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🇺🇸 Hunter Indicted

🇺🇸 Hunter Indicted

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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Hunter Indicted

Last Thursday, Hunter Biden was indicted by Special Counsel David Weiss in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president. The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.

Reporting from the Left: Hunter Biden was indicted on gun charges. Here’s the real reason he’s in trouble (Los Angeles Times)

Reporting from the Right: Hunter Biden indicted on federal gun charges (FOX News)

From The Flag: Weiss has been leading the Hunter Biden investigation since late 2018. The probe appeared to be winding down in June when Biden was offered a deal from Weiss, but that deal was struck down by a federal judge in July. Weiss was granted special counsel privileges in August. Here’s what both sides are saying about the indictment.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

It’s Not About The Guns

Hunter was happy to benefit from his family’s name, but he’s now seeing the other side of his prominence.
The push for gun-related charge has more to do with the plea deal falling apart, but it’s not clear why the deal fell apart in the first place.
Trump and hi supporters still don’t have a clear direction as to how they’re going to tie Hunter’s alleged crimes to his father.

The Truth About Hunter Biden’s Indictment David A. Graham: “Now that Hunter Biden is facing criminal charges, his defenders and allies have cried foul, saying that prosecutors are dealing unfairly with his case. Legal experts have said that the charges against him, both here and in an earlier plea deal that fell apart, seem unusual—the kinds of charges that are seldom brought against individuals, or seldom brought except as part of a larger case. Regardless, his behavior wouldn’t have attracted nearly the scrutiny it has—from the press and perhaps from prosecutors—if he’d been Hunter Johnson. … Ironies abound in this story. As former President Donald Trump complains that he is a victim of selective prosecution for his brazen attempts to defy a federal subpoena, Hunter Biden may actually be experiencing it. Republicans who are usually quick to criticize gun laws for abridging a constitutional right are clamoring to see Hunter Biden punished, while some Democrats who prefer stricter gun laws are dismissing the prosecution as a distraction.”

The indictment of Hunter Biden isn’t really about gun charges Andrew Prokop, Vox: “When Hunter bought the gun, he filled out a form saying he was not a drug user, when in fact he had a serious addiction at that time. Prosecutors assert that this violated three different laws… But the legal and political saga surrounding the indictment is much more complicated. Initially, prosecutors weren’t going to charge Hunter in the gun case at all. They did so only after the lead prosecutor, David Weiss, shifted to a more aggressive posture after a plea deal he’d struck with Hunter’s team fell apart. … There’s nothing unusual about prosecutors charging more crimes after a plea deal falls apart. The mystery here remains why, exactly, the plea deal fell apart. If the main reason is simply that, due to political pressure from Republicans and embarrassment over the IRS officials’ claims, Weiss’s team got cold feet on a deal they’d agreed to — that wouldn’t make them look so great.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: Trumpworld is still figuring out the Hunter Biden indictment conspiracy Philip Bump, The Washington Post

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Good First Step

Whatever defense Hunter’s team plans on using, it’s not going to be good news for the White House.
The charges vindicate critics of the Justice Department’s earlier sweetheart plea deal.
Former President Donald Trump is taking aim at the Justice Department over its indictment, saying the gun charge against Hunter was the only crime that wouldn’t implicate President Joe Biden.

What to Make of the Hunter Biden Gun Indictment Andrew C. McCarthy: “First, the point of bringing three charges is strategic. Biden is charged not only with two counts of lying about his status as a user of, and addicted to, illegal narcotics. Prosecutor David Weiss has also included a count of unlawful possession of the firearm for about eleven days in October 2018. This is a response to a claim made by Biden apologists in the media-Democratic complex, namely, that it is exceedingly rare for people to be prosecuted for making false statements in connection with gun purchases. That is an overstatement, but even to the extent there’s truth to it (many more of those cases should be prosecuted than are), it relates to a category referred to as ‘lie and try’ cases — where the subject of the investigation lies to try to get a gun but ultimately doesn’t get it because the lie is discovered before the gun can be transferred to the buyer.”

Hunter Biden Gets Indicted The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal: “The President’s son is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but the charges vindicate critics of an indulgent plea deal cut in June by U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Under that deal Hunter Biden had been set to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors. The gun crime would ultimately have been dropped under a diversion agreement. Hunter would have served no time in jail and received immunity from further prosecution. That deal fell apart the moment it was put in front of a federal judge. Some of the hardball negotiations leading to the agreement soon leaked to the press. ‘President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial,’ one of Hunter’s attorneys wrote Mr. Weiss. ‘This of all cases justifies neither the spectacle of a sitting President testifying at a criminal trial nor the potential for a resulting Constitutional crisis.’”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Trump blasts Justice Department Hunter Biden indictment as 'only crime' that doesn't 'implicate' the president Andrew Murray and Paul Steinhauser, FOX News

FLAG THIS

Americans Still Sharply Divided

According to a recent AP-NORC poll, about half of Americans say they have little or no confidence that the Justice Department is handling its investigation into Hunter Biden in a fair and nonpartisan way.

1 in 3 are highly concerned about whether President Joe Biden may have committed wrongdoing related to his son’s business dealings. However, the political divide is clear. Sixty-six percent of Republicans, compared to just 7% of Democrats, are very or extremely concerned about whether President Biden committed wrongdoing when it comes to his son’s business dealings (AP).

Do you believe that going after Hunter Biden is part of a broader effort to implicate President Biden?

FLAG FINDS

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