(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Criminal defense attorney Christopher Clark filed a motion Tuesday to withdraw from being Hunter Biden’s lawyer, telling a federal judge that he can no longer be counsel since he was a witness to the negotiation of the now-defunct plea deal for the president’s son.
Clark’s motion came after the Justice Department said last week that the plea deal was dead. District Judge Maryellen Noreika had given the parties 30 days to explain to her why she should accept the plea deal when she initially rejected it at a July 26 hearing, but the DOJ said last week that the negotiations reached an “impasse.”
Given these recent developments, Clark said it’s best if he’s no longer Hunter’s lawyer.
“It appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues. Under the ‘witness-advocate’ rule, it is inadvisable for Mr. Clark to continue as counsel in this case,” Clark’s Tuesday motion said.
“Withdrawal will not cause a substantial hardship to Mr. Biden because counsel from the other firms that have entered an appearance will continue to represent Mr. Biden in this matter,” the motion added.
One of the more controversial aspects the Biden-DOJ deal was a provision that would prohibit the DOJ from charging Biden for breaching the agreement unless the judge allowed prosecutors to do so.
“[The deal] makes me a gatekeeper to criminal charges and puts me in the middle of a decision as to whether to bring a charge,” Judge Noreika said at the hearing where she rejected the deal.
Another troubling aspect of the deal is that the parties couldn’t agree whether it gives Hunter immunity from other crimes, such as his failure to register as a foreign agent when he was lobbying on behalf of foreign companies like Ukrainian energy giant Burisma.
Criticizing it as a “sweetheart” deal, House Republicans are also looking to examine the details of the negotiations between the DOJ and the president’s son. Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, James Comer, R-Ky., and Jason Smith, R-Mo., announced on July 31 that they’re opening an investigation into the matter.
“The Department’s unusual plea and pretrial diversion agreements with Mr. Biden raise serious concerns—especially when combined with recent whistleblower allegations—that the Department has provided preferential treatment toward Mr. Biden in the course of its investigation and proposed resolution of his alleged criminal conduct,” they said in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Garland responded by giving “special counsel” status to the prosecutor overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation, U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Critics said Garland’s move was designed to prevent Weiss from testifying to Congress.
The judge has yet to rule on Clark’s motion to withdraw as Hunter’s attorney.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
