FILE – Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, walks to a motorcade vehicle after stepping off Air Force One with President Biden, Feb. 4, 2023, at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
A criminal defense lawyer for Hunter Biden who worked on a plea agreement that has since fallen apart in a tax and gun case filed a motion to withdraw Tuesday from representing President Joe Biden’s son.
Attorney Christopher Clark told U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika that Hunter Biden otherwise “has ample counsel” to represent him in the matter. He asserted that his withdrawal from the case “is necessitated by recent developments in the matter.”
“Pursuant to Delaware Rule of Professional Conduct 3.7(a), ‘a lawyer shall not act as advocate at a trial in which the lawyer is likely to be a necessary witness unless… disqualification of the lawyer would work substantial hardship on the client,”” he wrote. “Based on recent developments, it appears that the negotiation and drafting of the plea agreement and diversion agreement will be contested, and Mr. Clark is a percipient witness to those issues.”
More Law&Crime coverage: No deal for now as Hunter Biden’s bumpy ride in court for tax misdemeanors, gun charge goes off rails
Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty to the misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion agreement that would have dismissed a charge of felony possession of a firearm by a person addicted to a controlled substance after the completion of probation, but the judge raised questions about the particulars of the deal and ordered up more briefing. Then last Friday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that David C. Weiss, the U.S. Attorney already probing Hunter Biden in Delaware, was appointed as a special counsel.
