Former President Donald Trump and House Republicans have been quick to criticize the Hunter Biden plea deal, and are using it as the latest example to argue that the Justice Department is weaponized.
This argument has been central to how House Republicans approach their investigations, how they frame their defense of Trump, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, and the manner they rationalize the cuts in funding they want to make to the DOJ and FBI across the board.
Trump criticized the plea deal Tuesday, arguing it equates to “a mere ‘traffic ticket.” In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: “Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!”
House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, criticized the Justice Department for allegedly giving Hunter Biden “a slap on the wrist,” calling the plea deal a “sweetheart plea deal.”
Comer said in a statement Tuesday the charges announced against Hunter Biden today will have “no impact on the Oversight Committee’s investigation.”
Comer, who has made Hunter Biden a fixture of his committee, makes clear the plea deal will not stop his investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings, underscoring how this storyline will not be going away on Capitol Hill anytime soon. “We will not rest until the full extent of President Biden’s involvement in the family’s schemes are revealed” Comer added.
Comer and other House Republicans have slammed the Justice Department for their conduct surrounding Hunter Biden despite not knowing any details of how US Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, operated during his five-year investigation.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York who sits on the so-called weaponization subcommittee, said in a statement provided to CNN that “House Republicans will not rest until the full illegal corruption of the Biden Crime Family is exposed.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, framed the Department of Justice in a tweet as “pathetic and weaponized.”
Rep. Bob Good, a Republican from Virginia, called Attorney General Merrick Garland “compromised and politicized” and claimed in a statement the DOJ had “no interest” in investigating the Biden family’s business dealings.
Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California, called the plea deal in a tweet as “only the first crack in the Biden corruption cover-up.”
