Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas took to Twitter to sound off on Friday’s news that the Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to refile tax-related charges against Hunter Biden in a different venue after his plea deal fell apart in Delaware.
The DOJ announced Friday that it would voluntarily vacate two tax charges against Hunter Biden without prejudice in order to refile the charges in the Central District of California or in Washington, D.C, rather than in Delaware. Cotton suggested that the DOJ moved to refile the charges against President Joe Biden’s son so that a more sympathetic judge adjudicates the matter and signs off on a lenient deal with Hunter’s attorneys, weeks after Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected a plea deal in a Wilmington, Delaware, court in July that some legal experts described as a “joke” and a “sweetheart deal.”
“Biden’s DOJ wants to dismiss the charges against Hunter, supposedly to refile them elsewhere, no doubt before some liberal judge who will rubber-stamp a sweetheart deal,” Cotton wrote. “Remember, when Biden’s DOJ and Hunter’s lawyers meet, they’re not negotiating. They’re conspiring.” (RELATED: Devon Archer Says Kazakh Oligarch Wired Hunter Money For A Luxury Car Around The Time He Met Joe Biden In DC)
🚨Biden’s DOJ wants to dismiss the charges against Hunter, *supposedly* to refile them elsewhere, no doubt before some liberal judge who will rubber-stamp a sweetheart deal.
Remember, when Biden’s DOJ and Hunter’s lawyers meet, they’re not negotiating. They’re conspiring. pic.twitter.com/TjGEG8QOrJ
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) August 11, 2023
Hunter Biden stands accused of significantly underreporting his income in the 2010s to avoid paying at least $1.2 million in income taxes. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have testified to the House Ways & Means and Oversight committees regarding alleged obstruction in the DOJ’s Hunter Biden probe.
The Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, E. Martin Estrada, allegedly declined to take up charges against Hunter Biden in 2022. Estrada has previously donated to the campaigns of Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and also formerly served on the board of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, a left-wing legal organization.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has downplayed concerns of corruption in the DOJ in response to the whistleblower testimony that preceded the demise of Hunter’s “sweetheart” deal on tax charges, in which one provision would have effectively immunized him to investigations relating to potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The House Oversight Committee has been investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings in Ukraine, China, Romania and Kazakhstan in the mid- and late-2010s, as well as the possibility that Hunter and Joe Biden were involved in an alleged “influence peddling” scheme to enrich themselves. His father, who was vice president for much of the period now under scrutiny, has repeatedly denied any direct involvement in his son’s dealings with foreign oligarchs and other individuals allegedly affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.
The DOJ declined to comment. The White House did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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