Concerns abound with a weaponized and politicized Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Biden administration. This isn't merely just to do with the targeting of former and potentially future President Donald Trump, but how Hunter Biden had been offered a plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid jail time for gun and tax charges, as well as immunity for other crimes. As Democrats see it, though, everything must be about Trump, including and especially Hunter's own failings. If there are any admittances on Hunter, it's still swept under the rug and not meant to be seen as anything major.
A particular display of hypocrisy came from Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA). He was asked at length about Hunter Biden during his recent appearance on "Fox News Sunday," and each time he kept bringing the issue back to Trump, all while accusing Republicans of engaging in "whataboutism." This included when host Shannon Bream asked Auchinloss, "how do you convince the American people there is a fair justice system, it is not two tiered," after she told the story of Darryl De Sousa, a former police officer who did face jail time for tax crimes.
The congressman began by offering that "if Hunter Biden committed crimes, Hunter Biden should face justice and accountability for those crimes," though the plea deal mentioned above could hardly be described as a fair sense of justice. Plus, with the plea deal he had been looking for, he could have been let off the hook for all sorts of wrongdoing.
Auchinloss continued by claiming his remarks were, "by the way, a sentence I have heard very few Republicans say about Donald Trump for much more massive crimes." The dismissal became stronger as he went on to say that "this focus, this obsession I would say, on Hunter Biden is really just a whopper of whataboutism, 'cause the Republicans are trying to deflect, to diminish, to defend Donald Trump from the grave crime of conspiracy against the constitution of the United States."
Republicans, Auchinloss also claimed, "want the American public to focus on anything other than the man who swore to preserve, protect, defend the constitution," as he charged Trump with having "tried to overturn our very democracy," a premise Auchinloss says we don't have to accept.
Considering that the question was entirely about Hunter Biden, it would appear that Auchinloss is the one engaging in whataboutism.
Democrat Rep. Jake Auchincloss dismisses the Hunter Biden corruption scandal as an "obsession" and a "whopper of whataboutism" pic.twitter.com/QZ6e5nsWc8
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 6, 2023
Auchinloss amped up the gaslighting even more when asked about the real concerns that Americans have with the DOJ, as Bream looked to discuss last Wednesday's opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal from Daniel Henninger, "Donald Trump, Hunter Biden and the Rule of Law."
As Henninger's op-ed read in part:
However overwhelming the Trump Jan. 6 indictment, the recent Hunter developments are as important for the integrity of the law. You can call Hunter, Burisma, China and the “big guy” pedestrian influence-peddling, but in the context of a former president’s legal problems, the Hunter plea bargain has become more than that. It is a public test of legal equity for the government that put these Trump indictments in motion.
"Do you get that half the country is skeptical about what's happening at the Justice Department," Bream asked the congressman. After a pause, Auchinloss' response was that "I get that Donald Trump is sowing doubt in our legal institutions which has been his tactic for 50 years," prompting Bream to respond "let's focus on Hunter," as the congressman still went on to rant about the severity of Trump's charges.
"Do you get that half the country is skeptical about what's happening at the Justice Department?"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 6, 2023
Democrat Rep. Jake Auchincloss: No pic.twitter.com/uZj6Icui6D
It was only as an aside that Auchinloss offered "of course, Hunter Biden should face justice, no one in this country is above the law," but he still went on to complain "what we are seeing here is an apples and oranges comparison where everybody wants to talk about Hunter Biden because they don't want to talk about the far graver crime of Donald Trump."
Meanwhile, Auchinloss only wants to talk about Trump.
From his perspective, it's all about Trump. It couldn't quite be that Americans are smart enough to be worried about the Biden administration trying to interfere with who they could vote for, or against, in 2024.
Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is a Democrat who has voted against Trump, but has still staunchly defended him, including and especially to do with the recent indictment brought forth by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
While speaking with Newsmax's Greta Van Sustern last Tuesday, he declared, "I want to vote against Donald Trump and I don't want the prosecutor to deny me that right."
He doubled down on such themes when speaking to Newsmax on Saturday. "As an anti-Trump voter, somebody who voted against him twice and intends to vote against him for the third time, and as a civil libertarian, and a liberal, and a Democrat, I am very dissatisfied with the way this prosecution has gone," Dershowitz said. "As a liberal Democrat, I'm not satisfied that justice will be done in this case in the District of Columbia in front of this judge."
While Auchinloss did acknowledge later in the segment that "if Hunter Biden committed crimes he should be held accountable for them," and that "what we saw from Devon Archer's testimony was a very unflattering portrait of Hunter Biden judgment and business dealings," he still emphasized that it amounted to "no material involvement from Joe Biden himself."
The testimony from Archer looks quite bad for the president, considering that it confirmed then Vice President Joe Biden was very much "the brand."
Auchinloss went on to throw Republicans under the bus once more, calling the matter "smoke, it is smoke, it is smoke the Republicans are trying to gin up, and yet no fire and they're desperately trying to redirect Americans' attention away from the most important indictment in American history, which is Donald Trump's."
The congressman arguably has a point about the importance of the indictment, but because it is his party that is looking to engage in election meddling and interference ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Such a dismissive attitude, not surprisingly, also exists with House Democratic leadership, including Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), who chairs the House Democratic Caucus. He also was a member of the January 6 select committee during the previous Congress, as he touted during his Sunday show appearance on ABC News' "This Week."
When given the chance to critique the Trump legal team strategy to raise concerns, Aguilar pointed out that "the bottom line is, for us to have accountability, we need to ensure that there aren't two sets of legal systems, one for the rich and powerful and one for everyone else," speaking with regards to Trump's case. "And the former president is allowed his presumption of innocence and his day in court. And I hope that he pushes forward with that and so we can hear these charges even further and we can get to this evidence. That's where we will have, you know, true accountability, and that's what we want," he claimed.
Democrats do not merely want "true accountability." If they do, then they have a very different definition of it.
As Katie highlighted on Monday, The New York Times back in April of last year covered how Biden reportedly felt Trump to be a threat and should be prosecuted, and was frustrated with the pace of the investigation, also privately expressing those frustrations about Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Why This April 2022 New York Times Story Is Suddenly Gaining New Attention https://t.co/eekC7e2zmE
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 7, 2023
The polls also confirm that the American people are concerned with the charges, as discussed in Monday's VIP piece about a recently released poll from CBS News. A majority of Republicans (71 percent) and plurality of Independents (41 percent), say that they are more concerned that the "indictment is politically motivated" than they are that "Trump tried to overturn presidential election." Overall, Americans are evenly split, with 38 percent saying each option concerns them more, and 24 percent saying both concern them.
Trump is not only currently the most likely candidate to win the Republican presidential primary, but the race remains close between him and Biden. RealClearPolitics (RCP) has Biden up 44.9 percent, less than a point ahead of Trump's 44 percent.
The poll also showed that 59 percent believe the indictments are trying to stop the Trump campaign. That doesn't quite sound like "true accountability."
IRONY: House Democrat Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar says, "We need to ensure that there aren't two sets of legal systems — one for the rich and powerful and one for everyone else" pic.twitter.com/VSb03kw54f
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 6, 2023
Host George Stephanopoulos reminded Aguilar that the very same concerns about "a two-tiered legal system" could be said about Trump, but in reverse, as raised by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Aguilar dismissed the point entirely. "It seems as though every time Trump goes higher in the poll he gets a new indictment. It seems to me, after you learn of the real dealings behind the Bidens, the next day he gets indicted. Any time there is new information, the federal government just seems to have a two-tier system," McCarthy had previously raised.
"They have to continue to espouse these extreme, you know, theories and beliefs," Aguilar responded in part about Republicans raising concerns about the charges, specifically the timing. It is not merely "theories and beliefs" that the indictments would come down when bad news comes for the president, which could very well affect his approval rating if covered fairly.
When the American people have legitimate questions about the kind of treatment Hunter gets, and about how Trump is being targeted – regardless of if they support the former and potentially future president in any of his presidential runs – it's no wonder that they would have concerns with the DOJ.
The Timeline of DOJ's Indictments Is Raising Suspicions https://t.co/UGEmZsfF6X
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 2, 2023
