Hunter Biden’s attorney on Sunday criticized Justice Department (DOJ) prosecutors for changing “their decision on the fly” regarding a plea agreement reached between federal prosecutors and the president’s son, a deal that was ultimately put on hold after a hearing last month.
Abbe Lowell, who represents Biden, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that there were three possibilities for why both sides didn’t leave a July 26 hearing with a plea deal secured by a judge.
“One, they wrote something and weren’t clear what they meant. Two, they knew what they meant and misstated it to counsel. Or third, they change their view as they were standing in court in Delaware,” Lowell said, speaking of the DOJ prosecutors.
When pressed further by CBS’s Margaret Brennan on whether he thought the prosecutors were “incompetent,” he wouldn’t use that characterization.
He instead said prosecutors “changed their decision on the fly standing up in court.”
Hunter Biden’s plea deal involving tax and gun charges was put on hold last month after the judge presiding over the case questioned the parameters of the agreement reached with the Justice Department.
President Biden’s son was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay income taxes as part of a deal announced last month with the DOJ, but instead pleaded not guilty after the plea deal was placed on hold.
The proceedings took an unusual turn, in that the deal reached between both sides appeared to fall apart during the court proceedings.