The saga of Hunter Biden has been going on for a long time. For the defense, we have his dad, Democrat leaders and the left-leaning news media claiming that there is nothing to see with regard to any of the dizzying array of controversies and potential civil and criminal offenses swirling around the younger Biden.
Papa Biden said it definitively that Hunter has done NOTHING wrong. At least that was his initial claim. Since then, there has been a pile of questionable and suspicious activities that have come to light. Given what is already known, there can be no argument against the need for further investigation – of him, his Uncle Jim Biden and even his dad.
Hunter almost escaped accountability with a sweetheart plea deal that would have resulted in a guilty plea for a minor civil violation. No felonies and no jail time. It was such an obnoxious deal that Judge Maryellen Noreika could not stomach it. She refused to accept the deal and sent the case back to U.S. Attorney (at the time) Jack Smith for further investigation.
Once the plea deal was discovered, public pressure mounted for a real investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as the Special Counsel. If the name seems familiar, you have been paying attention. That is the same Smith who offered the sweetheart deal in the first place. Only this time Smith was under pressure to follow the facts no matter where they led. And he seems to have done that.
The result was a nine-count indictment – both civil and criminal. Essentially, Hunter is being accused of tax fraud – for not paying his taxes and filing false tax returns. That is a big deal. If found guilty, it could mean up to 17 years in a federal hoosegow.
To establish Hunter’s failure to file and pay his taxes, the indictment included a list of his expenditures to show he failure to pay was not for lack of money. The most notable was $872,000 on hookers, porn sites and other “adult entertainment.” I am shocked. Not by the licentious behavior, but the fact that a good-looking, very wealthy son of the President of the United States felt it necessary to pay for sex. He spent another $146,000 on drugs – and not the kind you get at Walgreens.
Hunter supported his lifestyle with $215,000 for luxury cars. Cars? That gets you one Rolls Royce – and not even the top of the line. Then there was $318,000 for luxury hotel accommodations. It would not be proper to take high-priced hookers to a Motel 6. Another $87,000 for jewelry. It was not clear if that was for himself or for … well you know.
Hunter spent $35,000 on artwork. According to reports, that is a fraction of his income from just one of his own works of dubious art. In contrast, he only spent $21,000 on lawyers. What? With all his legal problems, he only spent $21,000 on lawyers. Were the rest of them operating pro bono for the President’s son? The answer is “yes.”
Hunter’s friend and occasional legal counsel, Kevin Morris, provided Hunter with $4.9 million over a three-year period, including the money to pay off the more than $1 million in overdue taxes. Hmmm. Hunter pays lawyers $21,000 in legal fees and his lawyer pal provides him with $4.9 million in financial assistance to pay off his delinquent taxes at the same time Morris provides Hunter with legal advice – officially or unofficially. One might suspect that Morris is doing all this more as favors to Joe Biden. That is where Morris’ returns on investment may be found. After all, Hunter can do nothing for Morris.
It is noteworthy that Morris’ closest ties have been with the senior Biden. He served as a Biden’s spokesperson when the President was Senator and Vice President. Since then, he has been “assigned” to clean up other messes in the Biden household – including a trip to Serbia to spy on the production of a movie titled “My Son Hunter.” He paid unusually high amounts for Hunter’s paint-by-numbers artworks. Hunter’s book was handled by Morris’ literary agent. Morris has been dubbed as Hunter’s “Sugar Brother.”
Of course, there is nothing illegal about Hunter’s extravagant expenditures – with the possible exception of the hookers. Regardless, none of this reflects well on Hunter. That has not stopped Papa Joe (no, not the owner of the restaurant chain) from saying he is proud of his son.
(I understand fatherly love. But a father does not puff up with pride when an offspring goes off the path as badly as Hunter. As a father, I will go with the love – even his efforts to protect his son — but not the pride. But I digress.)
Like all high-visibility court cases, there is always how the issue plays out in the court-of-public opinion which is driven by political biases and devoid of rules-of-evidence and any assumptions of non-guilt until proven in a court of law. The court of public opinion is more associated with things like mob rule, vigilantism, justice, lies and false accusation. Instead of a presumption of innocence, there is a presumption of guilt.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the reporting hypocrisy in the coverage of the two most prominent political court cases – Donald Trump and Hunter Biden. Essentially, the mainstream media – the magistrates in the court-of-public-opinion – and others speak declaratively of Trump’s guilt, while they are twisting facts and logic to proclaim Hunter’s innocence, at least of the most serious charges.
They — with unwarranted certainty — claim that Trump will be found guilty of his charges and that Hunter has been overcharged. Team Biden has referred to the charges against Hunter as “minor,” “frivolous” and allege that if Hunter was not the son of the President, he would never have been prosecuted at all.
They go on to say that the charges are politically motivated. By a Justice Department controlled by Biden senior? Are they agreeing with Trump that the DOJ is corrupt and politicized?
In one of the more creative and ridiculous defenses of Hunter is the claim that he was “not himself” at the time. He was strung out on drugs – as if that is an excuse for criminal behavior. In fact, the gun charge in Delaware – a druggie possessing a gun – only applies to people on drugs. Duh!
Exonerating Hunter because he was on drugs would be like exonerating a drunken driver who kills someone because he was incapacitated by the booze – he was not himself. But when you do not have a good defense, you grasp at straws.
And we need to keep in mind that all those defense arguments flowing out of leftwing media are in that dangerous court-of-public-opinion. They have little to do with what will happen in a real court of law, where both sides have an opportunity to present cogent arguments – and where rules of evidence apply.
The only positive thing that the left can take from the Hunter indictments in two federal cases is that it pushes back on Trump’s claim that the Justice Department is biased – against him and Republicans in general. As a caveat, however, we need to recall that the DOJ did offer Hunter a sweetheart deal that would have given him probation on the tax charges, and no charges to be issued with regard to the gun. Looking at the current charges, it is clear that Judge Noreika was correct in blowing off a deal that would have been offered to no one who was not the son of a President who rules over the Justice Department.
Yes, Hunter has become the hunted. However, it is not team Trump doing the hunting. Hunter is now being hunted down by a Justice Department under the control of team Biden. And it may not be over. Lost in all the media flak was Special Counsel Smith’s statement that “the investigation is still ongoing.” They do not say that if they are done looking. Prosecutors are still on the trail of something. We do not know what, but it could mean additional charges in the future.
Between the charges in California and Delaware, Biden could get more than 30 years in the slammer. But that is not likely. He is probably looking at a couple years if guilty on both charges and they run consecutively.
In terms of any culpability that may come to the door to the Oval Office, the jury is still out. That spotlight is currently the focus of the House investigation of Hunter and the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. And there is still the question of brother Jim’s role in all this.
Despite the best efforts of team Biden, Hunter’s reckless and criminal behavior was too large a lump to hide under the carpet. The question is now whether the Hunter case is the end of the road, or just the gateway to drag in brother Jim and Papa Joe.
So, there ‘tis.