Jul 26, 2023, 1:27 PM EDT
No plea deal amid judge's concerns
There is no plea deal in the Hunter Biden case.
Hunter Biden hearing: No plea as judge refuses to 'rubber-stamp' deal
The judge deferred a plea deal after a contentious hearing.
Last Updated: July 26, 2023, 6:52 AM EDT
President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden appeared in a Delaware courthouse today to formally agree to the plea deal he negotiated last month with federal prosecutors, but the deal fell apart.
Top headlines:
- Jul 26, 2023, 2:39 PM EDT
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Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Jul 26, 2023, 11:59 AM EDT
Plea deal is in jeopardy of falling apart
A deal between federal prosecutors and Hunter Biden is in jeopardy of falling apart.
There is now a brief recess as the parties try to come to terms.
-Olivia Rubin
Jul 26, 2023, 10:25 AM EDT
Hunter Biden arrives at courthouse
Hunter Biden has arrived at the federal court in Delaware for this morning's hearing.
The younger Biden and his legal team arrived shortly before 9:30 a.m.
Julio Cortez/AP
Jul 26, 2023, 7:20 AM EDT
Hunter Biden's legal team threatened with sanctions
Less than 24 hours before Hunter Biden was expected in federal court, the judge overseeing his case threatened his legal team with sanctions after she found that a staffer might have "misrepresented her identity" in communications with the court clerk.
The bizarre saga played out Tuesday on the court's public docket, where Ted Kittila, an attorney for the GOP-led House Ways and Means Committee, shared Hunter Biden's taxpayer information as part of an effort to intervene in the case.
Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, asked Kittila to seal the information, and when Kittila refused, a member of the firm representing Hunter Biden reached out to the court seeking to have it removed from the docket.
Judge Maryellen Noreika wrote late Tuesday that, having "discussed the matter with the relevant individuals," Jessica Bengels, an attorney with Clark's firm, "represented that she worked with Mr. Kittila and requested the amicus materials be taken down."
"It appears that the caller misrepresented her identity and who she worked for in an attempt to improperly convince the Clerk's Office to remove the amicus materials from the docket," Noreika wrote.
Noreika asked Hunter Biden's legal team to explain why she should not level sanctions against them. In response, Matthew Salerno, an attorney for Biden, called it "an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication," dispelling Noreika's suggestion that it might have been a nefarious ploy to have a docket entry suppressed.
"We have no idea how the misunderstanding occurred," wrote Salerno. "But our understanding is there was no misrepresentation."
ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman
