Joseph Simonson and Chuck Ross of the Washington Free Beacon report an inconvenient truth for the U.S. Justice Department.
Just six months before Hunter Biden’s lawyers announced he had struck a plea deal with prosecutors that will likely allow him to avoid spending time behind bars for a felony drug offense, his father’s Justice Department touted a crackdown on precisely the sort of crime that Biden committed.
In a January press release, the Justice Department said that “federal prosecutors [are] aggressively pursuing those who lie in connection with firearms transactions,” arguing that its tough-on-offender policies were essential to “reduc[ing] gun violence.”
The Justice Department listed eight individuals who either pleaded guilty or were convicted of lying on a federal firearms application. The agency stated that “keeping guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them is of paramount concern” and will “prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands by holding accountable those who lie to get them.”
“There is no higher priority than protecting our citizens and their loved ones from firearms violence,” said Jeffrey C. Boshek, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Dallas Field Division, in a statement at the time. “The lesson learned here is that if you buy a gun for someone that shouldn’t have one, you will go to prison. And trust me, prison is not somewhere you want to be.”
None of the eight individuals received a “sweetheart deal,” as Republican critics have described the plea agreement given to Biden. The first son, who was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm while addicted to a controlled substance, was offered a pretrial “diversionary program” that will clear him of all charges if completed.
The differing outcomes then and now would seem to bolster GOP allegations of a two-tiered justice system in which Biden is benefiting from his relationship to the White House.
