Trump Rages Over Hunter's Misdemeanor Deal

Heather Cox Richardson:
After years of accusations and rumors swirling around Hunter Biden, the 53-year-old son of President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has reached a tentative deal with the younger Biden: He will plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2017 and 2018 by the filing date, for which he owed more than $100,000 each year. Biden’s representatives say he has since paid the Internal Revenue Service what he owed. Prosecutors will ask for two years’ probation.

Biden will also admit to the fact that he possessed a firearm as an addict, for which he and prosecutors have agreed he will enter a pretrial diversion agreement that will require that he stay clean for two more years, after which the charge will be removed from his record.

Representative James Comer (R-KY), chair of the House Oversight Committee, promptly accused “the Bidens” of “corruption, influence peddling, and possibly bribery” and called the deal “a slap on the wrist.” Throughout the day, right-wing figures have insisted that the deal is proof that President Biden is using the Justice Department to shield his family and to persecute his enemies.

In fact, Biden worked hard to reestablish the independence of the Justice Department after Trump had used it for personal ends. Trump broke the tradition that FBI directors should serve out their ten-year term—a term chosen to emphasize that the position should not be political—by firing FBI director James Comey when Comey refused to stop the bureau’s investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russian operatives; Biden tried to reestablish the guardrails around the position when he declined to replace FBI director Christopher Wray, appointed by Trump.

Biden also left in place the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware—the person overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden that began in 2018—to make the independence of the investigation clear. That Trump appointee, U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss, is responsible for the deal. Georgetown University policy professor Don Moynihan pointed out that Weiss has been investigating Hunter Biden for five years and “[b]est they could do is tax charges which rarely get this level of attention. If Comer has anything real, the prosecutor would have used it.”

Indeed, rather than going easy on Hunter Biden, there are signs that prosecutors treated him more harshly than is typical for similar crimes. Roger Sollenberger, a senior political writer for the Daily Beast, explained that “Roger Stone and his wife settled a $2 million unpaid taxes civil case with DOJ last year—they weren't charged criminally, unlike Hunter Biden, so they didn't even get probation.” Justice reporter for NBC News Ryan Reilly noted that it is very rare for prosecutors to bring the addict in possession of a weapon charge they used against Biden. In the past it has been used to find a charge that will stick or alongside charges concerning violent crime.

As right-wing leaders, including House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), nonetheless attacked the Justice Department for what they claimed was a “two-tiered justice system” that went easy on Biden, Greg Sargent of the Washington Post noted, "The right doesn’t seem to care about the legal process—they care about the results. Their aim is the destruction of the independence of federal law enforcement in favor of a weaponized justice system, and they will keep creating new pretexts until they get it."

@metal-brain said
As if Hunter had a choice. He tried to cheat on his taxes and it was a lot of money.

Wesley Snipes got 3 years in prison. Richard Hatch got 51 months in prison. No jail time for Hunter. Even Pete Rose got 5 months in prison because he failed to properly report income from autograph and memorabilia sales and (horse) gambling wins.

https://content.time.com/time/speci ...[text shortened]... ges/article/0,28804,1891335_1891333_1891304,00.html

How was what Pete Rose did worse than Hunter?

@metal-brain said
"Election Interference!" he says.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/hunter-biden-plead-guilty-tax-crimes-admit-gun-charge

@kevcvs57 said
Hunter failed to register for tax, he didn’t fill in a fraudulent tax form he didn’t try to defraud the IRS so stop talking testicles.
Trump is without a doubt the biggest criminal that’s ever occupied the White House and a serial tax evader without doing one day in prison.

@no1marauder said
Since I never made any statement claiming Hunter would go to prison, you're talking out your a**.

@metal-brain said
So even you don't have confidence the judge will send him to prison. Good enough for me. You're were talking out your a**.

@no1marauder said
I never said he would or wouldn't.

Stop being such an [crude expression for anus deleted].

@phranny said
Heather Cox Richardson:
After years of accusations and rumors swirling around Hunter Biden, the 53-year-old son of President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has reached a tentative deal with the younger Biden: He will plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2017 and 2018 by the filing date, for which he owed more than $100,000 ...[text shortened]... n favor of a weaponized justice system, and they will keep creating new pretexts until they get it."

@metal-brain said
In other words, you condone double standards that align with your personal bias.

@phranny said
Heather Cox Richardson:
After years of accusations and rumors swirling around Hunter Biden, the 53-year-old son of President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice has reached a tentative deal with the younger Biden: He will plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of failing to file income tax returns for 2017 and 2018 by the filing date, for which he owed more than $100,000 ...[text shortened]... n favor of a weaponized justice system, and they will keep creating new pretexts until they get it."

@suzianne said
You should stop saying "In other words..." because you never, ever get it right. Your skills at paraphrasing suck.

@no1marauder
Thousands of people have been prosecuted under Project Safe Neighborhoods by DOJ. They brag about getting nearly 5 years of prison time on average for their gun cases. If they followed policy, Hunter would be looking at a minimum of 5 years in federal prison. But he’s a Biden.

Take a look at 18 USC 924(c) charges. Easy to prove given Hunter was distributed/dealing drugs with a firearm in his possession. Such charges were brought against thousands in inner cities across the country for last 20 years. Mandatory minimum sentences for all. Except Hunter.

Since Hunter “brandished” his firearm during the commission of a drug crime, he would be looking at a mand min of 7 years in fed prison. DOJ could also add on top mand min possession of child pornography if any of the girls were underage, plus on top of that years for tax evasion.

Then there is the 1993 Crime Bill where Biden brags about mandatory minimums.
He laughs about how the judges are mad at him for taking away their discretion in sentencing. This just wreaks of hypocrisy all around.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4859826/user-clip-1993-crime-bill-biden-brags-mandatory-minimums

@metal-brain said
@no1marauder
Thousands of people have been prosecuted under Project Safe Neighborhoods by DOJ. They brag about getting nearly 5 years of prison time on average for their gun cases. If they followed policy, Hunter would be looking at a minimum of 5 years in federal prison. But he’s a Biden.

Take a look at 18 USC 924(c) charges. Easy to prove given Hunter was distribut ...[text shortened]... .

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4859826/user-clip-1993-crime-bill-biden-brags-mandatory-minimums

@no1marauder
How many gun incidences were there involving Hunter?

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/25/sources-secret-service-inserted-itself-into-case-of-hunter-bidens-gun-477879

@metal-brain said
@no1marauder
How many gun incidences were there involving Hunter?

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/25/sources-secret-service-inserted-itself-into-case-of-hunter-bidens-gun-477879