Speaker Kevin McCarthy is furious that President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden is probablynot going to jail.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, McCarthy said that other people who faced such charges would be sent to prison for 10 years or more. Biden is expected to plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion and enter a diversion agreement on one felony count of being a drug user in possession of a firearm, according to multiple sources.
As part of a plea deal, he is expected to avoid jail time.
"Do you think it's equal and fair that a political opponent is gonna be given jail time — but a presidential son — and if you compare this to other individuals in America that have the same accusations against them, the same crimes that they had been guilty of, they are proposed to have 10 years and another time period?" McCarthy said to CNN's Manu Raju.
It's factually inaccurate, according to former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade who spoke to MSNBC Tuesday. The two misdemeanor charges are typically dealt with as a civil matter that involves a fine. McQuade said that it appears to her that Biden is being treated more harshly than others would in such a case.
The maximum prison term for the two misdemeanors would be no more than 12 months in jail, she said.
McCarthy continued, complaining that it is part of a conspiracy with a two-tiered justice system that gives a break to some and not others. It's the same claim that Donald Trump has made about his indictment.
Liberals have agreed, but not for the reason that the Republicans claim. It was discovered Monday that the FBI and DOJ resisted investigating any political leaders for Jan. 6 crimes for over a year out of fear of retribution.
MSNBC reporters pushed McCarthy on the differences in the Biden and Trump cases, but McCarthy dodged the question.
The speaker was also probed on how he could say it was an unfair decision when it was made with a Trump-appointed prosecutor. The special counsel in the Biden case was a hold-over from the Trump administration that was tasked with the issue to ensure fairness.
McCarthy then went off on a tangent about a 1023 form that Republicans have said recorded unsubstantiated claims given to the FBI that show evidence of bribery by the Bidens in Ukraine. Republicans have claimed over the past several months that there are "tapes" that captured the crimes. However, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) confessed over the weekend that it appears the concept of these tapes was false.
"My takeaway from this is that we have a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who investigated this case and resolved it in terms they believe is favorable to the government," McQuade explained. "It's an admission of guilt by Hunter Biden. He will have to go into court and put on the record the reasons he thinks he's guilty of the crimes, and he will have to comply with whatever terms of probation are asserted here."
She went on to say that prosecutors "tend to tune out the noise," and do the job. She said she has no reason to believe the GOP prosecutor did otherwise.
See the video below or at the link here.
Kevin McCarthy rants about Hunter Bidenwww.youtube.com
