Former President Donald Trump complained the Hunter Biden plea deal was but a “mere ‘traffic ticket'” on Tuesday.
Hunter Biden, the youngest son of President Joe Biden, was charged Tuesday for not paying income tax and for illegal possession of a firearm, The Washington Post reported. Biden reportedly made a plea deal with the feds, and though the deal needs to go before a federal judge, it’s expected that he’ll avoid prison.
The Hunter Biden plea deal would instead see a sentence of probation for the misdemeanor tax charges, and a diversion program, anonymous sources told the Post. Assuming Biden completes the diversion program, the gun charge—a felony—would be taken off his record, the sources told the paper.
Trump responded to the report on his social media platform Truth Social, alleging corruption in the Joe Biden administration.
“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!” Trump wrote.
The former president also shared two “retruths” from the far-right activist Jack Posobiec, alleging a double standard.
“100 year charges for Trump over paperwork filing, a plea deal for Hunter over the laptop,” Posobiec wrote. “Are you paying attention yet?”
Posobiec is referring to claims from some that Trump is facing a 400-year sentence over the Mar-a-Lago documents case. The 400-year figure is based on the idea that Trump would be forced to serve the maximum sentences for all 37 counts he’s charged with consecutively, rather than concurrently. This is very, very unlikely, with a legal expert telling CNN that it is far more likely, if Trump is convicted, that he would serve an eight to 12 year sentence at most.
Similarly, Posobiec is wrong in saying Hunter Biden is being charged “over the laptop.” The Hunter Biden laptop is a computer previously owned by him that was abandoned at a Delaware computer shop in 2019. In October 2020, the Trump campaign alleged that emails on the laptop proved corruption involving Joe Biden’s dealings with Ukraine while Hunter Biden was on the board of directors for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. While the laptop is indeed believed to be Hunter Biden’s, according to Politico, none of the information for the laptop showed what the Trump campaign said it did.
Tuesday’s charges mark the end of the Department of Justice’s investigation into Hunter Biden, his lawyer, Christopher Clark, told the Associated Press.