Even-handedness Urged In Wake of Hunter Biden Gun Charges
President's son facing charges rarely brought, some say
Observers, including at least one sitting Republican, are urging calm with the indictment of President Biden's son, Hunter, on federal gun charges.
Indeed, some believe that the younger Biden is facing charges that others would not, only because of his famous last name.
Hunter Biden was charged Thursday with three counts of federal gun crimes related to the purchase of a single handgun.
The charges were brought after a plea deal fell apart earlier this summer suddenly in a Delaware courtroom.
Hunter Biden is near-constant focus for many on the political right, including House Republicans who this week opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his alleged — but unproven — connections to Hunter's business dealings.
“I don’t think people should applaud the system when it works for Hunter Biden, but then try to tear the system down when it works for Donald Trump. I mean, both of them have been indicted on various charges,” said Rep Jamie Raskin (D-Md), a former law professor. “The presumption of innocence operates for both of them. Due process rights operate for both of them. You know, we shouldn’t take delight in other people’s misfortunes, but we have to have a rule of law.”
A one-time top official at the FBI questioned that these charges were brought against the president’s son.
“When we look at the fact that charges are very, very rarely ever brought against defendants on circumstances like this, particularly when the gun that is allegedly unlawfully possessed wasn’t involved in another crime,” former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe said. “By the Washington Post report today, they did an analysis of all federal firearms charges for unlawful possession from the period of October of 2022 to March of ’23.
“Charges under circumstances like these comprised only 3 percent of all unlawful possession charges,” McCabe added. “So with the rarity of this basis for these charges, it raises some very serious questions about why they’re being brought in this case.”
Meanwhile, Rep Ken Buck, a one-time prosecutor, wants his fellow Republicans to view the ultimate outcome of special counsel David Weiss’s work before jumping to any conclusions.
“How silly Republicans are going to look in six months if he’s brought a gun charge, tax charges, and foreign agent registration act violation charges. I mean give the guy some time to develop this case,” said Buck, who represents a district in Colorado. “I don’t agree with the plea agreement that he had before, but this certainly looks like he is taking it seriously. You can’t judge him until we’ve seen the work product.”
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