Hunter Biden's attorney said Sunday a trial is "not inevitable" following the collapse of a proposed plea deal, and he does not expect new charges to be brought against his client by special prosecutor David Weiss.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday elevated Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, to special counsel after a proposed plea deal between President Joe Biden's son and the Justice Department fell through in court on July 26.
Weiss has been probing Hunter Biden for alleged tax fraud and illegal firearm possession.
Attorney Abbe Lowell told "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan that he's "confident that if this prosecutor does what has been done for the last five years," there will be no new charges.
"There's no new evidence to be found," Lowell told Brennan. "Some of these transactions are years old. They've had people in the grand jury. They've had data that was provided to them.
"I don't know the possibility exists after this kind of painstaking investigation for there to be, Oh, my gosh, there's a new piece of evidence, which changes."
Lowell said a new job in title does not change Weiss.
"People should keep in mind that while Mr. Weiss' title changed last week, he's the same person he's been for the last five years," Lowell said. "He's a Republican U.S. attorney appointed by a Republican president, and attorney general who had career prosecutors working this case for five years looking at every transaction that Hunter was involved in.
"So whether it was tax, or the gun or possible any other charge, if anything changes from his conclusion, which was two tax misdemeanors and a diverted gun charge, the question should be asked, What infected the process that was not the facts in the law?"
Lowell blamed the collapse of the plea deal before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware on the prosecutors.
"The possibilities are only: One, they wrote something and weren't clear what they meant. Two, they knew what they meant and misstated it to counsel. Or third, they changed their view as they were standing in court in Delaware," Lowell told Brennan.
Pressed further, Lowell said: "I said that they [the prosecutors] changed their decision on the fly standing up in court."
Lowell said the collapse of the plea deal, combined with Weiss' new role, does not guarantee a trial involving his client.
"It's not inevitable," Lowell said. "We were trying to avoid one all along. And so were the prosecutors who came forward to us and were the ones to say, Can there be a resolution short of a prosecution?
"So, they wanted it [a plea deal], and maybe they still do want it."
Hunter Biden's lawyer also cited two different agreements in the Delaware court on July 26 — a plea deal surrounding the tax-related charges, and a diversion agreement related to the gun-possession charges.
Lowell added that, in his mind, the diversion agreement is binding.
"What was very clear is that the prosecution presented the diversion agreement, which they signed, which we signed, and as an agreement of which they have described it as being a stand-alone, independent, bilateral agreement with two signatures on it, that agreement is different than the plea," Lowell said.
"The plea has not fallen — the plea did not go forward. The diversion agreement is already filed in court, and it has the signatures necessary for it to be binding."