An agreement expected to see US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, plead guilty to tax charges and admit a gun offence has dramatically fallen apart in court.
The plea deal, negotiated over several weeks, was likely to spare the younger Mr Biden prison time.
But a judge on Wednesday said she could not “rubber stamp the agreement”.
The case marks the first time the justice department has charged the child of a sitting president.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers have been given 14 days to hash out a new deal with the prosecution.
It follows a five-year investigation into the finances of the US first son, who arrived on Wednesday morning at the court in Wilmington, Delaware.
In a plea agreement announced last month, he was to be charged with two misdemeanour counts for failing to pay his taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.
He was also to admit that he had illegally possessed a gun while being a drug user, and agree to drug treatment and monitoring in lieu of a more serious felony charge and possible jail time.
But during the three-hour hearing, US District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned whether the deal would also provide Hunter Biden with immunity from crimes he could be found liable for in the future.
She said the agreement contained “non-standard terms” and its proposed resolution for the gun possession offence was “unusual”.
Officials with the justice department are still investigating whether Hunter Biden violated federal laws that required him to register as a foreign agent while working in China and Ukraine during his father’s vice-presidency, CNN reported.
Legal teams for both sides were seen negotiating in full view of reporters inside the court in an effort to salvage the plea deal or carve out a narrower agreement.
But the hearing ended with Judge Noreika, a Trump appointee, declining to sign the deal. She gave the two parties a fortnight to reach a new agreement and brief her.
Hunter Biden, who initially offered to enter a guilty plea, ended by pleading not guilty for the time being. (BBC)