Top Republican lawmakers refused to celebrate Hunter Biden’s conviction on felony gun charges Tuesday, instead peddling an unfounded claim the guilty verdict serves as a distraction from more salacious corruption allegations against the Biden family—all while former President Donald Trump and his allies continue to argue the federal justice system is rigged.
Hunter Biden was convicted on all three felony gun charges he faced, and Republicans say it was a ... [+]
When asked if the conviction would “undercut” Republicans’ claims of a so-called two-tiered justice system, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said emphatically it does not, arguing “clearly the evidence was overwhelming” in the Biden trial, and that charges in four indictments against Trump were “obviously brought for political purposes.”
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who is overseeing an impeachment investigation into President Joe Biden that has thus far uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing, argued the verdict is “a step toward accountability” and called for investigations into “everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling schemes,” saying that until that happens, “it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden.”
Hard-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene argued the “biggest crimes of the Biden Crime Family remain untouched,” alluding to alleged foreign money directed to President Joe Biden from foreign influencers—a key GOP argument that both Bidens have rejected—with Greene claiming Hunter Biden “just became the Deep State’s sacrificial lamb to show that Justice is ‘balanced’ while the other Biden crimes remain ignored.”
Other Republican lawmakers pointed to a laptop Hunter Biden reportedly owned that allegedly detailed a scheme to direct money to Joe Biden, which Republicans have claimed is a smoking gun in proving a massive Biden family corruption plot.
In a statement following the conviction, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt argued the verdict amounts to a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime family.”
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Hard-right Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., simply called the conviction “kinda dumb.”
Hunter Biden was convicted by a Delaware jury Tuesday on three felony counts stemming from his purchase of a gun in 2018, a time he was using cocaine. He was charged with making a false oral or written statement to a licensed firearms dealer, illegally possessing a gun despite an addiction to a controlled substance or being an unlawful user of a controlled substance, and making a false statement on a federal form. While he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a $750,000 fine, analysts doubt he will face jail time. Defense attorney Jeremy Saland told Forbes he believes Biden could instead be put on probation due to several factors, including his short time with the gun (11 days) and his sobriety since 2019.
Dan Eberhart, a major Republican donor and Trump supporter, argued in an interview with NBC News the guilty verdict “definitely weakens” Republicans’ argument of a broken justice system. A Republican strategist speaking on the condition of anonymity also told MSNBC the verdict “slows the momentum” the Trump campaign maintained over Biden’s alleged “weaponization” of the Justice Department. Several Republican lawmakers also side-stepped the GOP narrative of a two-tiered justice system after Hunter Biden’s conviction. One of them, Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., posted after the conviction that “[n]obody is above the law, including the President’s son,” while Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., called the verdict a “step towards ensuring equal application of the law, regardless of one’s last name.” One of the jurors, meanwhile, told The Washington Post the case was not “politicized.”
Hunter Biden was indicted on the charges last September, and pleaded not guilty in a surprising move after a previous plea deal fell apart over a disagreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors. That plea deal, in which Biden would have avoided gun charges by entering a diversion program, also included separate charges of failing to file taxes, with Biden pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges. The gun charges, however, are far from Hunter Biden’s only legal case, as Republicans mount a widespread attack on the president’s son for a slew of allegations. He was also indicted on nine federal tax charges late last year for allegedly failing to fork up $1.4 million from 2016 to 2019. Two Republican-led House committees also advanced a resolution in January to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena into an investigation over whether Joe Biden was involved with his son’s foreign business operations during his time as vice president. Both Joe and Hunter Biden have denied those claims, which stem from a 2020 New York Post report finding a laptop Hunter Biden allegedly owned had emails alluding to an alleged connection between Joe Biden and his son’s foreign business dealings.
Trump was convicted last month on 34 felony charges for falsifying business records in his New York hush money case, stemming from a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels to conceal an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has denied having an affair and vowed to appeal the conviction. He has repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that prosecutors worked with the Biden administration to bring charges as part of a “witch hunt” to hurt his chances of winning a second term Trump’s GOP allies have largely reiterated that argument, blasting the Department of Justice for allegedly seeking to keep Trump from winning the 2024 election, with Johnson calling Trump’s conviction “purely political” and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, slamming it as a “travesty of justice.”