cradleandshoot wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 8:15 am
ggait wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 11:45 pm
Man -- the MAGAs on here are really showing today what total hack maroons they are:
1. Hunter was investigated for five years by a Trump appointed US attorney.
2. And after five years, these duh obvi charges are all the dude could come up with.
3. The plea deal punishes Hunter more harshly than other similarly situated defendants.
4. The plea deal will be assigned by random to a federal judge sitting in the federal district of Delaware.
5. The D of Del has four judges - 1 Obama appointee, 2 Trumpers, 1 Biden.
6. If the Biden appointee's number gets picked, my guess is he'd voluntarily recuse himself.
7. So it is very likely that any plea deal will be approved by a Trump appointed judge, following the recommendation of a Trump appointed prosecutor.
8. So if you think Hunter gets a sweetheart deal, go complain like a whiney baby to Trump.
9. Since Trump would have appointed the woosie closet Biden-ite Deep Staters who are all in on the fix of giving Hunter a pass.
10. #facts
Weh weh weh -- it is all rigged and weaponzied! GMAFB. You embarass yourself every time you post your fact free conspiracy bull shirtery.
Sheesh!!!!
So Barr was investigating Hunter for 5 years. I don't know the answer but was this a case Barr was " actively" investigating or was it sitting on a desk somewhere lost in a stack of stuff? The only charge against Hunter that should concern everybody is his attempt to purchase a gun illegally. The democratic party and Hunters dad have been hardcore on who can own a gun and the importance of background checks.
No, AG Barr was not investigating.
The Trump-appointed US Attorney for Delaware was investigating, through two years of Barr as AG.
Quite "actively". With the POTUS tweeting to do so...
We don't know how directly Barr may have encouraged the investigation, but it's extremely doubtful that he impeded it.
We also don't know if, or why not, in the first two years under the Trump administration, with AG Sessions in charge, anyone investigated Hunter.
As to these charges, they could have been brought within 6 months of opening that investigation. The facts were pretty indisputable. He hadn't paid his taxes for two years. And he lied on his gun application (you can't be doing illegal drugs...he lied about that).
First time offenders are generally not prosecuted for either if they cop to their errors and make restitution. Hunter seems to have had, if anything, tougher treatment because of his last name that if he was named Smith.
I'm ok with it as I think it's especially important that high profile situations with political clout not get treated less toughly than any other case with such benefits. And some cases do get prosecuted. But if you plead guilty and pay the taxes, you get probation. The gun thing typically gets a pass...if a first offense...treated identically to this case.
However, it's reasonable to ask why they didn't bring these charges in the first two years. Did Barr or Trump or anyone else tell Weiss that he shouldn't prosecute these crimes until he found the really juicy stuff to prosecute? Did they tell him not to prosecute because keeping it open was more politically damaging than closing the case? Or did Weiss actually feel further investigation was warranted, that there were more threads to pull, legitimately, before knowing for sure no other crimes had been committed?
We don't know.
As to the larger matter, for which there is apparently NO EVIDENCE on which to base an indictment for a specific crime (and various Republicans in office are admitting as such), the US Attorney spent 5 years, longer than Ken Starr and Whitewater, looking for such evidence.
Apparently, simply didn't find it. And yeah, that's most likely because there simply isn't a crime to be found.
But we can reasonably debate about the ethics...IMO, the ethics here are obviously bad, just not criminal. Joe has said close to that, out loud, "the image is bad"...yup, no sh-t.
As to the US Attorney Weiss, he was Trump appointed, and specifically given the task of this case. But he has an excellent reputation in Delaware for prosecuting corruption fairly, not partisan, and so received the backing of both Dem senators. Apparently he's a straight shooter.
It's important to note that Joe would have been entirely in his legal rights to have tossed Weiss when he came into office, as it's pretty common practice to rotate out US Attorneys...especially if appointed by the other party. But not always. And in this situation, Biden made the decision to leave him in place knowing he was investigating Hunter including any possible connection to Joe. Apparently including subpoenas for many thousands of pages of bank records and other financial information from Joe, Hunter, and other members of the family. Pain in the butt at a minimum.
Pretty sure Trump or any MAGA types would have shut down any investigation into Trump family members, but Biden did not. And Merrick Garland apparently stayed well away as well.