Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax Wednesday that the deal Hunter Biden cut with the Department of Justice (DOJ) is an "extraordinary" change to department policy.
"If I'm a federal judge, I would look at this and I would be a little concerned because the federal system is supposed to be the same justice for defendants with the same charges and having been a U.S. attorney for 5 1/2 years, having charged people, having looked at plea agreements, this is an extraordinary departure from DOJ policy and from how business is done," Whitaker said during an appearance on "Wake Up America." "There are many people sitting in federal prison right now that had to plead guilty to these charges and got prison time.
"DOJ policy used to be, at least for as long as I can remember, that, if you brandish that gun, that you can't be eligible for diversion," he continued. "We would have defendants all the time come to our office asking for diversion for crimes big and small and diversions were extraordinary. I don't know if I did any diversion. I might have done one or two, under certain circumstances, but I can't remember."
A pretrial diversion program is an alternative resolution of a criminal case that allows the defendant to avoid prison time or a criminal conviction.
"Tough prosecutors just don't do diversions because, again, it's inconsistent with DOJ policy, with the charging memos through the years that I've served under, and so this arrangement, I think, is only available to the children of presidents," Whitaker added.
President Joe Biden's son Hunter has been charged with failure to pay federal income tax and illegal possession of a weapon, according to a letter filed in U.S. district court in Delaware.
Under the terms of the agreement he has reached with the DOJ, the younger Biden will plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and is expected to reach an agreement with prosecutors on the felony charge of illegal possession of a firearm as a drug user.
Asked if the case is really closed for Hunter Biden, Whitaker said "That's an interesting question.
"On the one hand, Hunter Biden's team has said that this resolves all the charges, all the investigation, all the money laundering, all the corrupt foreign influence and everything else that he has participated in," he said. "On the other hand, we haven't heard that from the Department of Justice, but that doesn't surprise me. They typically let their filing speak for them. So I think we're going to have to let this play out.
"I would expect that Hunter's team has negotiated a resolution of the entire investigation, but, to some extent, I think that's going to play out in court in the following week or two once this goes before a judge."
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