PHOENIX — Republicans are responding to Hunter Biden’s request conviction about federal gun charges with some version of “Is that it?”
Loyal to Donald Trump, they largely echoed the former president’s claim that the Justice Department treated President Joe Biden’s son with kid gloves while zealously processing Trump. Capitalizing on the attention given to Hunter Biden’s conviction on charges related to purchasing a gun while addicted to drugs, they pressed unsubstantiated or debunked claims that Joe Biden – while vice president – acted to advance his family members’ foreign business interests. .
The GOP’s argument that Joe Biden is ordering prosecutors to target political opponents has been undermined by the Biden-led Justice Department prosecuting the president’s son — with Biden refusing to halt the investigation or pardon Hunter Biden. But by making that argument, Republicans may be trying to deflect Trump’s own possible intentions to wield the criminal justice system against opponents if he returns to the White House.
While president, Trump sought to undermine the Justice Department’s investigation into his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia and granted pardons to a a host of former campaign advisors, friends and donors. And during the campaign, Trump repeatedly declared that he is a victim of a “rigged” system It is promised to appoint a special prosecutor to target Biden and his family.
In a deal with prosecutors last year, Hunter Biden was expected to plead guilty to tax offenses and avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble for two years. But the business collapsed after the judge, appointed by Trump, questioned unusual aspects of the proposed settlement, and lawyers were unable to resolve the matter.
He was convicted on Tuesday and faces 25 years in prison, although as a first-time offender he would likely receive much less time or avoid prison altogether.
He still faces a trial in September in California, accusations of non-payment of $1.4 million in taxes, and congressional Republicans have signaled they will continue to pursue him in their stalled effort to impeach the president. The president has not been accused or accused of any wrongdoing by prosecutors investigating his son.
Hunter Biden’s conviction came weeks after a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 charges related to a hush-hush payment to a porn star during the 2016 campaign. Trump falsely claims the verdict was “rigged.” Biden said he accepted his son’s verdict.
The Trump campaign issued a statement calling the Hunter Biden verdict “nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family.” Several of his allies followed him.
“Remember, this was Joe Biden’s corrupt DOJ that tried to negotiate outside immunity unrelated to this case,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and Trump’s vice presidential running mate. for the Biden crime family.
Senator JD Vance, an Ohio Republican and another vice presidential candidate, shared a post from Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno saying the gun charges were intended to “isolate and protect” the president.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the guilty verdict was “appropriate” and did not harm his own criticism of a two-tier justice system for Trump and the Bidens.
“Every case is different,” Johnson said. “And clearly the evidence was overwhelming here. I don’t think that was the case in Trump’s trial, and all the charges that were brought against him were obviously brought for political purposes. Hunter Biden is a separate incident.”
As president, Trump has repeatedly sought to shape the criminal inquiry into whether his 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
He fired the FBI director who led the investigation, reprimanded the attorney general he appointed for refusing to oversee the investigation, and instructed his White House lawyer to seek the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller. These acts, and others, contributed to an investigation into whether he had illegally attempted to obstruct the investigation in Russia; Mueller found evidence of obstruction but refused to conclude whether Trump had broken the law.
More recently, Trump and allies have suggested that, if elected, he could advocate jailing political opponents, something he advocated even before becoming president.
In a fox & Friends interview this month, he falsely stated that he had not used the words “lock her up” in reference to Hillary Clinton and Hillary Clinton and her 2016 opponent’s use of a private email server to transmit confidential information as secretary of State. He said he could have tried to arrest her, but that “it would have been a terrible thing.”
He suggested things are different now that he faces four criminal charges, including the New York case that resulted in a conviction.
“And then this happened to me, and I might feel differently about it,” he said.
The charges against Hunter Biden stem from a dark period in his life, during which he reckons with a spiraling descent following the death of his brother, Beau Biden, to cancer in 2015. Jurors found him guilty of lying to a drug dealer. weapons licensed by the federal government when he purchased a revolver in 2018, making a false statement in the application by saying that he was not a drug user and had been carrying the weapon illegally for 11 days.
Many in Trump’s Republican Party are firmly against gun control and some of his supporters have questioned whether Hunter Biden should have been tried on gun charges.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and big Trump supporter, posted on X: “Hunter Biden’s gun conviction is kind of dumb.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters at the Capitol that the gun charge was a “waste of time,” although he said other charges related to Hunter Biden’s taxes were “serious.”
“I just think he’s being punished,” Graham said, adding that an average person would be “put on drug diversion or something.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., made similar comments.
“Hunter may deserve to be arrested for something, but buying a gun is not it,” Massie posted on X. “There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in prison for buying or owning a gun of fire against current laws.”
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Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves and Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
