Critics who point out that others have gone to prison for comparable offences have called Hunter Biden’s plea agreement on a felony gun charge and two tax infractions a “sweetheart” deal.
President Biden’s son agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possessing a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, according to a statement made last week by the Justice Department. He also agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanour counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax.
On July 26, Hunter Biden is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, where he will formally enter a guilty plea. A trial that may have taken days or even weeks as well as prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm while using drugs are avoided thanks to the plea agreement.
Although there is still a potential that U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika will reject the plea agreement, it has been roundly criticised by conservative political figures as well as citizens who believe Biden was given a mere slap on the wrist.
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When comparing Hunter Biden’s plea agreement to the federal charges brought against former President Donald Trump, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, stated, “It continues to show the two-tier system in America.” The DOJ seeks to really lock you up and sentence you to prison if you are the president’s top political rival. However, if you are the president’s son, you get a preferential treatment.
Other Americans might spend months in prison if found guilty of similar federal firearms offences.
John Lott, the director of the Crime Prevention and Research Centre, wrote about the incident involving Deja Taylor of Virginia, whose 6-year-old son shot and hurt his teacher in January.
According to Lott, Biden’s plea agreement “lets him dodge possible charges on money laundering, bribery, trafficking, and being an unregistered foreign agent.” “Deja Taylor had further problems. Taylor wasn’t prosecuted in the teacher shooting that her son committed with the pistol, though.
Taylor was charged earlier this year with possession of a firearm while using a controlled substance illegally and with making a false statement when buying a handgun.
The controlled substance in this instance was marijuana, which is legal in Virginia but is nevertheless subject to federal regulation because it is classified as a controlled substance under American law. When Taylor bought her gun, the federal government claimed she knew “she was an unlawful user” of marijuana, notwithstanding her denials on paperwork.
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Prior to the accusations, Taylor had never been arrested. She entered a guilty plea this month and is presently awaiting punishment. Although her attorneys claimed that the sentencing recommendations call for 18 to 24 months in jail, the federal case against her may result in a sentence of up to 25 years.
According to Lott, a gun and crime specialist who previously served in the Office of Justice Programmes of the DOJ, “of cases involving false statements in buying a gun that are referred for prosecution, over 60% are prosecuted,” Lott told Fox News Digital.
And the reason why some people aren’t charged is due to issues with the evidence. These cases are resolved rapidly, in a few of months rather than nearly five. The Hunter Biden case has unshakeable evidence. There is no doubt that he was a drug addict and that he used illicit substances.
Lott also objected to the media’s portrayal of U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss, who is in charge of the Biden case, as a “Trump appointee”.
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It is believed that [Weiss] must be a Republican in order for there to have been no political prejudice in the handling of the Hunter Biden case, according to Lott. “However, President Obama had initially named him as the District of Delaware’s acting US attorney. The two Democratic U.S. senators from Delaware asked Trump to select Weiss as the U.S. attorney.
On Twitter, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and others criticised Biden’s “sweetheart deal” and contrasted it to Taylor’s situation.
Later this year, according to Taylor’s lawyer James Ellenson, he will confront the “inconsistency” between his client’s case and Biden’s pretrial diversion deal.
There won’t be any special favours for us because Deja’s father isn’t the president of the United States, Ellenson stated. We’ll discuss the contradiction with the sentencing judge.
Fox News Digital has previously covered analogies between the Biden case and rapper Kodak Black’s conviction for marijuana possession, firearm possession by a felon, and possession of a stolen firearm, which resulted in a sentence of more than three years in jail.
According to Bradford Cohen, the rapper’s attorney, Kodak Black was sentenced to “46 months for the exact same thing that Hunter Biden is not even pleading to,” on Wednesday on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
Cohen stated that “he’s actually getting a diversion programme,” which is unusual for federal court. Less than 1% of those who plead actually receive a diversion programme, you know.
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“If you score this out, which is how you do it in the federal system, he would score somewhere in the neighbourhood of two years on this case,” Cohen said.
Kodak Black’s sentence was subsequently commuted by Trump before he left office in 2021.
According to the Washington Times, another man, Brion Martai Odell Hamilton of Oklahoma, who admitted guilt in October to making false representations on ATF Form 4473, faces up to 10 years in jail.
Federal prosecutors found that Hamilton lied on the ATF’s Firearms Transaction Record form claiming his ability to buy a firearm. Hamilton had previously been found guilty of carrying a firearm while under the influence of marijuana in Oklahoma County.
Due to the finding of suspicious activity reports involving money from “China and other foreign countries,” Biden has been the subject of an investigation since 2018. Allegations that he lied when buying a gun in 2018 led to his firearms charge.
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Republicans have harshly criticised the arrangement this week, alleging that Joe Biden used his father’s international connections while serving as vice president under Obama.
According to Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., “America has 2 million people incarcerated right now.” “There are 6,000 jails here. Hunter might have had a place of his own.However, nobody actually gives a damn about Hunter Biden. Hunter was a disturbed young guy selling access to his father and a novice influence trader. He is a member of the Biden crime family, but he is not the Big Guy, the Vice President, or the President-elect.
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican from Arizona, previously told Fox News Digital that “this is deflection, deflection, deflection.” “Hunter Biden has been associated with graver crimes, and this plea agreement gives the impression that justice has been done, which it hasn’t,”
When Fox News Digital contacted the Department of Justice about Biden’s pretrial diversion deal in comparison to other cases, the department declined to comment. An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by the White House.
