Hunter Biden's team apologizes for 'misunderstanding' in letter to judge
The judge hearing the Hunter Biden criminal case threatened to ban Biden's legal team over allegations they lied to a clerk's office.
Hunter Biden's attorney is accused of avoiding due court process to allegedly remove information about IRS whistleblowers from the docket. Delaware Judge Marilyn Norica gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. Tuesday to explain its stand.
Specifically, an attorney on Hunter's legal team is accused of misrepresenting who she was when asking for amicus material to be removed from the docket. She reportedly asked the clerk to seal the information instead of making a formal request to the court.
"The Court has discussed the matter with the persons concerned in the office of the Clerk and has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengals, has represented that she has worked with Mr. Kitila and has requested that the amicus material be removed. be given because they contained sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and Social Security information," the order read.
Biden's claim of no knowledge of Hunter's business dealings is getting harder to sustain
The judge said, "It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and whom she worked for and attempted to falsely persuade the clerk's office to remove amicus curiae material from the docket." Did."
"The court shall temporarily keep the document under seal till the close of business on July 26, 2023 to provide an opportunity to the defendant to make an effort to show the requisite evidence," the order said. "If the defendant fails to show this, the document shall be solemnly sealed."
In a letter obtained by Fox News, Biden's legal team told the judge that the attorney who called the clerk accurately represented his affiliation with his law firm.
Biden repeatedly denied discussing business deals with Hunter, but evidence suggests otherwise
"The matter in question appears to have arisen out of an unfortunate and inadvertent misunderstanding between a staff member of our firm and the staff of the Court," the lawyers' defense said. "We do not know how the miscommunication occurred, but our understanding is that there was no misrepresentation."
"We hope that this letter and the enclosed declaration dispel any suggestion that the undersigned's counsel or our staff will knowingly misrepresent or mislead the court with respect to any matter," the letter said.
Biden will plead guilty on Wednesday to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income taxes. First Sun allegedly failed to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes on earnings of more than $1.5 million in 2017 and 2018.
Biden is also set to enter into a pre-trial diversion agreement on a separate gun-related felony charge. A plea agreement - which has been called a sweetheart deal by critics - was negotiated between Biden and the Justice Department, which Norica has the power to reject or accept.
