Republicans Rage at Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal: ‘Slap on the Wrist’

Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to two federal misdemeanor charges related to failing to pay his taxes, the Justice Department announced in a court filing on Tuesday.

The president’s son has reached an agreement to plead guilty on two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax.” Biden has also been charged with “possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.” He reached a pretrial diversion for the firearms charged, and it is likely to be dismissed if he meets certain conditions.

Republicans, including Donald Trump, are furious.

“Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” the former president wrote on Truth Social. “People are going wild over the Hunter Biden Scam with the DOJ!” he added in another post.

They are indeed going wild. “Hunter Biden is getting away with a slap on the wrist,” wrote House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) who is leading an investigation into Biden and his family.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) who also serves on the Oversight Committee, called the charges “part of a deflection scheme.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) agreed. “Hunter Biden pleading guilty to a gun charge and misdemeanor tax charges with no jail time is a stunt to make him look like he is just cooperating with the DOJ,” she wrote. “Biden’s DOJ is treating Hunter w/ kid gloves, giving him a deal that only the President’s son could receive,” wrote Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.). “If any of my constituents pled guilty to the same crimes, they’d be facing jail time. This plea deal will not stop our investigation into the Biden crime family.”

“They are going for the low-hanging fruit by charging Hunter Biden with a gun felony and two tax misdemeanors, after years of slow walking their investigation,” wrote Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). “For AG Garland to maintain his mantra that there is one standard of justice is pathetic. If the DOJ thinks this dismisses the $5 million alleged bribery scheme or the years of reported Biden family corruption, they are mistaken. We will not allow full accountability to fall by the wayside.”

The Republicans up in arms about the “kid gloves” treatment conveniently declined to note that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing the investigation and struck the deal with Biden, was appointed by Donald Trump.

The Justice Department had been investigating Biden since 2018. The son of the president’s potentially criminal activity has been — and will certainly remain — an obsession of the right wing, which has tried to draw a connection between Hunter Biden’s work overseas, most notably for Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma, and the president.

The House Oversight Committee has been probing the Bidens since Republicans took control of the chamber. Comer and others have recently been alleging that information provided by an unnamed whistleblower raises concerns that President Biden was involved in a bribery scheme related to Hunter’s work with Burisma. There is very little substance to the allegations, however, and there’s no actual evidence of any such scheme. Nevertheless, top-ranking Republicans have used the speculation to call for the “Biden Crime Family” to be held accountable … even thought Trump’s Justice Department possessed the same information and didn’t file charges.

Calls for justice to be served against Hunter Biden have intensified as Donald Trump faces federal charges of his own. The indictment against the former president for his handling of classified material after leaving the White House is damning, which means it’s not surprising that conservatives aren’t satisfied with the Justice Department slapping Hunter Biden with two minor tax charges.

Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, focused on Hunter’s efforts to continue his recovery from drug addiction in responding to the plea deal. “With the announcement of two agreements between my client, Hunter Biden, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved,” he said in a statement. “I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life. He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”

The White House also released a statement on Tuesday. “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” said spokesperson Iam Sams. “We will have no further comment.”

Outside of official Washington, MAGAworld is seething.

Pizzagate conspiracy theorist and MAGA loyalist Jack Posobiec oddly chose to paraphrase Trump’s infamous Access Hollywood remarks about what powerful men can get away with: “When you’re a Democrat they let you do it,” he wrote on Truth Social. Posobiec elaborated on Telegram: “There is one set of laws if your last name is Trump and another set of laws if your last name is Biden or Clinton … A blind man can see it.”

Trump’s son Don Jr., who benefited from questionable business deals while his dad was in the White House, insisted that the Hunter plea deal “reeks of favoritism and brazenly reveals a system where there are two tiers of Justice, wholly dependent on your political affiliation.”

Trump’s fitness enthusiast and legal adviser Tom Fitton — a non-lawyer who runs Judicial Watch and appears to have given Trump questionable advice on records retention — insisted that the Hunter plea deal shows that the “Department of Justice is irredeemably corrupt.”

Lauren Witzke, a far-right commentator and former GOP Senate candidate, declared on Telegram that Hunter deserved to have the book thrown at him: “The charge should be espionage but instead they’re using the Hunter Biden arrest to remind you to pay your taxes,” adding: “Joke country.”

Over at the MAGA fever swamps, in the comment threats of partisan forum The Donald, users referred to Hunter Biden as a corrupt figure right out of Saddam’s Iraq: “He’s our Uday Hussein,” declared a user with the handle RINOhunt.

Others pointed to the supposed injustice of the plea deal as more justification for looming partisan conflict. User 1776take2 wrote: “The scales of lady Justice are completely weighed down on conservative MAGA. People rotting in jail for trespassing charges. Trump over-charged in NY and FL.” The user added: “These fuckers deserve the day of reckoning that is coming for them.”

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