Federal prosecutors on Friday asked the judge in the Hunter Biden case to set aside the plea deal they had offered him because the two sides have reached “an impasse,” a move that increases the legal jeopardy for President Joe Biden’s son.
The request came moments after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he was upgrading the lead prosecutor in the case, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, to a full special counsel and granting him greater independence in the probe of the first family’s foreign business dealings.
Weiss’ office asked the judge to vacate an order requiring both sides to file legal motions on how to proceed to salvage a plea deal she put on ice last month, concerned the two sides did not fully understand the consequences of the deal.