‘No Plea Deal Today’: MSNBC’s Tom Winter Breaks Down Why Hunter Biden Pleaded ‘Not Guilty’ But His Deal Is Still On The Table

“There is no plea deal.” That’s the story in a nutshell as presented by MSNBC’s correspondent Tom Winter, but as the details — and the legalese — poured in, the explanation behind Hunter Biden’s failed plea agreement on three charges got longer and more complicated. Biden is now pleading “not guilty” to the charges against him.

But Winter was able to provide a bare-bones albeit lengthy account to MSNBC’s Yasmin Vossoughian, filling in for Chris Jansing on Chris Jansing Reports, of what’s happening in the Hunter Biden legal case. His explanation is in the video above, but here is the transcript:

Typically what happens in a federal court in a proceeding involving a guilty plea — and there’s different rules that govern this. So, it’s different ways that the judge can accept a plea agreement between two parties. One of the ways that she does it is a possibility of just accepting it and saying, “Okay, you two have an agreement, essentially a contract between the federal prosecutors, the United States justice department, and a defendant. And I’m here to just make sure the defendant is of sound mind and body and believes that they’ve received effective counsel and to accept that plea and to notify the defendant of any sort of rights.” That’s the option that prosecutors were moving forward today, along with Hunter Biden’s attorneys.

There’s another provision of that rule, which the judge can make some inquiries of that plea agreement and determine whether or not they accept the plea agreement. And that’s something I more typically see in my limited experience of covering these because we normally we never go down these roads at all. The judge says “I might normally accept that, but you all sent me a copy of your pretrial diversion agreement, which pertains to the gun charge. In that you’re potentially asking me one day to make a determination as to whether or not the facts add up to Hunter Biden violating that agreement, and the government can make an argument there after that point as to whether or not they want to pursue charges.” She has current concerns about that from a constitutionality perspective and separation of powers where she believes “I might be in a position where I’m a gate keeper as to whether or not the government files charges.” Federal prosecutors say, “Well, okay, that’s fine, but that’s up to us, Judge. We’re the ones who entered into this agreement. Frankly, it’s an agreement between us. Not sure why you need to weigh in on it.”

Bottom line here is that the judge now has to accept a plea because we had the initial appearance in the early part of this hearing and has to accept a plea from Hunter Biden today. She says she’s not willing to accept or reject this plea agreement, but she wants some more information before she makes a decision. As a result, she still has to take a plea today, and Hunter Biden and his attorneys, in a discussion that lasted maybe two seconds, did the thing that I think anybody in his position would do and say, “Well, I’m not going to plead guilty to anything. I don’t have an agreement anymore.” The judge hasn’t made that determination.

So, that’s where we stand on this. That’s the short story, which I know sounds long.

Watch the video above via MSNBC.

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com