How Hunter Biden's Plea Deal Collapse Cost Him His Attorney

The ongoing dispute over Hunter Biden's plea deal has cost him his longtime attorney.

Christopher Clark, Biden's lead criminal defense lawyer in his tax case, filed a motion on Tuesday asking a federal judge in Delaware for permission to withdraw from the case because he could be called as a witness in future proceedings about the collapse of the plea agreement he had helped broker.

"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," Biden's lawyers wrote in a court filing.

Clark's request to withdraw from the case comes three weeks after a hectic hearing on July 26 in which Biden was set to plead guilty to tax charges and settle a gun charge, only for the deal to fall apart, be revised and agreed upon and then later put on hold.

"The withdrawal of a longtime counsel may well be an initial move in a larger fight over the plea negotiations and the status of any resolution," former federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe told Newsweek. "It certainly isn't a positive development from the perspective of Hunter Biden or his defense team."

Under the initial plea deal, Biden was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay his federal taxes on time in 2017 and 2018, while avoiding prosecution for illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user. Prosecutors agreed to recommend probation and no jail time for Biden under the agreement.

However, after the Department of Justice's (DOJ) top prosecutor told the court that the deal would not offer Biden sweeping immunity, Biden's team declared the agreement "null and void."

Both sides were able to put a revised deal back together, which would only cover charges related to tax offenses, drug use and gun possession between 2014 and 2019, but the judge said she was not yet ready to accept the bargain and left it on hold.

Federal prosecutors said last week they reached an impasse in negotiations and that a trial is therefore in order. U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing the case, was also elevated to special counsel status last week, which means he will have more power in an unprecedented trial against the son of a sitting president.

Anticipating the trial, and the possibility that he may be called as a witness, Clark cited state rules in Tuesday's motion, highlighting that "a lawyer shall not act as advocate at a trial in which the lawyer is likely to be a necessary witness."

Although Clark would need to withdraw as defense counsel because of Delaware's professional conduct rules, Biden's other defense lawyers could probably stay on, McAuliffe said.

"Clark would serve as the sole witness, as long as any other counsel's knowledge is duplicative of Clark's potential testimony," he said.

Biden's attorneys have said that the DOJ failed to honor its end of the plea deal, writing in a Sunday court filing that they believed the deal that would have allowed Biden to avoid prosecution on the gun charge was still valid and binding.

Update 8/15/23, 11:29 a.m. ET This story was updated with comment from Michael McAuliffe.