Republicans have complained about the criminal justice system being “armed” against Donald Trump, but recent events have made it clear that his real concern is that he is not being used as a weapon against his preferred targets.
The situation was clearly revealed after the President Joe Bidenson Biden Hunter it was convicted in federal court on three felony gun charges related to lying about his drug addiction on a form when purchasing a gun.
The verdict put Trump’s allies in Congress in trouble. After all, all year they theorized aloud, without evidence, that Trump’s criminal cases were somehow directed by Biden himself, despite being brought by local and state prosecutors and a special counsel who operated in a independent.
Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky argued that the president’s son was convicted of a charge rarely brought in itself in this type of situation was not enough.
“Today’s verdict is a step towards accountability,” he said. he said“But until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence-peddling schemes that generated more than $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear that department officials will continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden.”
Comer insisted that even though Joe Biden was a senator and vice president, he made millions from his son’s business dealings with foreign entities. Despite numerous hearings and countless pages of testimony, Comer was unable to provide any direct evidence of these explosive allegations. In fact, he doesn’t even have the votes within his own party to impeach Biden on these grounds.
But earlier this year, when House Democrats released a report showing that Trump companies received millions from at least 20 foreign governments while Trump was president, Comer was dismissive, saying, “It is beyond parody that Democrats continue their obsession with former President Trump. Former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but the Bidens do not.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana showed similar hypocrisy. When asked whether Hunter Biden’s conviction undermined the Republican claim that there is a separate, harsher justice system for Republicans, Johnson he responded: “Each case is different. And clearly the evidence was overwhelming here. I don’t think that’s the case in the Trump trials.”
But in both cases, prosecutors had to operate under the same burden of proof. In both cases, jurors unanimously found the defendants guilty after a thorough review of the evidence and attention to each defendant’s arguments.
Pro-Trump Republican hypocrisy is not unique to our judicial system. Another example took shape in a vote in the Chamber plenary on Wednesday.
With the support of all but one Republican, the House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland accountable for contempt of Congress for defying congressional subpoenas. But two of the same Republicans who voted for the motion, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Andy Biggs of Arizona, they themselves defied Congressional subpoenas — and with pride.
Jordan refused to testify before the Jan. 6 committee or provide documents to the panel despite a subpoena from Congress. But just a few months ago, Jordan used his power as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to threatening Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with contempt of Congress after Willis had the courage to indict Trump and his allies for election interference. Jordan punished Hunter Biden when the president’s son refused to testify privately before the Oversight and Judiciary committees.
During the Trump administration, when White House officials ignored congressional subpoenas at unprecedented levels, Jordan defended them every step of the way. He even advised then-President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. ignore a Senate subpoena.
Biggs criticized Hunter Biden for refusing to testify at a closed-door committee hearing. When Biden said he would only testify publicly, Biggs he wrote, “Hunter Biden is expected to appear for his testimony with us. There’s no escaping it.”
But in 2021, when the January 6 committee requested closed-door testimony from Biggs, the congressman refused, saying“They just wanted the witness to have the ability to edit and misinterpret our statements to promote their own false narratives, as they did with so many other witnesses.”
That was the exact reasoning implemented by Hunter Biden.
Perhaps MAGA Republicans will find ways to make this hypocrisy seem like good faith to their followers, but the man they are doing this to — Donald J. Trump — has already given the game away.
Since his guilty verdict, Trump floated repeatedly the idea of retribution against any entity working to hold you accountable.
“Well, revenge takes time, I can tell you that,” he told television’s Dr. Phil. “And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.
He told Fox News host Sean Hannity: “Look, when this election is over, based on what they did, I would have every right to go after them.”
“It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re taking us down, and it’s very possible that this has to happen to them,” Trump said on Newsmax.
There is no two-tier justice system that favors one political party over the other, but Trump and his allies have shown they believe they are justified. to create a if you get the chance in November.
For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Alicia Menendez, watch “The weekend” every Saturday and Sunday at 8am ET on MSNBC.
This article was originally published in MSNBC.com
