A former federal prosecutor has joined the chorus of condemnation over the plea deal reached with Hunter Biden, saying the Justice Department broke its own rules for President Joe Biden’s son.
According to a court filing and news reports, under terms of the deal, Hunter Biden will face probation after pleading guilty to two federal charges of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes and enter a diversion agreement to satisfy a charge of possession of a gun by a drug user or drug addict.
That was too much for Brett Tolman, a former United States Attorney for the District of Utah.
“DOJ is violating its own internal policies on this case. The Ashcroft Memo requires they charge the ‘highest provable offense’ and seek consistent sentences with other cases brought by DOJ. This prosecution is an absolute laughable joke. Thousands have been sent to prison for long terms for the same charges,” he wrote on Twitter.
DOJ is violating its own internal policies on this case. The Ashcroft Memo requires they charge the “highest provable offense” and seek consistent sentences with other cases brought by DOJ. This prosecution is an absolute laughable joke. Thousands have been sent to prison for… https://t.co/Bi6iaRiDVD
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) June 20, 2023
Thousands of people have been prosecuted under Project Safe Neighborhoods by DOJ. They brag about getting nearly 5 years of prison time on average for their gun cases. If they followed policy, Hunter would be looking at a minimum of 5 years in federal prison. But he’s a Biden.
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) June 20, 2023
In an Op-Ed for the Federalist, Tolman called the charges “the kind of slap on the wrist most defendants can only dream about from inside a prison cell.”
“That Hunter will walk away with few consequences where thousands have instead been left to languish in federal prisons in terrible conditions paints a picture of a two-tiered justice system where an accident of birth can matter more than the facts of a case,” he wrote.
Credit to @JennaEllisEsq for finding this “still” on the DOJ website. Diversion would not be available to anyone similarly situated to Hunter Biden. ?? pic.twitter.com/QHnsHiDjGp
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) June 20, 2023
Tolman wrote that “this is not a day of accountability. It is one of power and privilege securing special benefits while hoping the rest of us are too distracted by the headlines to notice. We shouldn’t let this pass without calling it out for what it is and then working to improve it.”
“They are ignoring decades of policy and precedent to seek felonies not misdemeanors and seek sentences within the guideline range.”
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley noted that for critics of the sentence, “this is going to reinforce the view of a two-tiered system,” according to Fox News.
This should frost your private parts! Joe Biden is a crook! Hunter Biden is Joe’s bagman!
Scores of Biden family members ? benefit from millions $$$ Joe & Hunter exhort by shakedowns of foreign agents.
This is more than theft. It’s treason! ?https://t.co/FqOh29DTmg
— Daniel F. Baranowski (@DFBHarvard) June 20, 2023
“You know, the majority of Americans polled believe that the indictment of Donald Trump was politically motivated and constitutes election interference. That shows you the level of distrust that the public has with the Department of Justice. This is not going to help,” he said.
“You know, for the average citizen, when it came to Trump, they rolled out a B52, and this is going to look like a crop duster that, you know,” he said.
Jonathan Turley on Hunter Biden getting off with plea deal and likely no jail time: “This is gonna look like you ticketed the getaway driver after a bank robbery.”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 20, 2023
Turley said in the Hunter Biden case, “you have the son of the president who’s at the center of one of the greatest influence-peddling scandals in history” and at the end of it, “he’s going to walk away with a couple of misdemeanors and a gun charge that they can likely expunge. That’s not going to sit well.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the deal will not change House Republicans’ effort to dig up the facts about the Biden family’s finances, according to Newsweek.
“It continues to show a two-tiered system in America. If you are the president’s leading political opponent [Donald Trump], the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison. If you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal,” he said.
“Now, this does nothing to our investigation. It actually should enhance our investigation because the DOJ should not be able to withhold any information now, saying that it is pending investigation. They should be able to provide [Republican House Oversight Committee] Chairman [James] Comer with any information that he requires,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.