On Halloween 2022, Hunter Biden's legal team threatened the attorney general. They said they would put Joe Biden on the stand if Hunter was criminally charged with tax crimes and illegal possession of a gun.
In a Politico report explaining in depth how the negotiation of the failed plea agreement between Hunter Biden and the Justice Department unfolded, attorney Chris Clark warned that an indictment against Hunter could trigger an institutional crisis with President Biden having to testify under oath as a key witness in the case.
"President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial," Clark said in the lengthy 32-page letter to prosecutors.
"This of all cases justifies neither the spectacle of a sitting President testifying at a criminal trial nor the potential for a resulting Constitutional crisis," the lawyer added.
According to Politico, Clark's letter came three weeks after news leaked that federal officials believed they had enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with illegally purchasing a gun as a drug user.
According to the lawyer for the president's son, the leak was "illegal" and the potential indictment was based on political issues.
Hunter Biden's defense and the Justice Department had practically reached an agreement that would keep the president's son out of prison and prevent him from being charged later by other prosecutors in an eventual change of government.
The deal was widely criticized by legal experts, Republican politicians and even some Democrats for being too "weak" toward the president's son.
Gene Rossi, who voted for Joe Biden, ran as a Democrat for lieutenant governor of Virginia and worked for the DOJ on tax issues. He was one of the experts who criticized Hunter Biden's plea deal that eventually fell apart.
"I strongly oppose Donald Trump. I voted for and continue to support Joe Biden. But I must be true to my notions of fairness and the Rule of Law. Bluntly, Hunter Biden got a Sweetheart Deal (...) The highly-educated son of a President (and Presidents themselves) should be treated neither better nor worse than those many Great Americans, who work hard and play by the rules," Rossi wrote on Twitter.
I strongly oppose @realDonaldTrump. I voted for & continue to support @JoeBiden. But I must be true to my notions of fairness & the Rule of Law. Bluntly, Hunter Biden got a Sweetheart Deal! If he were the famous “Breaking Bad” Attorney Saul Goodman (JD American Samoa Law…
— Gene Rossi (@rossi4va) June 20, 2023
Politico's report on the threat from Hunter Biden's lawyer comes just as The New York Times revealed that special counsel General David Weiss changed his mind about the plea deal his office planned to give the president's son.
According to The New York Times, Weiss was willing not to prosecute Hunter Biden before being appointed special counsel in the case, however, his position changed drastically after two IRS agents reported to Congress that the Department of Justice slow-walked the investigation into the president's son.
