Democrats are dismissing first son Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict as both a normal legal outcome and evidence that Republicans’ cries of a “two-tiered system of justice” should be put to rest — despite some GOP members blasting the conviction as an “illusion of equal justice.”
Biden was found guilty on three felony counts related to a 2018 purchase of a firearm. Some Republicans praised the conviction as a job, eventually, well done by the Justice Department, but many GOP members argued that the verdict was simply a smoke show to distract from the “political persecution” of former President Donald Trump.
Several Democrats are remaining tight-lipped on the verdict, arguing that the conviction is nothing other than the way the legal system is supposed to work.
“He had his day in court, a jury of his peers found beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty, and nobody’s above the law,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-MA) said to the Washington Examiner.
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) agreed with Baldwin, saying, “That’s just the way the legal process works.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) went further to say, “I haven’t really thought about” the verdict.
Republicans have pointed to what they called the “sweetheart” plea deal Biden was nearly granted, plus corruption allegations at the center of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, to counter Democratic messaging that the verdict is evidence of a fair justice system.
“Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict is nothing more than the Left’s attempt to create the illusion of equal justice,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said Tuesday. “Don’t fall for it.”
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) echoed Clyde, arguing that “timing is everything” and blasting the verdict as a “veil of fairness in the Justice System” under Joe Biden.
Some Republicans have argued that the “sweetheart” deal distracted from any other possible prosecutions for the first son.
“There’s a reason that no prosecutor in the country took up the prosecution again, except for a political hack in New York City,” Marcus Molinaro (R-NY) told reporters Tuesday. “And I understand what that sounds like. I serve and live in New York. I know exactly what kind of person Al Bragg is. I know that he is willing to use his office for political benefit, while we see countless numbers of individuals just simply not get prosecuted for heinous crimes.”
However, some Democrats argue the verdict proves GOP claims that the DOJ is weaponized against Trump are invalid, given that a court criminally convicted the son of a sitting president for the first time in history. When asked if the verdict negated Republicans’ two-tiered argument, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) grinned and said, “I’ll let other people speculate about that.”
“It does make them seem a bit preposterous, doesn’t it?” Rep. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said to the Washington Examiner.
However, some GOP members are still waiting for the other shoe to drop, despite Joe Biden and the White House stating they will not pardon Hunter Biden. However, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not rule out commuting the first son’s sentence on Wednesday.
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Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told reporters Tuesday that Republicans are viewing the outcome as a likely “slap on the wrist” for the president’s son and nothing more.
“And everybody’s saying, ‘Well, it’s not a two-tiered system,’ but in fact, it is,” Burchett added. “President Trump’s stuff, the statute has passed and they moved it up from a misdemeanor to a felony. And this [Hunter Biden’s case] is clearly a felony.”
Cami Mondeaux contributed to this report.