GOP 2024 Field Sees Legal Double Standard for Hunter Biden
Republican presidential candidates, after news of Hunter Biden’s plea deal broke, took aim at the Department of Justice, with some calling the deal a “joke” and a “sweetheart deal.” The deal gave Republican candidates more political fuel against the Justice Department as recently indicted former President Donald Trump awaits his criminal trial later this year.
According to a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware, Biden, 53, agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax accounts and agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement on a firearms offense.
While a few 2024 GOP hopefuls have supported the Justice Department charges against Trump, there was virtual unanimity in condemning the plea deal with Biden - or at least suggesting it shouldn't be the end of the investigation.
The first to jump into the fray was venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy, who has spent much of his campaign defending Trump, the GOP front-runner. He called the plea deal “an Orwellian gesture that gives the news media exactly the level of cover that they needed.”
Trump, who was recently indicted for alleged crimes tied to his handling of classified documents, bashed the Biden plea deal on Truth Social and tied it directly to President Joe Biden.
“The Hunter/Joe Biden settlement is a massive COVERUP & FULL SCALE ELECTION INTERFERENCE ‘SCAM’ THE LIKES OF WHICH HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN OUR COUNTRY BEFORE,” Trump wrote. “A ‘TRAFFIC TICKET,’ & JOE IS ALL CLEANED UP & READY TO GO INTO THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION - AND THIS AS CROOKED DOJ, STATE, & CITY PROSECUTORS, MARXISTS & COMMUNISTS ALL, HIT ME FROM ALL SIDES & ANGELS WITH BULL….! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Trump’s chief rival for the nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, called it a “sweetheart deal.”
“If Hunter was not connected to the elite DC class he would have been put in jail a long time ago,” DeSantis tweeted.
Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two federal counts in connection with a DOJ probe into his personal taxes. Biden was charged with two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax and one firearm offense, according to documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. The deal will allow Biden to avoid prosecution for a gun purchase if he meets certain pre-trial conditions.
Although Republicans railed against the government's deal with Hunter Biden,” a well-known GOP operative was tied up in a similar tax case until just a year ago. Roger Stone and his wife settled an unpaid taxes case for more than $2 million last year.
Still, Republican presidential candidates said the guilty plea amounted to a “slap on the wrist.”
“This is another reason Americans have lost faith in Biden's Justice Department. While the Biden family gets a slap on the wrist with kid gloves, DOJ throws the kitchen sink at political opponents, raids the homes of pro-life advocates, and targets parents as ‘domestic terrorists,’” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said. “I can't emphasize enough the importance of the Grassley and Comer investigations, the need for restoring credibility to our justice system, and defeating Joe Biden in 2024.”
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley took a similar tact, saying Biden’s case raises questions about “the double standard of justice in our federal government.”
“This plea deal only raises further questions about Hunter Biden’s crimes,” Haley said. “There is clearly a lot more the Biden family has to answer for.”
Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Biden’s admission of guilt “is an important step in resolving at least a portion of the controversies over Hunter Biden’s business dealings.”
“There is a legitimate public interest in making sure all allegations are investigated and dealt with under the law,” he said.
