Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know that Republicans are desperately trying to deflect from Donald Trump’s treasonous criminality by spinning Hunter Biden’s “fairly standard” plea deal into the corruption and cover-up crime of the century.
Unfortunately for the GOP, most of the federal investigation into Hunter Biden occurred under Donald Trump and with a Trump-appointed prosecutor.
On Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin made that point so clearly that it should never come up again:
Raskin began by explaining that Hunter Biden “lost his way badly” in 2015, after the death of his brother, and sank into drug addiction. “Like other addicts, Hunter Biden made foolish and criminal choices,” Raskin added, "including failing to pay taxes and owning a firearm in violation of federal law." But he is now being held criminally accountable for it via the legal system’s process.
Then Raskin explained just how thoroughly Hunter Biden’s case was handled and overseen by Trump appointees and the Trump administration – and how divorced from the process President Joe Biden kept himself.
RASKIN: His investigation began under the Trump administration. It was conducted by a U.S. Attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, who Donald Trump appointed to his office and who Attorney General Barr chose for this assignment, to conduct this investigation. In his final press conference, in December of 2020, Attorney General Barr expressed full confidence in Weiss’ work, saying it was, quote, being handled responsibly and professionally within the department and to this point, I have seen no reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave.
Furthermore, Joe Biden never publicly questioned or challenged this prosecution. When it began, he did not decry it as a witch hunt by Donald Trump, he placed his trust in the fairness of the American justice system. When he became president, not only did he not use his power to halt the investigation, he kept in place Trump's hand-picked U.S. Attorney, Mr. Weiss overseeing it, even though incoming presidents usually replace U.S. attorneys with their own appointee.
And his attorney general, Merrick Garland, made sure that Mr. Weiss, appointed by Donald Trump, had full authority and resources to pursue this probe and charge it however, and whenever he saw fit in any district in the country. And in the past few weeks, as Hunter Biden has accepted a guilty plea, the president and his attorney general have done nothing to interfere with the case, which is overseen by a federal judge appointed by yes, Donald Trump.
Republicans have desperately resorted to attacking the DOJ and using Hunter Biden as their phony proof in order to deflect from and whitewash Donald Trump's multiple criminal indictments. Sadly, Raskin made those remarks at yet another House “investigation,” this time by way of promoting “whistleblowers” who have disagreed with Weiss’ charging decision and want to turn it into something more sinister. Meanwhile, Trump's third set of indictments are looming, this time for trying to sabotage a U.S. election.
Nothing new was revealed at Wednesday's hearing, Politico reported, but Republicans will likely use it as another step toward impeaching Garland and helping to prop up their criminal, treasonous leader, Trump.
