There’s only so far you can push things. This is something people possessed of elementary prudence know down to their marrow, and it’s something sociopaths and people with impulse-control problems simply cannot learn. And this is the lesson of the Hunter Biden indictment handed down today. Hunter Biden was indicted today because he and his lawyers pushed things. They secured a sweetheart plea but when the terms of the deal suddenly looked rather less attractive to them than they had imagined—just minutes before it was all about to be formalized—they chose to blow up the deal. In so doing, they guaranteed that what happened today was going to happen.
Perhaps they thought that, since they had had the situation wired before—a slap on the wrist that they imagined would immunize him forever from any future trouble based on his past conduct—the powers that be would see to it that it would be wired again. But even a Justice Department bending itself over backwards and into a pretzel and then into a Gordian knot cannot allow a highly visible defendant to scrap his own plea deal without consequences.
A plea deal, after all, is based on the stipulation that the person who is pleading down did something illegal. If the deal is struck, even before it’s formally signed, it means the defendant has acknowledged his wrongdoing to the prosecutors who are his adversaries. A prosecutor can’t walk away from that. And a prosecutor sure can’t do that in a case involving the son of the President of the United States. Talk about establishing a dangerous precedent by acting irregularly in a high-profile case!
Special prosecutor David Weiss and the DOJ had no choice but to indict Hunter. The junior Biden had already confessed to them he was guilty! Hunter only walked away because he didn’t like the fact they would not agree to the idea that by making the deal he had somehow freed himself from scrutiny for all time. The walkaway did not erase the fact that, in a completed negotiation, Hunter Biden had acknowledged his guilt.
If the Justice Department were to have said, “Oh well, better luck next time, we’re moving on from this,” it would be establishing a precedent in the negotiation of plea deals the logical end result of which would be the end of all plea deals. I don’t even understand how on earth Hunter can defend himself in court, but then, I’m not a lawyer. On the other hand, his lawyers—and I say this prudentially—really, really stink. It was their job to see this coming and they didn’t. And they practically guaranteed a far worse outcome for him with their bizarre conduct in that Delaware courtroom.
Hey, look. On his way out the door, Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger. So let’s see Joe pardon Hunter. I dare him. I double-dog-dare him.
