The GOP's argument that Joe Biden is ordering prosecutors to target political opponents has been hurt by the Biden-led Justice Department prosecuting the president's son — with Biden declining to stop the investigation or pardon Hunter Biden. But in making that case, Republicans may be trying to deflect from Trump's own possible intentions to wield the criminal justice system against opponents if he returns to the White House.
While president, Trump tried to undercut the Justice Department investigation into his campaign's alleged ties to Russia and issued pardons to a
raft of former campaign aides, friends and donors. And on the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly
declared he is the victim of a “rigged” system and
promised to appoint a special prosecutor to target Biden and his family.
As president, Trump repeatedly sought to shape the criminal inquiry into whether his 2016 presidential campaign had conspired with Russia.
He fired the FBI director who led the investigation, berated the attorney general he appointed for recusing himself from overseeing the probe and directed his White House counsel to seek the termination of special counsel Robert Mueller. Those acts, and others, contributed to an investigation into whether he had illegally sought to obstruct the Russia inquiry; Mueller did find evidence of obstruction but declined to make a finding about whether Trump had broken the law.
More recently, Trump and allies have suggested that if elected he might advocate the imprisonment of political opponents, something he championed even before he became president.
The charges against Hunter Biden stem from a dark period in his life, during which he acknowledges a spiraling descent following the death of his brother, Beau Biden, to cancer in 2015. Jurors found him guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer when he bought a revolver in 2018, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
Many in Trump’s Republican Party are staunchly against gun control and some of his supporters have questioned whether Hunter Biden should have been tried on the gun charges.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican and high-profile Trump supporter, posted on X, “The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters at the Capitol that the gun charge was a "waste of time,”
“I just think he’s being punished,” Graham said, adding the average person would be “put in drug diversion or something.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., made similar comments.
“Hunter might deserve to be in jail for something, but purchasing a gun is not it,” Massie posted on X. “There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws.”