A judge presiding over Hunter Biden's forthcoming plea agreement threatened to sanction his attorneys late Tuesday evening after a member of his legal team purportedly "misrepresented her identity" to court officials.
The younger Biden's legal team stands accused of misrepresenting themselves to remove a brief about IRS whistleblowers testimony from the Delaware federal court docket. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika gave Biden's legal team until 9 p.m. on Tuesday to explain their position, according to multiple reports about an order that was published and later sealed by the court.
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The judge's order came down hours after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) filed a brief to the judge, asking her to consider denying Hunter's plea deal with Delaware prosecutors 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 attorney wrote in a court filing, which went on to say, “it is critical that the Court consider the Whistleblower Materials before determining whether to accept the Plea Agreement.”
Shortly after, someone from Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark's former law firm later called the clerk at the Delaware courthouse, pretending to be from the office of Smith's attorney, Theodore Kittila, requesting that they remove the original file, according to the Daily Mail.
Scandal in Delaware on eve of Hunter Biden plea deal. Judge Noreika has given Hunter’s lawyers to 9pm to explain why they should not be SANCTIONED for “misrepresentations to the Court... to improperly convince the Clerk's Office to remove [GOP lawyer] materials from the docket” pic.twitter.com/h7SpGTMQKs
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 25, 2023
"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," the judge wrote in a paperless order, according to a screenshot obtained by New York Post columnist Miranda Devine.
"The Court will temporarily place the document under seal until close of business on July 26, 2023 to afford Defendant the opportunity to try to make the requisite showing," the order read.
Attorneys for the younger Biden already tried to stop Smith from filing his brief, according to the New York Times, reporting it was able to obtain a copy before Noreika sealed the filing.
As of 8:54 p.m. EDT, the latest visible filing on the court docket was a brief filed by the Heritage Foundation Oversight Project on Tuesday morning that asked the judge to reconsider approving the plea agreement.
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Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter into a pretrial diversion program that will allow him to bypass prosecution on a separate felony gun charge.
The Washington Examiner contacted the younger Biden's attorney for response.