What are your thoughts on Hunter Biden cutting plea deals?

That pleading guilty makes a whole lot more sense than allowing your pride to get you put in prison. Rich people have a separate justice system, within which he seems to have done the normal actions of denial and obfuscation. I credit him only with being unwilling to attempt to destroy the entire concept of justice to avoid having to admit fault.

What should we think of this?
Give him the death penalty?
He cut a deal so he should get whatever punishment a plea deal can give that’s my thoughts,because no one is above the law unless you’re Donald Trump, or some other high ranking republican.

Biden didn’t “cut a plea deal”; The prosecutor does that.

I am surprised that no NRA supportive Republican has come out against charging him on the gun charge. He has a 2nd Amendment right.

Strategically smart move to take away a republican campaign issue next year.

He is pleading to a misdemeanor, which means a fine and no jail.

Smart legal move.

Bigger man than Trump.

The tax charges are for not paying on time. Then the taxes were paid. No reason for me to care about that.

The gun charge is about having bought a gun and lying on the forms that he wasn’t using illegal drugs. Ok. I already knew he had had a drug problem.

Why would I care about these things?

I don’t.

Sounds like good legal advice to take the deal. Probably, most people never get in any legal trouble for lying on a gun purchase form, but he got caught, so he is pleading guilty and from what I understand he has to follow some rules the next two years to demonstrate he is sober and on the straight and narrow. Seems reasonable. I guess that is like a probation. If he screws up maybe he goes straight to jail, I don’t know.

The tax charge, I am curious if he paid before the state alerted him that he had missed paying. It is confusing to know whether you owe taxes or not when you live in a different state, I obsessed about that when my husband was going to be working in NC, possibly living in SC and we still had our primary residence in FL. Each state is different. It doesn’t excuse Hunter not paying, because he makes enough money that I am sure he uses an accountant and it is an obvious concern for people who live and work in different states. The way I read it, he didn’t file a tax return in the state, but he hid did file earnings overall with the IRS. Is that right?

He paid the bill, and probably paid a hefty amount of interest and penalty, and so that’s fine with me. I have never been in favor of the IRS using jail time except in extreme cases of persistent avoidance of paying taxes. The country needs the money not to pay for their food and housing in jail.

The IRS is getting more and more automated, maybe states are too.

You want to distract from the fact that the “bribery phone calls” you were trying to peddle recently, are turning out to be bullshit.
No one has listened to them, no one has transscripts of them, their only alleged, unnamed “witness” has “mysteriously died”, and even republicans are now admitting that it is very likely completely made up.
Just like Tucker Carlson’s stack of “evidence” proving Biden’s corruption was conveniently lost in the mail

You have so many canadian girlfriends.

Hunter is a BETTER man than your lord & master!!! NOT once did he say “what about…”. He said “I screwed up & I’m willing to make amends”!!! He NEVER once claimed that he was “being treated unfairly”. He NEVER once called anyone a nasty name just because they didn’t protect him. He NEVER once blamed his problems on somebody else. He NEVER once said “it’s NOT my fault”. He NEVER once said “I committed the PERFECT crime…unlike no other”!!! He NEVER once threw his own family under the bus to protect his own ass!!! Finally, he did NOT storm the Capitol because he felt cheated!!!

FYI…the Prosecutor who set up this punishment is a 45 appointed prosecutor. IF you pay attention, Biden NEVER once pardoned himself nor his son!!! Hunter is also NOT whining that his dad is being treated unfairly while high as a kite!!!

One does not barter with the IRS. He accepted a deal that was offered.

Don’t make it sound like he is getting off easy because of who he is.

Admitting his guilt and cutting a plea deal seems the sensible way to go. I wish you know who would do the same.

This isn’t really the “gotcha” moment you seem to imply. This is Biden’s son. Not Biden. trump has his own charges to face. Not his son.

He was offered a deal and he took it. He doesn’t cut a deal, he’s offered a deal which is like a negotiation. If the prosecutor offered a deal, that might be because the prosecutor feels it’s easier to offer a deal than to take it to trial. It might be because the prosecutor feels it will be
a hard case to win. Prosecutors don’t like to lose cases because it doesn’t look good for them. It’s better for their record to have a big percentage of their cases won (google Jeannine Pirro’s record as District Attorney as an example). If they can say they won 99% of their cases, that’s what they want – it makes them look powerful, but in reality, it’s just that they don’t bother with cases that they’re not positive they’re going to win.

A plea deal still has to be approved by the Judge, so the prosecutor isn’t going to make any crazy deal that they won’t get approved by the justice.

I heard on the news that it was either the prosecutor who was a Trumper or the Judge, not sure which one, I didn’t google it, just got home and not doing it now. Anyway, if either the prosecutor or the Judge was a Trumper, that’s good and should shut some people up.

I just saw McConnell saying Biden got a sweetheart deal. Really? Compared to who? Who has done similar crimes and wound up with a much harsher sentence? One cherry picked example won’t work. I would think the judge was careful to bot be overly harsh nor overly lenient.

Also, I agree with @chyna this is not Biden, it is Biden’s son. Parents cannot always control their children. I think it says something that our justice system goes after the children of a sitting president if that child has done something wrong. Many other countries this would never happen, the president would have too much influence. Do you think Trump would have stayed quiet and just sat back if the DOJ pursued charges against one of his children? Biden has basically let the professionals in the system do their job.

@JLeslie I was typing as you were. Read what I wrote above yours.

@jca2 Thank goodness for the most part most of our judges in the country still seem fairly reasonable and not unduly influenced.

Hunter Biden’s a piece of trash. They should lock him up in a cell with Trump. If you or I got caught doing this shit we’d be in jail.

I just googled it and I see he is also getting probation. If you talk to any criminal you may know, they will tell you they’d rather do jail time than probation, because with probation, you have someone overseeing everything you do, every contact with a police officer, everything you fail to do that’s part of the plea bargain, every program you’re ordered to attend, such as AA or therapy, and if you fail on anything, the probation officer can throw you in jail anyway. Therefore, criminals will rather do jail time and get it over with. People think probation is preferable to jail but it’s actually the other way around, and probationers will often end up in jail when they screw up.

I agree with @gorillapaws.

Everybody does it. What’s so special about Hunter Biden??

The arrested get plea deals all the time. Saves the courts and prosecutors time and money, and reduces the load on jails.

@RocketGuy plus it gives work to the Probation Department(s).

This really doesn’t work as a whataboutism. Hunter Biden is seemingly a sleazeball and is getting what he probably deserves. But he is not a part of the government so that is not really our problem.

I don’t care.

The deeper I look into this, the stranger it gets!!! Hunter is most definitely a POS. He was so bad that he was NOT worth prosecuting at all by the Bill Barr DOJ. There was NOT enough there to even offer him a “sweetheart deal”!!! Then old 45 still wanted him prosecuted & he chose David Weiss as the US Attorney who would be able to prosecute Hunter. After 5 years of digging into this, the BEST that he had to offer was this “sweetheart deal” that has the right all riled up. 45’s DOJ couldn’t find any reason to prosecute…the lead prosecutor who was specifically chosen by 45 could NOT find a legitimate reason to prosecute any further than what he offered. When 45 was caught NOT paying his taxes, he bragged that “he was SMART”. When Hunter got caught, he’s a criminal & should get a life sentence. Anybody noticed that Hunter was NOT President when he did or got caught doing any of this??? Ih all honesty…I’ll be thrilled when we move on to something more interesting!!!

The right have painted themselves into a corner with this, they have screamed so long about the hunter lap top, and what a criminal mastermind Hunter is ,even though he doesn’t hold any public office, but they will not let it go.

Who doesn’t know that the rich and powerful get sweetheart deals all the time compared to lowly folk? But honestly, he paid the fines and the gun thing wouldn’t even make the books for most rich white people and maybe even some not-rich people. That would’ve been dropped just for being white or at least middle-class with a decent lawyer.
I don’t even understand what is the big deal that he was the president’s son except to try to make Biden miserable. I dare say most people understand that Hunter is not president and never was so why should we care. And if Republicans care so much about the unbalance in our Justice system then let’s start from the top down. Like Republican Justices taking on cases and not recusing themselves from cases involving friends with deep pockets and hiding things they receive in exchange for these favorable cases.
That affects Americans every day. What Hunter did doesn’t.

Trump taking secret documents that can put American lives at risk and possibly showing them to those who could talk about it, is and should be of importance to Americans.

Especially for those who have military family members at risk. They trust the government to keep those records secure for their safety and for the safety of all Americans. That affects American lives.
Look, I can’t even stand Trumps kids and I’m sure most of them are criminals, but should Senate or Congress waste our time and tax dollars chasing them? No. Unless they did something that really does affect our Country, I really don’t care. None of them was President. They are some random Joe blow related to the President.
Now, I’m not saying they are entitled to a pass to commit crimes. Just saying Congress should just stay out of states pursuing criminals.
They are always crying about our tax dollars being wasted for valid reasons and are eager to waste our tax dollars on something that has all ready been settled.

Very well said @Pandora.

For many of you that are saying it’s just the POTUS’s son and not the POTUS, let me remind you that Hunter is a security risk. Based on things like this he could not get a security clearance without daddy forcing it. And this security risk had access to classified documents for years…classified documents that were not even allowed to be where they were…not even allowed to be owned by they guy that is now POTUS. And there is corroborating information on the laptop concerning the gun charge showing the laptop is factual (even though we have known that for years). And there is more information on the laptop that DOES concern the POTUS.

But the biggest threat in all of this is that the FBI and the DOJ KNEW all of this for years. And the FBI delayed giving subpoenaed evidence to the federal prosecutor for 2 years. This is a glaring example of the politicization of the DOJ.

Every single word you just said applies to trump, also. The difference is, trump was POTUS and they have the evidence and they have him admitting on tape that he was showing people that had no business knowing about those classified documents.

@seawulf575 Can you provide reference to this delay please.
This occurs all the time related to the IRS. Willie Nelson finally paid his back taxes and averted prison, Dennis Rodman is just one of the many in the sports world

Don’t blow this up for your political fodder.

@Forever_Free This article shows that the prosecutor issued subpoenas for the information in December of 2020. If you follow the link to where the WaPo (who is claimed to have first identified that the FBI and IRS gave them the documents) you find an article from October 2022. That’s almost 2 years.

As for political fodder, as I said, what irritates me is the dual standard of justice and the politicization of the FBI and the DoJ. And I wouldn’t care if that was for Dems or Repubs. But to sit on the information against Hunter for 2 years after it was subpoenaed shows how they slow walked all of this. Now compare that to ANYTHING they ever did against Trump. Even look at how people talk about Trump not cooperating with subpoenas quickly enough. On one hand, if there is a subpoena people believe that it should be obeyed immediately. On the other it’s like it is no big deal.

@chyna The difference you keep trying to ignore is that Trump was POTUS. As POTUS he has a certain amount leeway with classified documents. There is a Presidential Records Act that allows him to take some and there is his ability to declassify materials at will…something that does not apply to anyone else in the government. So Joe Biden having records from when he was Senator means he broke the law…period. When he had records from when he was VP he broke the law…period. It DOES apply to Pence, Hillary, and anyone else in the government that has taken classified materials with them.

You continue to act as if these things are all the same…they are not. And you are also laboring under the misconception that just by giving them back, somehow Biden is a swell guy and shouldn’t be in any trouble. He should never have had them in the first place, shouldn’t have had them at the Penn Center, shouldn’t have had them in his garage or his bathroom…nowhere. He broke the law. We have no way of knowing who saw those materials because he purposely put them wherever he wanted, figuring he was above the law.

@seawulf575 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_classified_documents_incident#:~:text=On%20February%201%20the%20FBI,his%20time%20as%20vice%20president.
And no. Biden was never asked for the documents and the second batch that was in his car were not classified documents. Meanwhile, Trump had people who are not qualified to see top secret documents move them and constantly lied about having them. Let’s be real. There is a big difference. And do you even know that Biden’s son knew of or saw any of those documents?
Trump isn’t really in trouble for having the documents. It was the hiding and the lying and possibly showing secret documents to someone after he spoke about them.

And you keep forgetting @seawulf575, that trump was no longer POTUS when he took those documents. And there is protocol for declassification of those documents which he did not do. And he KNEW he didn’t as he says in the tapes at his golf club. But you know all that. You just want to argue. So I’m out.

@chyna Actually he was still POTUS when he took them. Biden had not been sworn in yet.

And you’re derailing your own Q, @seawulf575. I thought this was all about your obsessive bro-crush on Hunter Biden. Who may not be exemplary citizen (and I kinda doubt that you are, either) but who was not charged with anything resembling the severity of removing classified documents.
But that’s OK, we get that you are fascinated by him.

@Pandora Again, you are missing the key elements here. Biden should never have had the classified documents to start with. He should never have had ANY documents. And by your own citation they found classified materials inside his home. You are falling into that same talking point “He gave them back!” as if that makes it right in the first place. So suppose our enemies got hold of that information, copied it, and used it against us…but Joe gave the originals back years later. Does that make it right? Is that OK to you?

And the other piece you are missing is that Trump was POTUS. You are saying he let people who had no business seeing classified information see it. But he has the purview of classification and declassification at will from the Constitution. There are rules concerning classification and declassification for everyone except the POTUS. I know that doesn’t seem right, but there are actual reasons for it. So to say he didn’t follow the rules to declassify something is ludicrous.

@Pandora And getting back to the original question and using your logic, why did Joe call Hunter’s laptop Russian Disinformation? He knew it wasn’t. Why wasn’t a raid performed on Hunter and Joe’s house? Why wasn’t an investigation even started on the accusations? After all, Trump’s raid was started by an accusation from someone at NARA. They saw him carrying boxes of documents with him and they claimed they were classified and belonged to NARA (which is not accurate either). And the FBI ran an instant attack on Trump.

So given your logic, it’s okay if Biden lies about things and breaks the law as long as he cooperates when he’s caught. Again, that is ludicrous.

@seawulf575 But you fail to note that the Trump weaponized DOJ and a Trump appointed Prosecutor spent 5 Years investigating and all they could come up with is the tax charges and the gun form violation. And Biden cooperated and was offered a plea deal, while Trump has refused any cooperation with the Special Counsel.

@canidmajor If you go back and read the question and original explanation about it, it is pointing to a difference in standards of justice in this country. Even given the latest “whataboutTrump” statements that have come out, look at it from the same lens. The Never-Trumpers are saying that Trump tried hiding stuff which is why he is in trouble. So did Hunter with his Tax evasion and gun violation. So did the FBI when it came to producing documents concerning Hunter that were subpoenaed.

And to put the whole thing in an apples-to-apples relationship, Kodak Black, a rapper, was sentenced to 3 years in a federal prison for the exact same lie on a gun application as Hunter. Why was Hunter cut loose with a slap on the wrist?

@seawulf575 there are vast differences between the Kodak Black case and this one. Don’t pull us down that hole too. Please stay on topic.

@seawulf575 You asked for everyone’s thoughts and everyone gave you their thoughts. Did you ask the question in order to argue with everyone about their opinions? Was it like a trap? “I’ll ask for their thoughts and it will give me an excuse to start shit with people?”

@seawulf575 Were you there packing the boxes. Nothing to say he even knew he had them in the first place. Where Trump was made very aware that he had the boxes of documents and was given over a year to return them and didn’t until his hand was forced and then lied about having returned everything and even had them shuffle the remaining boxes to hide them. That means he was complicit. It would’ve been one thing if he never knew or even just handed them all over the first time, but he didn’t. He kept claiming he had a right to them. So its not me who doesn’t understand. Its you who refuses to see the truth as it is. Trump has admitted more than once to having them and was refusing to return them because he felt entitled to keep them all.

Here’s a thought anyone that breaks the law should be held accountable no matter who they are.

And Trump had the penalties upgraded for that. Poor planning.

^^Perfect planning really. trump would do anything including crime to have enough notoriety to be on TV.

@Pandora No, I wasn’t there when he was packing the boxes. Were you? You are making claims that you have no idea of. What I DO know is that there were documents there and that President Trump said he declassified them when first asked about it. The claim of “He’s a liar” is nothing more than an effort to muddy the waters. There are no procedures the POTUS must follow for classifying and declassifying materials, nor for where those materials can be stored for that matter.

And I am 100% certain that all the documents in all the boxes, the pictures of which they love to leak to the press, were NOT classified materials. Some of them were likely personal papers or memos. Some of them (and what I fully believe) were papers that spelled out much of the dealings of the corrupt players behind the scenes which is why they are so desperate to get them.

@jca2 Yes, I did ask for everyone’s opinions and I got many. I’m allowed to have opinions too. And if you noticed, There were 32 responses by at least 20 different jellies before I made any response. The question of Hunter cutting a plea deal has many aspects to it. Yes, he did something wrong and admitted (finally) that he did them. That is a bit of the question. The timing might be a piece of it. The punishment is another aspect as it was far lighter than others who committed the same crimes. Hell, he didn’t even pay back the taxes he owed…someone else did. The slowness with which the FBI and the IRS took action in this is a piece of it. And things like the response from these groups and the punishment given speak to a dual standard of justice in the government. My first response pointed to many of these things that were not getting addressed.

And I can’t help it if people don’t like to admit that Hunter (and Joe) have been treated far differently from the way Trump has been treated. But it is 100% a fact. And if pointing it out when you are denying is being seen as “arguing” then aren’t you just as guilty of arguing?

@SQUEEKY2 Absolutely. 100% correct. But here’s a corollary: If you aren’t going to punish one person for a crime you need to let everyone off for that same crime. Example: I have always maintained that if Trump had classified materials in his possession that can be proven he hadn’t declassified them, then he needs to be held accountable for them. Yet Hillary lost control of tens of thousands of classified documents and what was her punishment? None. She was “extremely careless” in handling them and didn’t “mean to” lose control so, well gee, we aren’t going to do anything to her. This after she defied subpoenas, destroyed evidence, lied to Congress, and did just about everything you can do illegally to keep the story from evolving…none of which she was held accountable for. So if she can be let off after all this, why go after an ex-president who likely declassified everything he took and is covered by the Presidential Records Act?

@Forever_Free Not really much difference between Kodak Black and Hunter Biden. Yes, Black had a very violent past so you might say that is a difference, but the charge was that he lied on an application to buy a gun. He failed to check the box that he was a convicted felon. Hunter actually checked the box that said he wasn’t a drug addict when he applied to buy the gun even though he was and later admitted it in print. And with testimony from his wife who took his gun and threw it in a dumpster.

Both Black and Biden purposely lied or tried to deceive on the application to buy a gun. One gets 3 years and 9 months in prison, the other gets probation. Huh. So is it that you don’t like Kodak Black because he is black? Are you okay if someone lies on an application to buy a gun? Or should the punishments be different strictly because it is a Democrat doing the crime and punishing him harshly or at all would hurt the DNC?

^^ LOL You are quite entertaining.

@seawulf575 I know that on this site, times when I’ve asked for people’s opinions on things I try really hard not to debate them, even when I disagree, because that kind of defeats the purpose of the question. I figure I’ll stand back and let people say what they say, and not attack them for it, because they’re entitled to think how they think.

“And I can’t help it if people don’t like to admit that Hunter (and Joe) have been treated far differently from the way Trump has been treated. But it is 100% a fact. And if pointing it out when you are denying is being seen as “arguing” then aren’t you just as guilty of arguing?”

Me giving my opinion as I did in my first comment is not an argument. If you feel that me giving my opinion as asked is an argument, then I’m sorry you feel that way and I’ll hesitate before answering any other questions that you post.

I’ll get the popcorn @jca2 ! !

@jca2 You are accusing me of arguing since I voiced an opinion that did not follow the general one. And my response was really just a clarification of the various aspects of the actions in question (the plea deals). However that point of view brought a lot of debate against me. Much of it was just plain wrong, some was asking for references (which I provided) and most of it was an effort to avoid looking at the Bidens or the dual justice system that exists in today’s US Federal government. And those are key points to what the plea deals mean.

But let me get this straight…according to you, if I ask a question I should not be allowed to answer if my answer isn’t 100% in line with the lefty view? Or I should not be allowed to even voice an opinion for fear of seeming to argue with someone else? How very suppressive of you! I will certainly remember this the next time you ask a question. Expect to hear this again.

@seawulf575 I’m not the only person on this thread to make this accusation.

Whatever, I’m not spending my Friday arguing with you. Think what you want. You can start ignoring people and vice versa and it will become an echo chamber when you ask a question in the future. If I recall you had a right-wing friend on this site that did the same thing, and he started ignoring people and then he eventually left, because his questions and comments were in a vacuum.

Happy Friday!

@jca2 Good luck with that. None of you can stand a differing opinion being voiced.

@seawulf575 Thanks!