Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said that Hunter Biden and the Justice Department prosecutors who offered him a favorable new plea deal are not "adversaries"—they’re "co-conspirators."
Cotton was criticizing a revised agreement that the Justice Department offered Biden on Wednesday, saying it would have given the scandal-plagued first son "blanket immunity."
The original plea agreement with the Justice Department unexpectedly collapsed after a top prosecutor said the deal would not guarantee Hunter Biden permanent immunity, leading to the revised agreement. Judge Maryellen Noreika, however, refused to accept the revisions, leading Biden to plead not guilty to two tax charges.
Cotton told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow that the immunity provision is what killed the original plea agreement.
"That's what blew up the plea deal," the Arkansas Republican said. "It wasn't the judge rejecting it, it's that the U.S. attorney sheepishly admitted that they couldn’t guarantee it. And Hunter Biden's lawyers, who obviously knew that that's what they were pursuing, refused to go forward with the plea deal unless it gave him blanket immunity for all crimes."
"There's no confusion here between these two sides," Cotton said. "When the Biden Department of Justice and Hunter Biden's criminal defense attorneys sit down, those aren't adversaries negotiating. Those are co-conspirators strategizing."
What the Justice Department should do, Cotton said, is "allow their investigators to pursue the facts, wherever they lead, and charge Hunter Biden with the crimes that he has committed, and take it to a jury trial."