Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff — who was recently censured by House Republicans for his role in former President Donald Trump‘s Russia probe and first impeachment — shaded the GOP for their response to Hunter Biden‘s plea deal.
While speaking to Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin on this morning’s episode of The View, Schiff weighed in on Hunter — the son of President Joe Biden — entering a plea deal to avoid jail time on tax and gun charges.
“What’s important here I think, is first of all, the conduct was Hunter Biden’s conduct,” the California politician told the panel. “Not President Biden’s conduct.”
He continued, “I’m glad that he’s taken responsibility and I think that the plea agreement that was reached by justice by a U.S. attorney appointed by Donald Trump is a fair agreement.”
Griffin — who first brought up the topic — noted that some say the plea deal “points to a bigger ethics issue over political family members cashing in on their name” whether it be Hunter’s business dealings in China and Ukraine or Jared Kushner making profits in Saudi Arabia.
“I think kids should distance themselves from their elected presidential parents and not use that relationship for financial benefit,” Schiff said, referring to whether or not he believes an “ethical line” was crossed. “I don’t think that’s good on the Democratic side or the Republican side.”
Still, the lawmaker doesn’t believe it’s right for Republicans to blame Hunter’s mistakes on the president.
“To go after the president for the conduct of his son — who is obviously grappling with issues of addiction — I think says more about the Republican Party than it does about Joe Biden,” Schiff concluded.
This isn’t the first time Hunter’s plea deal has been a Hot Topic on The View. On Wednesday’s (June 21) episode of the daytime talk show, Goldberg responded to Republicans calling out the “sweetheart deal,” before saying that she’s “sick” of hearing about Hunter’s laptop — which the party alleged held proof of corruption by his father.
“It’s not gonna stop y’all from going after Biden,” she said. “We know you’re gonna keep looking. Because you’re lookers. You look away when you see something that’s actually worth seeing but you gonna look for something that’s not really there.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.