It appears Biden's attorneys tried to impersonate Congress

[Luvnit2]

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-bidens-counsel-faces-possible-sanctions-accusations-lying-criminal-tax-case

Hunter Biden's counsel faces possible sanctions after accusations of lying in criminal tax case
Hunter Biden's team has until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to respond

Hunter Biden's counsel is accused of avoiding proper court procedure to allegedly get information about IRS whistleblowers removed from the docket. Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their side.

Specifically, a lawyer from Hunter's legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking to remove amicus materials from the docket. She allegedly called to ask the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court.

[SunsetBengal]

Talk about stepping on a proverbial rake. HB attorneys appear to be about to discover the true meaning of FAFO...

[SunsetBengal]

Here's a more complete article, for clarity.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-says-hunter-biden-legal-team-apparently-misrepresented-identity-to-court-clerk/ar-AA1enQjw?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8c0a686d92b2485890d46fb1db2c51f4&ei=22

Quote:The judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s criminal case accused a member of his legal team of misrepresenting themselves to the clerk’s office, an unusual development that has raised the possibility of sanctions.

Biden’s lawyers insisted the debacle is a misunderstanding in court filings Tuesday night, saying they had not intentionally deceived anyone at the court.

At issue was an attempt by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) to block Biden’s plea agreement ahead of a Wednesday hearing. Smith filed documents on Tuesday urging the judge to consider recent testimony to Congress by IRS whistleblowers, who alleged Biden received preferential treatment.

Court filings indicate that Jessica Bengels, an administrative staff member at Latham & Watkins, a firm representing Biden, called a member of the court clerk’s office just before noon Tuesday seeking the documents’ removal from the public docket, saying they contained secret details including social security, taxpayer and grand jury information.

But U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is overseeing Biden’s case, later suggested Bengels had pretended to call from the committee chairman’s law firm. Noreika ordered Biden’s attorneys to submit in writing why they shouldn’t be sanctioned.

“It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the Clerk’s Office to remove the amicus materials from the docket,” Noreika, a Trump appointee, wrote in the order.

Responding to Noreika’s order Tuesday night, a Biden attorney said there was no misrepresentation.

“The matter under consideration appears to stem from an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication between a staff member at our firm and employees of the Court,” Matthew Salerno, the attorney, wrote in a letter to the judge.

Attached to the letter was a declaration from Bengels, written under penalty of perjury, in which Bengels said she first called a clerk named Julia to ask for guidance as to the procedures for restricting access to the private information.

Upon being asked by the clerk, Bengels said she provided the name of her law firm during the call and indicated the documents were filed by attorney Theodore Kittila’s firm, which represents the Republican committee chairman.

Twelve minutes later, Bengels said she received a call back from another court employee who said they would be removing the material from the docket. Bengels said she was “completely confident” she did not pretend to call from the other firm, although the second employee did not ask about who Bengels worked for.

“I believe there may have been some confusion when Julia passed the information on to the other Court employee, resulting in a mistaken understanding that I had called from Mr. Kittila’s firm,” Bengels wrote.

In court filings, Kittila said he was “deeply concerned” by the development and attached an email from the clerk’s office indicating Bengels had pretended to be calling from the other firm. He also pushed back on the need to seal the documents in question, saying they were already public before they were submitted to the court.

“The exhibits that were filed have been public since June 22, 2023, following an approved vote of the House Ways and Means Committee. Moreover, the documents that were made public were redacted by both counsel for the minority and the majority members of the Ways and Means Committee,” Kittila wrote.

The president’s son has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay taxes and avoid prosecution for possessing a gun while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance. The judge is set to preside over a plea hearing Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET.

[SunsetBengal]

Well, that didn't take long to result in some negative aftereffects.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hunter-biden-s-plea-deal-just-collapsed-in-court/ar-AA1eofu3?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7abf1ca03ae2474a8b5a9cedae079207&ei=30

Quote:Hunter Biden's plea deal with federal prosecutors fell apart at the last minute in a court hearing Wednesday.

The president's son was expected to plead guilty to two tax charges, as well as agree to seek treatment to have an additional gun charge dropped.

During Biden's plea hearing on Wednesday morning in Delaware federal court, US District Judge Maryellen Noreika asked Leo Wise, a top prosecutor in the case, whether the deal would mean Biden would get immunity for other possible crimes, according to the New York Times.

Prosecutors had reportedly examined whether Biden worked as an unregistered agent for foreign governments and other business dealings involving overseas companies. David Weiss, the US Attorney in Delaware overseeing the Biden case, has said the investigation is ongoing.

Wise said the plea deal wouldn't cover other potential crimes. At that point, according to the Times, Biden's lawyer said the plea agreement was "null and void."

In June, Biden's lawyers indicted he would agree to the plea on two tax charges. Hunter Biden reportedly failed to pay around $1.2 million in taxes in 2017 and 2018 but has since paid the IRS in full.

Prosecutors had also brought a gun charge against the president's son — alleging he was in possession of a firearm, which is against the law for unlawful drug users. They allowed Biden to enter a pretrial diversion program for the charge, allowing they'd drop it if he seeks treatment.

If the gun charge went to trial, it would carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

The tax charges that Biden admitted to stem from an investigation by David Weiss, the US Attorney in Delaware. He opened the investigation in 2018 during the administration of former President Donald Trump, who appointed him to the post. While US Attorneys typically resign with each new presidential administration, the Justice Department under Biden asked Weiss to remain in his role.

Republican politicians have sought to intervene in Biden's case. Some have been furious about what they call a "sweetheart deal" between the Justice Department and the president's son, and want more investigation into Biden's business in Europe and Asia. The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, filed a highly unusual brief asking the judge to seek more information about the case before deciding whether to accept a plea.

On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, the chairman of the powerful House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, tried to intervene in the proceedings by asking the judge to reject the plea deal. His filings cited testimony from two IRS employees who have said the investigation has been limited in scope due to political influence — accusations Weiss has publicly denied.

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Rep. Smith's filings kicked off some drama on the court docket. Noreika, an appointee of Trump, said in an order on Tuesday that an employee at Latham & Watkins, a law firm representing Hunter Biden, called the court and pretended to be a Republican lawyer in an attempt to convince the clerk to remove documents that Smith filed to court.

The law firm told the court that it was an "unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication" and does not warrant sanctions. Some accompanying documents in Smith's filings appeared to include Biden's personal tax information, the firm said.

The court clerk had removed the documents from the public record "on their own accord," the firm wrote.

The staffer in question filed her own affidavit, denying that she ever implied she worked for Smith's lawyer Ted Kittila, as accused.

"I am completely confident that I never indicated that I was calling from Mr. Kittila's firm or that I worked with him in any way," Jessica Bengels wrote in the affidavit.

This story is breaking and will be updated.