Is Hunter's Legal Team in Hot Water? Senator Calls for Investigation Into 'Unethical' Behavior
A Republican senator wants to know what kind of game was being played last week when the judge in the Hunter Biden case vented her displeasure with Hunter Biden’s legal team.
“I’ve heard from countless Americans who are concerned our justice system is being weaponized against President Biden’s political opponents while his son gets preferential treatment,” Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said, according to Fox News.
“There needs to be accountability for any misconduct or favoritism, including Hunter Biden’s own legal team. Faith in our justice system has been gravely damaged by the Biden administration’s mishandling of recent cases and restoring its integrity is essential,” he said.
Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, had filed an amicus brief in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware, urging Judge Maryellen Noreika to take into account information gathered in the House probe of Hunter Biden before sentencing him, according to The New York Times.
The filing was taken down after Hunter Biden’s defense contacted a court clerk about that personal tax information was in the filing. The clerk was under the impression that it was at the request of Smith’s attorney — not the Biden defense.
Noreika wrote in an order that she “has been informed that the caller, Ms. Jessica Bengels, represented that she worked with Mr. [Theodore] Kittila [the attorney for Smith] and requested the amicus materials be taken down because they contained sensitive grand jury, taxpayer and social security information.”
“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, noting that she was considering sanctions in the incident.
The judge followed that up with an order on Friday that any inquiries in the case go to her and not her clerks.
“Their jobs are not always easy, but they do these jobs well. They have earned my trust and my respect. I will not tolerate or countenance them being ill-used, disrespected or lied to,” she wrote.
The order noted that Biden’s attorneys said the incident was “an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication.”
However, Ricketts said he is not letting the incident go, according to Fox.
“I write to you regarding the apparent unethical conduct of members of the New York State Bar and the District of Columbia Bar. As you know, the cornerstone of the legal profession is ethics,” Ricketts wrote in a letter to agencies that oversee courts in New York state and Washington.
“All legal professionals, lawyers and non-lawyers alike, are expected to maintain strict standards for the protection of colleagues, clients, and the court,” Ricketts wrote, according to Fox.
“While the exact details of this matter are uncertain, it appears an ethical line was crossed. Regardless of whether or not it was Ms. Bengels or another staff member at Latham & Watkins who called the clerk, the circumstances surrounding the incident demand an investigation,” he wrote.
According to a Politico report Tuesday, the law firm Bengels works for said there was no intent to deceive.
“The matter under consideration appears to stem from an unfortunate and unintentional miscommunication between a staff member at our firm and employees of the Court. We have no idea how the misunderstanding occurred, but our understanding is there was no misrepresentation,” Latham partner Matthew Salerno wrote in a statement.
Bengels released a statement proclaiming her innocence.
“I am completely confident that I never indicated that I was calling from Mr. Kittila’s firm or that I worked with him in any way,” she wrote.
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