Christopher Clark is the attorney who is dealing with the case now for several years, and it
is describing the outlines of what happening, and that is the agreement of hunter Biden
and the attorney general's office of the district of Delaware and it is my understanding that
the five-year investigation into hunter Biden is resolved, and this is the key sentence.
My understanding that the five-year investigation into hunter is resolved and he is going to
take responsibility for two misdemeanors for filing tax agreements when due, and a plea
agreement, and the firearm charge is due to a diversion agreement, and subject to plea
agreement and not filed by the government. This is also what he says about hunter. Hunter
believes it is important the take responsibility for
[10:01:27 AM]
the take responsibility for these mistakes he made in a period of turmoil and addiction
in his life, and he is looking forward to continuing the recovery in his life, and the
key operative parts of the statement are that at least in their discussions with the prosecutors
in the U.S. Attorney's office and again this is U.S. Attorney David Weiss by Donald Trump
appointed to oversee this investigation, and this deal that resolves the investigation
according to hunter Biden's attorneys believes this resolves everything, and really, that
is an important part of this plea agreement, because this investigation as we have talked
about spanning five years and three attorneys general have looked at a lot of information
including his dealings with Ukraine and things that Republicans are not going to let go of,
and they believe more
[10:02:28 AM]
go of, and they believe more investigation needs to be done, and even if they believe
this investigation is done, criminal investigation with the attorney's office in Delaware is
over, and maybe they face more questions from house Republicans who are not quite done with
this yet. Kate and John. >> Evan, stick with us, and continue to get
more sources and statements coming in with the statements and reaction coming over from
the white house. Arlette Seanez, we are hearing from the president and first lady now?
>> Yes, the first reaction came in moments ago from the white house as the Bidens are
continuing to offer their support to their son hunter Biden, and we want to hear from
Ian sands saying that the president and first lady love their son as he continues to rebuild
his life. He added that we will have no further comments. The president is out traveling in
California and we expect to see him in the 4:00 P.M. Eastern hour where he is going to
have a speech there, and we will see if he has any more comments on this news about his
son.
[10:03:33 AM]
news about his son. But the news from the white house tracks with what we have repeatedly
been hearing from the Biden couple relating to their son hunter. They have long stressed
their support for him, and really president Biden has sought to keep him close to him
here at the white house. He is a frequent presence over the course of the past few years
and family events and coming for official events and out mingling with the crowd as
they hosted the annual Easter egg roll in April and he travelled with the president
over to Ireland as they went to look into the familial roots into the long-standing
love of the president's love of the country of Ireland as well, but it is coming as the
white house has tried to refrain weighing into any matters of the justice department
investigation into hunter Biden and they have gone to great lengths to make sure it is an
independent investigation, but officials here at the white house and the president's personal
attorney Bob bower has been keeping tabs on the case, and Bob bower has been speaking
with the legal team of hunter
[10:04:34 AM]
with the legal team of hunter Biden to get updates on where things stood, but the Biden
family have been navigating the situation for years. He was a frequent target for Republicans
and former president Donald Trump back in the 2020 campaign, and Biden often and repeatedly
would defend his son hunter, including his addiction issues that he had faced, but now
today as the federal charges are coming to light as hunter Biden is pleading guilty to
two of the federal charges the president and first lady are maintaining the unwavering
support for the son in their statement, and we will see if there is any further reaction
through the course of the day. >> Again, we will see the president later
today, and they say this is the only statement that we will have today, but I will be surprised
if we don't hear directly from the president today. But the attorney for hunter Biden says
that it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into hunter is resolved and
one place that may not share that sentiment is among the Republicans on capitol hill,
and we will go there.
[10:05:35 AM]
hill, and we will go there. Our Manu raja is standing by. Any reaction?
>> We have not heard from chairman Kevin Mccarthy or any of the key committees investigating
hunter Biden or any of the other members, but there are some members of the rank and
file quick to criticize this plea deal and criticizing the attorney general such as Darrell
Issa called it a cover-up, and Marjorie Taylor Greene who is a close ally of the speaker
of the house Kevin Mccarthy said it is a quote stunt, and called the justice department pathetic,
and congressman Bob good, another member of the freedom caucus criticizing this as well.
What you can expect from the house Republicans in the weeks ahead is to essentially
[10:06:36 AM]
ahead is to essentially investigate the investigators and figure out why this U.S. Attorney did
not pursue, or file charges or in what how he handled those questions about hunter Biden's
overseas business dealings that did not lead to any federal charges here. There's expected
to be a lot of criticism and this is an attorney who is a holdover from the trump administration,
and still not, and the Republicans are indicating that this is all part of their narrative that
Democrats somehow get a pass, and Republicans do not. We will see if the facts bear it out.
That is the political argument going forward and expect the speaker of the house to repeat
those comments, and now, expect the speaker of the house, and the judiciary committee
to say the same, and this plea deal reached after an exhaustive investigation leading
to this plea deal is not going to be much for the satisfaction here
[10:07:36 AM]
much for the satisfaction here on capitol hill among the house Republicans who have
made this a central investigation look into hunter Biden as well as to any ties to the
president, and they expect that to be the focus in the weeks ahead, guys.
>> Manu raja, thank you very much. And keep us posted as to what else you should hear,
and we should note that this is a trump-appointed U.S. Attorney who is a holdover here who struck
this plea deal. >> So you that. And over to Kara Scannell
outside of the court who has been tracking this with us. And Kara, you have fresh reporting
with this deal will bring what punishment? >> Yes, so our understanding according to
the sources is that the U.S. Attorney's office here has agreed as part of the plea agreement
to recommend to the judge that hunter Biden serve no prison time and he be put on probation
for a set period of time and that is about 24 months. We have not seen the details yet,
but the court findings indicate that the details including this plea agreement
[10:08:38 AM]
including this plea agreement deal be placed before the court when it is set, and we have
learned that he is not going to be facing any jail time or prison time as a result of
pleading guilty to the two tax-related misdemeanors and it is drawing a reaction from former president
trump who is posting that this is a deal that equates to a mere traffic ticket, and that
is something that M Manu raja is hearing up on the hill. And so, we will be hearing of
when that is going T O allow cute
[10:09:41 AM]
O allow cute what went wrong with that and so, we will see if that is dropped if he meets
a certain period of time with that deal. >> So probation. Okay. Let's talk about what
that means in terms of the this deal and where it sits. Joining us is our legal analyst Elie
Honig, and Paula Reid is somewhere with us. And Elie, let me make one thing clear, that
president Biden has been saying that he did not think that hunter Biden did anything wrong,
but this is an admission that he did something wrong.
>> Yes. >> Hunter Biden is saying that he broke the
law, and he is agreeing to probation, and talk to me about that.
>> Probation means no prison as long as you comply with all of the conditions, and there
is going to be a specific set of conditions on the probation, and varies case to case,
and first of all, no further crimes while
[10:10:42 AM]
of all, no further crimes while you are on probation, and typically in a case like this,
a condition like this is drug treatment and regular drug testing and weekly, monthly,
daily, and you have to report into the probation officer week, day, var ris based on the individual.
I think that there is another important part of time and the politics about this. I have
said it before that the fact that it took five years is outrageous, and inexplicable
dating back to 2018. Thinking of the nature of the channels for two full years, 2018 through
the the end of 2020 this is handled by Donald Trump