If you were looking forward to seeing the evidence in the Hunter Biden tax fraud case, you may end up disappointed [scroll down for UPDATE]
And that’s because Hunter is apparently attempting to plead guilty, which if accepted would keep the court from airing all his dirty laundry. We’ve seen quite a bit of that laundry already on his own laptop, but this was going to be evidence in a court of law. Even with a guilty plea, however, there would be a sentencing hearing.
But it’s a special sort of guilty plea he’s offering, called an Alford plea, which is technically a guilty plea but without an admission of actual guilt. That has various benefits, if the prosecution accepts it, because it would preserve Hunter’s ability to sue people for defamation who call him guilty. If that seems absurd – well, it kind of is.
More:
UPDATE from Hunter Biden's trial – there is NO PLEA AGREEMENT. There is NOT an agreement between the government and Biden. Here are my quick and dirty notes. Court is in a 30 min recess.
· Biden wants to either enter an open or Alford plea; he does not plan to admit guilt
·…— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) September 5, 2024
The case is in a state of flux at the moment, although the prosecution has opposed the plea. And the DOJ apparently never accepts Alford pleas except in extremely extraordinary circumstances, so if they had accepted Hunter’s it would have been – and this is a word with which we’ve become quite familiar in recent years – unprecedented.
UPDATE:
Now Hunter is pleading guilty in the usual manner, and it’s been accepted. Sentencing is scheduled for December 16. That seems to me to be well-timed. It takes the case out of the campaign season, and yet it places sentencing early enough that his father can pardon him if needed.
Basically, in an Alford plea, the defendant continues to maintain innocence while admitting that the prosecution’s evidence could lead to a guilty verdict. It’s a way to avoid having the evidence spread on the record in a trial without acknowledging guilt, but while accepting the consequences of a guilty verdict. I don’t think there’s any doubt that a judge can refuse to agree to an Alford plea. I’m surprised the prosecution is even arguing it. From Cornell’s Legal Information Institute:
“The name, Alford plea, is taken from the case North Carolina v. Alford.
An Alford plea, also known as a “best-interests plea,” registers a formal admission of guilt towards charges in criminal court while the defendant simultaneously expresses their innocence toward those same charges. Like the similar nolo contendere plea, an Alford plea skips the full process of a criminal trial because the defendant agrees to accept all the ramifications of a guilty verdict (i.e. punishment).
The main difference between a nolo contendere plea and an Alford plea is that, in an Alford plea, the defendant formally pleads guilty while, in a nolo contendere plea, the defendant refuses to assert either guilt or innocence. This distinction is relevant because unlike a nolo contendere plea, a formal admission of guilt under an Alford plea can be used against the defendant in future suits.
As with all plea bargains, an Alford plea is not a right and it is ultimately up to the prosecutor and judge to decide if they will offer it. A few states like New Jersey and Indiana expressly forbid Alfred pleas.”
Right alongside this emerging story from the NYPost: Top Manhattan US Attorney’s Office spox blasts DA Bragg over Trump prosecution in secret recording: ‘The case is nonsense’
https://nypost.com/2024/09/05/us-news/top-spokesman-for-manhattan-us-attorneys-office-caught-on-secret-recording-blasting-da-bragg-over-trump-prosecution/
Quick now, under the rug it goes!
Confluence!
Chris Pavolvski, Rumble CEO (on the same Crowder story linked above at NYPost):
https://x.com/chrispavlovski/status/1831724413127143717
Given the update, how long does this simply delay the trial in front of a jury? Meaning, is this just trying to get a delay (past the election)?
The DoJ will not accept an Alford plea here- I think if Biden himself ordered it be done Garland would have to and would resign. Hunter Biden, of course, will never do a day in jail- he will be pardoned by his father in both the gun case and this one as Biden slips out the back door of the White House in January. This was a last attempt to avoid having the trial occur during the last months of the campaign.
The funny thing is that the plan all along was to have a Trump trial going on in September and October. Fate has a way making people into fools.
To quote a certain senator and ex secretary of state, “At this point what difference does it make?!”.
The Biden crime family will never see the inside of a jail cell, and will continue to get richer. There is no justice anymore in the US.
I’ve added an update at the end of the post. Hunter has pleaded guilty.
Yes, it takes the trial out of the news but the plea itself will detail the crimes committed and Biden will have to allocate to it.
It is my belief that POTUS can only pardon federal crimes, not state or local ordinance violations.
Am I right or wrong?
Cicero:
Yes, and this is a federal case.
I’ve heard all sorts of comments to the effect of “Why did he wait until a jury was almost impaneled before pleading out? Why not do this months ago?”
Every move of Hunter’s legal team can be be explained by looking at the election calendar. It’s all been done to make sure than Hunter’s pardon- everyone knows he’ll get one -will not occur until that pardon will have no effect on the Democrat’s election chances.
If he’d done this months ago, he would have had to actually serve some prison time because pardoning him then would affect some votes.
BTW, “pleaded” (I know it’s correct) sounds, to my ears, awkward. Maybe it was all the Perry Mason I was exposed to as a kid, but “pled” sounds… cleaner.
Well, it’s a done deal; Hunter pleads guilty and the only question is how many days will he need to spend in jail before his joke bidet senior pardons him sometime after the election.
My guess is that he will spend at most 60 days in the poky, the poky being the Club Med equivalent of some federal jail somewhere.
Once again the Biden crime family has it all figured out and the media will not need to make any effort to cover up / white wash / make disappear any “bad” news a trial would have revealed.
Then again, whatever bad news would have been revealed at a trial would never have been reported by the media anyway.
“… it places sentencing early enough that his father can pardon him if needed.”
There can be no reasonable doubt that Joe will issue a pardon at some point before he is rendered a private citizen again come noon on January 20, 2025. Assuming he is still alive, of course. Regardless of whether Kamala or Trump is elected, a pardon becomes politically irrelevant by that time. So, no downside to issuance of a pardon, unless Joe suddenly remembers his earlier pledge not to pardon Hunter and wishes to avoid being remembered as the only president who pardoned one of his offspring in the history books. But it is doubtful he remembers much of anything at this point, and besides, when did a politician ever not renege on a promise if it became expdient to do so?
The govt works to cover up a widely ranging bribery scheme of our govt
I’ll make it easier for ye:
Criminals and liars all the way down…
One tentacle washes the other, oh look have some reheated borscht
}}} because it would preserve Hunter’s ability to sue people for defamation who call him guilty.
The solution to this one is pretty obvious:
Openly state that HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
I really, really mean that: HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
In case there is ever ever any question to be raised… HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
I want EVERYONE to understand my position on this… HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
Keep repeating it so many times that it becomes a running joke. Kind of like the Epstein Client List.
One thing that English is so great at — and this (along with, of course, the extent of the British empire) is largely how it replaced French as The Language of Diplomacy — it allows you to say one thing and mean exactly the opposite. Which provides all the plausible deniability that you will ever need.
By the way, did I mention… HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY?
Because it really can’t be overstated that HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
JUST in case there is ANY question: HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
According to James Freeman at the WSJ, the prosecutor, in accepting the Guilty plea, insisted on reading the entire lengthy indictment, with all its detail, into the trial record. This looks like an attempt to prevent this from being swept under the rug. Freeman also asks what the foreign governments got in exchange for the millions of dollars funneled to the Bidens, and whether Kamala Harris, Biden’s VP for three and a half years, knew anything about this, or if she ever asked.
OBloody:
Well, since they didn’t grant him the Alford plea, he’s guilty. I assume the defamation lawsuits won’t fly.
Neo:
Still… HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY.
We all just need to keep saying it.
😀
Trust me, somehow, this still will be the position of the Merdia. 😉
I mean… face it. Hunter is certainly NOT GUILTY of *something*. I’m sure of this.
He’s not guilty of being a good father, a decent human being, a moral, ethical individual, a sober and engaging intellectual contributor to society…
I could go on and on about what HUNTER IS NOT GUILTY of. Couldn’t you?
😀
Just as Trump is guilty of “all those fine people”… right?
Jake Tapper fact checking… Jake Tapper:
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2020/10/01/jake-tapper-gets-fact-checked-by-jake-tapper-after-heated-exchange-on-trump-condemning-white-supremacy-n261084
😉