Former President Donald J. Trump and his Republican allies sought to authorize criminal investigations into his actions by claiming that Democrats had “weaponized” the system Justice. That claim only strengthened after a jury convicted Mr. Trump last month of 34 felony counts in a hush-money case.
In pushing that narrative, they tend to ignore an awkward truth: President Biden did not prevent the Justice Department from investigating his son. On Tuesday, the conflict became even more intense when a jury convicted Hunter Biden of three felony counts for lying about drug use when buying a gun in 2018.
The ruling did not satisfy Republicans, who minimized the outcome and continued to insist that Democrats had turned the criminal justice system into their partisan tool. But under enormous political pressure, the 12 juries in both cases appear to have taken their work seriously, weighing the evidence and returning verdicts. The system seems to work more or less as expected.
To be sure, there is an argument to be made that both Trump’s hush money case and Hunter Biden’s gun case were influenced by politics. Both could be considered relatively small — despite a lot of evidence supporting the charges — cases that prosecutors might not bother bringing if the defendant was a nobody. But making that point is not beneficial to either side.
Instead, Democrats lined up after Hunter Biden’s conviction to show how much they respected the criminal justice system, often making it clear that they were not criticizing the case as aggressive behavior of the prosecution. They argued that despite Republican denunciations that Trump’s trial was a corruption sham, politically prominent criminals from both parties were convicted.
“The divide here is staggering, and it’s a great reminder that one political party remains committed to upholding the law, and the other party is not — it’s as simple as that,” Rep. Jim McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat, said. during the hearing on Tuesday.
“Republicans cannot wrap their heads around the idea that their presidential candidate, your presumptive nominee, is a convicted felon,” Mr. McGovern added. It is not the result of a sham process or some vast conspiracy by the Biden administration.”
For their part, Republicans have downplayed the importance of prosecutors’ efforts to convince the jury that found President Biden’s son guilty of three felonies. The case was led by Trump appointee David C. Weiss, whom Attorney General Merrick Garland placed in charge of the investigation and eventually became special counsel.
Representative James R. Comer, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, offered brief and understated praise for the ruling before reiterating the baseless claims of that President Biden participated in a bribery scheme.
“Today’s ruling is a step toward accountability, but until the Department of Justice investigates all those involved” in the purported scheme, Mr. Comer said in a statement, “it is clear “It’s clear that department officials will continue to cover up” for the president.
After the verdict, Mr. Biden expressed personal support for his son but said in a statement that he accepted the outcome of the case. He also mentioned an interview with ABC news last week in which he said that he would not use his official powers to pardon his son if he were convicted.
“As I also said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers his appeal,” Mr. Biden said.
But Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement that the trial of the president’s son was “nothing more than a distraction” from what she claimed without there is evidence of the “real crime” of the Biden family.
In downplaying the results, some Republicans also emphasized that Mr. Weiss came close to reaching what they described as a “sweetheart” plea deal last year with Hunter Biden. The deal will resolve both the gun issue and separate allegations that he failed to pay taxes for several years during his drug addiction.
The the deal collapsed after questions from a federal judge revealed that the two sides disagreed on whether the agreement dropped additional charges against Mr. Biden on other topics. Mr. Weiss later received felony indictments on both matters; Hunter Biden will face trial on tax violations in September.
Other Republicans simply ignored Hunter Biden’s ruling. Representative Jim Jordan – the Ohio Republican who led the weaponization of the federal government subcommittee – declined to comment on the ruling through a spokesman.
However, immediately after Hunter Biden was convicted, Republican staffers on the Judiciary Committee led by Mr. Jordan did the following: announced that they would organize hearing this summer on the “flaws” of the New York case against Mr. Trump. Last month, a jury unanimously found he falsified business records to cover up payments to a porn actress in the final stages of the 2016 election.
The Commission also emphasized that it had given assurances “public testimony” agreement by the Manhattan district attorney who sued Mr. Trump, Alvin L. Bragg, and by Matthew Colangelo, a white-collar prosecutor participating in the trial. Mr. Colangelo served as a Biden administration official at the Department of Justice before taking a job with Mr. Bragg’s office in December 2022.
However, Democrats took the opportunity to point out that the Biden Justice Department has also brought criminal charges against members of the president’s party, including Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is on trial on corruption-related charges, and Representative Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat was indicted last month on charges of bribery and money laundering.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on Mr. Comer’s Oversight Committee, emphasized the difference in approach.
During the same hearing as Mr. McGovern, he noted that he “has not heard a single Democrat anywhere in the country cry ‘fraud,’ cry ‘fixed,’ cry ‘fraud ‘, cry ‘kangaroo court'” in response to Hunter Biden’s call for a federal conviction, as Republicans did after Mr Trump’s conviction – even as they promoted conspiracy theories that President Biden somehow controlled the state’s case.
“Compare and contrast the difference in response between Republicans and Democrats,” Mr. Raskin said. “Republicans are attacking our entire system of justice and the rule of law because they don’t like the way a case is being brought, while the son of the president of the United States is indicted and I don’t hear a single any Democrats.” cry badly.”
Luke Broadwater Contributing reports from Washington.
