Former President Donald Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the Justice Department’s indictment against Hunter Biden Thursday and reiterated his unproven claims that the agency is prosecuting him to prevent him from being re-elected, he said on Truth Social, moments after the agency announced gun charges against the younger Biden.
Former US president and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump gestures as he leaves the ... [+]
Trump called the gun charge “the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden,” repeating his unfounded claims that the agency is working on behalf of Biden to hurt his chances of winning back the White House (GOP investigators have not produced direct evidence of crimes that implicate Joe Biden).
Trump also blasted the Justice Department, and Democrats, for “horrible, very unfair, and mostly illegal Witch Hunts,” using his preferred term to refer to his own federal indictments related to the January 6 Capitol riot and his handling of classified documents after leaving office.
In a subsequent post, Trump called for “Democrats” to “stop interfering with our upcoming 2024 presidential election,” a nod to his allegations that the Justice Department is doing the Biden Administration’s bidding (both Hunter Biden and Trump’s prosecutions are overseen by special counsels who act independently from Attorney General Merrick Garland).
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) also said the gun charges did not go far enough, telling CNN “getting Hunter Biden on the gun charge is like getting Jeffrey Dahmer on littering.”
Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is leading House probes into the Biden family, called the indictment a “very small start” in a statement that urged the Justice Department to continue pursuing “everyone involved” in Hunter Biden’s alleged illegal activity or “it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy,” a term used by the right to refer to the president.
Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for Trump-aligned political action committee Make America Great Again, characterized the indictment as “a distraction from Hunter and Joe’s real crimes—selling out the United States to make millions,” she tweeted, repeating the unfounded Republican-backed allegation that Biden used his influence to financially benefit his son.
The Justice Department announced Thursday a Delaware grand jury voted to indict Hunter Biden on three gun charges related to a 2018 firearm purchase, including two counts of making false statements on a firearms form and one count of possessing a firearm as an unlawful user of a controlled substance. The charges allege Hunter Biden lied about his drug use on required disclosure forms when he purchased a .38 revolver during a period when he later admitted he was addicted to crack cocaine. The charges were announced after a diversion agreement Hunter Biden negotiated with the agency earlier this summer fell apart amid a disagreement between Biden and prosecutors over future immunity. The deal would have allowed the younger Biden to enter a diversion agreement to avoid the gun charge. In a separate plea deal that also unraveled, Biden was also expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, but ended up pleading not guilty.
The indictment comes days after the House opened an impeachment inquiry into the president centered around allegations he facilitated Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and may have profited off of them himself. The House has not revealed evidence showing Biden acted illegally, however, and he has repeatedly denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings. The Justice Department’s handling of Hunter Biden’s case is intrinsically linked to the impeachment inquiry, as the GOP claims the agency helped cover up allegations against Hunter Biden and the president.
Hunter Biden Indicted On Federal Gun Charges After Plea Deal Unraveled (Forbes)
DOJ Will Indict Hunter Biden On Gun Charges This Month (Forbes)
Biden Impeachment Inquiry: All The Allegations Against The President Leveled By House GOP, Explained (Forbes)