Tipsheet

Republicans Share Mixed Emotions Over the Lax Treatment of Hunter Biden

Republican lawmakers are fuming over the lax plea deal Hunter Biden made this week with federal prosecutors over gun felonies and tax fraud charges. 

As GOP leaders continue their feud with the corrupt Justice Department, Republicans criticize the two-tiered justice system wreaking havoc on the U.S. that unfairly targets conservatives. 

"It continues to show the two-tier system in America," House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) said, referencing former President Trump's recent 37-count indictment. "If you are the president's leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to put you in jail and give you prison time literally. But if you are the president's son, you get a sweetheart deal."

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) slammed the corrupt justice system, which slapped Biden on the wrist despite evidence uncovered by the GOP revealing that the Biden family has repeatedly engaged in a pattern of influence peddling and bribery. 

Comer also said the deal has "no impact" on his panel's probe into the Biden family, adding that he will request a "closed-door briefing or written statement from U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss on "what he means when he says this is an ongoing investigation."

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) echoed Weiss's pledge to keep the case open, vowing to hold Biden accountable "given the significant body of evidence that the FBI and Justice Department has at its disposal." 

In addition, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said that so many things still need to be investigated regarding the whole Biden family— not just Hunter— suggesting the DOJ purposely let certain charges expire. 

"The fact that they have now an IRS whistleblower coming forward and saying that the entire IRS investigatory team almost in unprecedented fashion was pulled off the case [and it] sounds like there are allegations that they, on purpose, allowed the statute of limitations to expire on more serious charges — there are so many things that I would want to be investigated in terms of Hunter Biden," Johnson said. 

However, several Republicans either refused to comment on Biden's sweetheart plea deal or held back criticism. 

"The justice system, I guess, has got to work its way out. He's going to plead to a couple of tax evasion charges and a gun charge. I don't know that this is necessarily the end of the road for him, probably not. At least the preliminary stage of it is done," Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said. 

When asked about the president's son's lax deal, Thune said, "I don't know what else they got on him, but I do think the American people have to be convinced that the justice system treats everybody equally under the law."

Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) declined to react on the issue. 

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also refused to address the Biden deal as he walked to the Senate floor. Instead, he focused on Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Beijing and the "Biden Administration's radical nominees."