Hunter Biden's legal team could face sanctions from the judge presiding over the first son's expected plea agreement after one member purportedly "misrepresented her identity" to court officials.
Multiple reports said that attorney Jessica Bengels allegedly misrepresented herself to block the release of damning evidence, provided in testimony by two IRS whistleblowers, ahead of Hunter Biden's expected guilty plea to federal charges of tax evasion and weapons crimes.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden's attorneys until 9 p.m. Tuesday to explain their position, according to a screenshot of the Delaware federal court docket obtained by the Washington Examiner before it was later sealed.
Noreika's order came after House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., filed a morning brief asking the judge to consider denying Hunter Biden's plea deal over whistleblower claims that the president's son was offered preferential treatment during the nearly five-year investigation.
"The Defendant appears to have benefited from political interference which calls into question the propriety of the investigation of the U.S. Attorney's Office," Smith's lawyer wrote.
"It is critical that the Court consider the Whistleblower Materials before determining whether to accept the Plea Agreement."
Hours later, the House panel's top lawyer, Theodore Kittila, sent a letter to Noreika.
"[A]t approximately 1:30 p.m., we received word that our filing was removed from the docket," Kittila said, the New York Post reported.
"We promptly contacted the Clerk's office, and we were advised that someone contacted the Court representing that they worked with my office [emphasis original] and that they were asking the Court to remove this from the docket. We immediately advised that this was inaccurate. The Clerk's Office responded that we would need to re-file. We have done so now."
The Examiner, citing a screenshot of the docket, added: "Mr. Kittila asserts that an individual associated with the firm representing Defendant called the Clerk's Office pretending to be associated with Mr. Kittila and representing the amicus materials be removed from the docket, which the Clerk's Office did."
In his filing, Kittila included email exchanges with court officials and Hunter Biden's attorneys.
"Hi Ted, Following up on our recent telephone conversation, the woman who called was a Jessica Bengels," court official Samantha Grimes confirmed, the Post reported.
"… She said she worked with Theodore Kittila and it was important the document was removed immediately or they could file a motion to seal. I do deeply apologize for all the confusion on our part."
The Post added that time stamps from the emails indicated the request to take down the document came after Kittila refused a request to file the whistleblowers' testimony under seal.
Bengels is director of litigation services at the New York-based law firm Latham & Watkins, where Hunter Biden's attorney Chris Clark was formerly a partner.
In an affidavit submitted just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, Bengels claimed there had been a miscommunication among the clerks regarding the removal of Smith's filing.
"I am completely confident that I never indicated that I was calling from Mr. Kittila's firm or that I worked with him in any way," a copy of the affidavit obtained by the Post read.
"The only mention of his name was when [the clerk] had asked me if the filings had been entered by Mr. Kittila's firm and I answered that I believed that to be the case."
Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and reach an agreement with prosecutors on the felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user.
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