said, “No.”
Hunter Biden is currently facing charges after failing to pay taxes on more than $1.5 million in income tax.
Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges, but U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika raised concerns about the terms after finding a deal that would allow Biden to avoid prosecution on a gun charge.
Lawyers would have wanted Noreika to determine if Hunter violated the terms of the original agreement, to which Noreika said the task belongs to the Justice Department.
According to Jessia Tillipman, the associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School, “They are going to have to go back and figure out how they can come to an agreement terms of the plea and they have to come to a meeting of the minds, which is clear they don’t have here.”
The tax charges may result in up to a year in prison.
Noreika said she cannot yet confirm if probation will be something to consider, explaining, “I can’t predict for you today whether that is an appropriate sentence or not. I can’t say that I will accept the sentence recommendation or whether a different sentence would be more appropriate.”
Reporting from Newsmax:
“The judge did the obvious thing, they put a pause on the plea deal, so I think that was progress,” Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Wednesday. “I think it adds credibility to what we’re doing.” He added that this will only propel their investigation to get answers “as to what the family did, and what level of involvement the president had.”
