CNN Legal Analyst Rejects Notion Hunter Biden Got a Sweetheart Deal: ‘Very, Very Standard’
CNN legal analyst Jennifer Rodgers adamantly rejected the criticism from Republican leaders on Tuesday that Hunter Biden’s plea agreement is a “sweetheart deal” or, as former President Donald Trump called it, a “traffic ticket.”
“Obviously, you’re already hearing a lot of shouting. Oh, sweetheart deal. Oh, this, oh, that. None of us really knows the details of the possible charges are here and exactly what was agreed to as part of this plea, Jennifer,” noted CNN anchor John Berman.
“But how do how does one assess whether this is the type of deal that a normal person, not a president’s child would get in this circumstance?” Berman asked Rodgers.
“So you would look to other similar cases, right. So on the gun form charge. It’s very, very standard for someone in this situation who lies on the form because they’re an addict,” Rodgers began, noting the gun charge that will reportedly be dismissed if Hunter Biden meets certain conditions related to his recovery.
“The gun is long gone, apparently only had it for a couple of weeks. It’s very standard in these circumstances for this diversion to occur and to wipe out the charges, assuming he’s successfully completed it,” Rodgers continued, adding:
So that’s totally standard. And the tax fraud is similar as well. I mean, he paid those taxes back a long time ago. That’s something that DOJ takes very, very seriously when negotiating these deals. And I’ll also say that Hunter Biden was an addict at the time.
And so there was discussion of this back when this investigation got going. When you’re talking about a drug addict, you have to think about whether you can prove the mens rea. If this goes to trial. Is he going to be able to undercut their case about whether he knowingly and willfully didn’t pay his taxes? So given all of that and given similar cases with tax fraud, this is not a sweetheart deal. It’s a deal. I think it’s a good deal for Hunter Biden in that he will stay out of prison and end up with only two misdemeanors on his record. But it’s certainly not a sweetheart deal out of line with what happens in the rest of the country.
NBC News reported on Tuesday that Hunter Biden was unlikely to face any jail time over the charges, but he will be on probation related to the tax violations.
Watch above, via CNN.
