Conservatives and Republicans celebrated the collapse of a “sweetheart” plea deal for Hunter Biden Wednesday following a court hearing.
The Justice Department announced on June 20 that Biden would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, while a felony charge of lying on the form filled out when purchasing a firearm would be addressed via a pre-trial diversion program. Biden pleaded not guilty to all charges after the plea deal collapsed when United States District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected both the initial plea deal and a more limited revision Wednesday.
“The Hunter Biden plea deal was a joke from the start. Judge Noreika is now smoking out the truth that this is a feigned retreat: they’re even more scared than ever of scrutiny for the real crimes,” Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted. “The *real* target should be the audio tapes of the alleged bribe for Hunter & Joe Biden from the Ukrainian executive of oligarch-owned Burisma – especially now that Biden is kicking back *hundreds of billions* to Ukraine to make good on the bribe (and don’t forget that the entire Ukrainian government employee payroll is funded by U.S. taxpayers right now).”
“Hunter Biden’s plea deal falls apart in the courtroom,” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted on Twitter. “His attorneys shouldn’t have lied to the clerk of the court.”
A lawyer on Hunter Biden’s team allegedly posed as a Republican lawyer for the House Ways and Means Committee to remove a brief that included testimony from IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Zeigler about interference from the Justice Department with the probe into Biden, according to the New York Post.
“Today District Judge Noreika did the right thing by refusing to rubberstamp Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal,” Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, tweeted. “But let’s be clear: Hunter’s sweetheart plea deal belongs in the trash. The DOJ must be held accountable for its Biden family coverup.”
“It’s now being reported that the Hunter Biden plea deal is off for now,” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado posted on Twitter. “Justice must be served. No special outs for this crook!”
One conservative activist noted sentences handed out over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol building.
“When the time comes for Hunter Biden’s sentencing I certainly hope he will be subject to the new J6 standards of punishing misdemeanors,” Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway campaign, tweeted. “If he’s pleading guilty to TWO misdemeanors that should equal a MINIMUM of 6 months in max security federal prison, 5 years probation, maximum fines, and 120 hours of community service.”
“Remember when corporate media and other Democrat activists tried to sell this Hunter Biden plea deal as evidence that our Department of Justice isn’t corrupt? LOL,” Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, posted.