Friday brought news of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and a video of first son Hunter Biden attending a White House event, while Thursday brought news of a significant incident involving him and his father, President Joe Biden.
According to reports from earlier in the week, Hunter Biden has decided to plead guilty to two minor tax evasion charges, and he will likely not be sent to prison for a felony weapons charge.
The eldest son was accused of tax evasion for two consecutive years on an estimated $1.5 million income. In order to obtain a handgun, he was also charged with lying about his prior drug use and addiction on a federal background check form.
Republicans and other opponents of the first family were outraged by the “sweetheart” plea agreement, which many claimed was yet another example of the politicization and bifurcation of the nation’s legal system.
According to testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers that was made public by a Republican senator after Hunter Biden’s plea bargain, he once cited his father when threatening a Chinese business associate for payment.
Following a hearing earlier in the day, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Jason Smith (R-Mo) made the disclosure. During the subsequent press conference, he addressed allegations that the Biden administration interfered with U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ investigation of the president’s son.
A member of the IRS testified before Smith’s committee that the agency discovered messages from an iCloud search warrant in August 2020, but prosecutors “denied investigators’ requests to develop a strategy to look into the messages and denied investigators’ suggestion to obtain location information to see where the texts were sent from.”
On July 30, 2017, investigators were able to recover one WhatsApp conversation between Hunter Biden and Henry Zhao.
Smith’s committee made available a transcript of the conversation in which Hunter Biden appears to have mentioned his father Joe Biden:
I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.
According to author Peter Schweizer, Henry Zhao is a member of the Chinese Communist Party and has previously collaborated with the daughter of China’s former minister of state security.
However, the White House and the president showed no concern for any of the scandals. Critics of the Biden family were further infuriated by footage of Hunter Biden attending a state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conversing with the black-tie-clad guests.
Here is deadbeat Hunter Biden — embroiled in a massive, family-wide corruption scandal — rubbing elbows at last night's White House state dinner pic.twitter.com/tyWXWgXTUu
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 23, 2023
“No dignity, nothing,” one Twitter user said in response to the video.
It is noteworthy that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was present, as he must sanction any plea agreement. Earlier in the day, he refuted claims of a politicized Department of Justice and accused critics of ‘attacking democracy.’
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) demanded an explanation from Garland as to why his first son received such lenient treatment.
“Americans are serving prison time for doing exactly what Hunter Biden did. Biden’s DOJ needs to explain how Hunter Biden’s case is any different. Americans are quickly losing trust in our justice system,” he tweeted on Thursday.