It appears that the concerted effort to excuse Hunter Biden’s defiance of a subpoena in the media has failed. According to a Harvard Caps/Harris poll, 71 percent of Americans believe that Hunter should be prosecuted for contempt of Congress. What is remarkable is that 54 percent of Democrats support his prosecution.
I have previously written that Hunter committed a flagrant, criminal violation in holding his presser in front of the Congress and refusing to appear for a deposition in the House. There is an equally compelling basis to take action against Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Cal.) under House rules for facilitating the alleged federal crime.
The poll shows that, again, the public has rejected the spin in the media and correctly sees this act for what it was: a federal crime.
Every group is lined up in favor of prosecution:
- Democrats: 54 percent support
- Republicans: 89 percent support
- Independents: 72 percent support
The decision of Hunter and his counsel to take this action remains legally incomprehensible. He could have gone into the committee room and taken the 5th Amendment. There is no cognizable defense in my view to this charge.
Hunter may now have not just created a third threat of incarceration, but placed his father and his administration in the worst of possible positions.
Two Trump associates – Steven Bannon and Peter Navarro – refused to appear in the House and were quickly held in contempt by a majority of the House, including Swalwell.
Indeed, President Biden himself has maintained that defying subpoenas cannot be tolerated. When subpoenas were issued to Republicans during the House’s Jan. 6 investigation, Biden declared: “I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally.”
The Justice Department clearly agreed. Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, Bannon went from a failure to appear to an actual indictment in just two months.
Garland would be expected to show the same commitment and speed with the President’s son.
The possibility of a third indictment also can have blowback on his other cases. It shows a continuing contempt for the legal process and a pattern of criminality. It also could be cited as another example of attempting to conceal information from the government. If Hunter faces sentencing on the tax or gun charges, subsequent criminal conduct can make a court less likely to be lenient.
None of this is good for Joe Biden. It shows that the public rejects the claim that Hunter is a victim. Instead, he is seen as displaying the ultimate sense of entitlement and privilege in going to the Hill to thumb his nose at Congress.
Hunter’s contempt is reminiscent of when he told ABC News reporter Amy Robach to “say it nicer” when she asked him about his prior conduct. While the Bidens may be able to get away with instructing the media on how to question family members, it does not have the same license with Congress. Hunter Biden does not get to dictate how or when he will answer questions from Congress. Congress does not have to “say it nicer.”
What is a “presser?” Has anyone ever used this term? HELP!!!!
Biden will pardon family and friends.
That will be the end of it.
Ultimately that will happen.
But it is not in his interests or republicans interest for that to happen.
The moment Joe pardons Hunter his re-election is over.
The best outcome for Joe is to issue pardons after the 2024 election.
The best outcome for republicans is to do so the week before.
Those outcomes are incredibly close.
The best outcome for democrats was for Joe to decide not to run again over a year ago.
The longer the process of getting Joe to bow out the worse the election goes for both Biden and democrats.
Democrats have two choices – go to the polls with dirty joe, or someone else.
The longer they wait to push Joe out, the more likely their alternative loses.
Democrats have already likely lost the ability to select a presidential candidate through a primary.
While Trump is near certain to be coronated, Republicans are still running a normal election.
There are other candidates, there have been debates, there will be primaries.
Trump will go into the 2024 election as the candidate of the overwhelmining choice of republicans.
Democrats are going to go to the polls with dirty job, or someone selected at the convention by their party in smoke filled back rooms.
To be fair, you shouldn’t bring up Bannon and Navarro without mentioning that they have two avenues of appeal that Hunter doesn’t… they have executive privilege arguments and the fact that the Pelosi J6 committee was created without following the normal House rules with regard to minority party involvement and therefore not legitimate. These convictions will almost certainly be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court to clarify the concept of executive privilege.
Larry, whether they have avenues with which to appeal is irrelevant to them being indicted vis a vis Hunter being indicted. Since when does an indictment depend on one’s avenue of appeal?
My point is that it will be harder for Garland to ignore this when he went after two people who cited executive privilege as their reason for not appearing.
“My point is that it will be harder for Garland to ignore this…” How so? Garland’s lack of actions concerning the Bidens overall, speaks for itself. Like Joe, it sure seems like someone else is pulling Merrick’s strings, too.
then it is a shame for them…that they voted for FASCIST Democrats who Control the DOJ, FBI, IRS, etc
Remember Germans VOTED for Hitler!
Majority of Democrats are IDIOT voting for their own enslavement!
Remember when Joe Biden promised to “heal the soul of the nation”?
And Jill Biden told us “decency is on the ballot”?
While Democrats lie and whine about “defending our democracy” from Trump???
What a crock of you know what.
and Obama announced a CHANGE?
It is still an interesting finding that in the poll that a majority of democrats want Hunter prosecuted. This is especially worrisome for Joe Biden because this poll sort of throws all the biased left wing media’s defense into the trash. Is there something getting thru the almost impenetrable wall of media protection that has wrapped itself around the Biden family? One has to wonder. Is there more real journalism now going on in the mainstream media or are regular democrats out there starting to look at other news sources.
I agree with many that Hunter seems to always take the more difficult road rather than the more sensible road. As much as I would like to see him squirming on a frying pan, I still wonder why he just did’t show up and take the 5th. If you take the 5th, it seems his opponents would have difficulty, in this specific regard, to even charging obstruction.
GEB,
Oh, MSM defense of the indefensible BCF impenetrable wall is nothing more than gauze. We all plainly see through it. And the polls are reflecting that.
What every single story about Hunter fails to note is that he will receive a full and unconditional pardon for any criminal acts he has ever committed, sometime between Election Day 2024 and Inauguration Day 2025.
I think Hunters action will be the straw that finally breaks the Biden family. I think that soon after the holidays President Biden will do the following:
Announce that he will not seek reelection
Say that although he fully supports Vice President Harris, he believes that selecting a candidate to replace him should be an open process
He will then pardon Hunter, explaining that he believes in his son’s innocence and that the MAGA Republicans have unfairly pursued Hunter to harm him (President Biden).
These acts will indirectly acknowledge what is commonly understood, that Joe Biden lacks the physical and mental capacity to run for a second term. It will also protect Hunter Biden from prosecution and incarceration. And finally, it might prevent the unraveling of the Biden Crime Syndicate. He might also pardon his brother, as he must know that Congress will not just give up on its efforts to unravel the open secret in Washington – that the Biden family has been selling access for almost a half century.
This still leaves open two questions l. One, who in the Biden White House has really been running the country, and two, who has been pushing President Biden to run for a second term? Unfortunately I think these questions will only be addressed and answered by future historians.
John, while I don’t disagree with your analysis I would also say that the pardons, that are inevitable, will hurt the Democrats in the quickly upcoming election. Remember what Ford’s pardon of Nixon did to him during the 1976 race.
Agree with you both. While a pardon for everyone in the Biden family is likely, it will only cover past crimes. Pardons are not lifetime ‘get out of jail free’ documents. After Biden is out of office any new crimes (there’s no reason to believe the same criminal behavior by this family will stop) can be, SHOULD Be, prosecuted as any citizen committing them would be. Will the new head of “Justice” have the cojones to do so is the real question.
Hard to tell when Turley began to surrender to the Roy Cohn school lawyering– there are many who think it began with his fixation on Bill Clinton…
We see it in full bloom with his PR campaign on Hunter. From the tone of his articles of late it seems the next incentive driven paycheck is near for Jon. He’s going for it like a squirrel goes for the next nut.
Congrats, (i guess)..
Ehhhlvis bugness
Look, EB, the sober version. Sot tight.
Look…
Eb,
the sober…
Version.
Sot tight.
Anyone, “Anonymous” in my current example, that compares Turley to Roy Cohn is just another aging pony-tailed “campus radical” that still defends Hiss and the Rosenbergs.
Through his own actions, Turley compares himself to Roy Cohn.
And while I did have absolutely wild long hair back in the day, even had mini dreads in the front because I had a friend that would twist them up for me, before I even formally knew what dreads were, I buzz my head pretty short once a month these days.
Bug
If you are “accusing” Turley of having become an anti-Communist, at a late stage in his life, then I can only two things: he has repeated the journey of many honorable liberals; and, welcome to the club.
First prosecute Eric holder
“. . . a flagrant, criminal violation in holding his presser in front of Congress . . .” (JT)
When you see a man pull a stunt like that you know that he has a long history of getting away with whatever he wants.
I wonder who could have taught him that “life skill?”
Why is Swallowell still in Congress?
All I can say is thank you Senator McConnell for keeping Garland off the SCOTUS
Very soon we will see far the doctrine of “selective prosecution” can be stretched.
I find it interesting that the “ammo” that’s really useful to the MAGA movement (not including the stolen election that Democrats refuse to see, let alone acknowledge), has come from Hunter Biden. First, the laptop. Now this. With a shout out to Ashley Biden and her daddy diary. My understanding is that some very bad things happened to Hunter as a child and he certainly is the poster child of a trauma victim. Is this his way of getting revenge, validation, whatever you want to call it? Everybody loves to hate Hunter and I’m not saying I think he’s a nice person and/or I want to hang out with him. But trauma changes you and those who have not experienced it do not understand. Families often have what is called a “presenting member” which means that one family member takes on all the darkness of the family while everybody else looks normal and/or perfect. And people think that family member is the problem, but the truth is, that family member is the visible symptom of the family darkness. I think that is very possibly and probably the case with Hunter. Nobody ever asks why Hunter is such a wreck. They just want his blood. The right wants Hunter because they can’t get to Joe. The left wants Hunter because they see him as the only chink in Joe’s armor of slime. As Turley has said repeatedly, all Hunter had to do was show up and take the fifth. Why didn’t he?
In a slightly different context, Justice Antonio Scalia said “Give Me something to work with”.
Well now Attorney General Merrick Garland has something to work with,
The impeachment inquiry now has a mind of its own, Congress is doing it’s part.
The Ball is now in the DOJ’s hand.
It remains to be seen if Garland will pitch the Ball of sh_t to the Fan.
Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see if attorney general Garland agrees with what Democrats have been saying, that “no one is above the law.” I for one, doubt it. The so-called “Justice Department” has thus far shown extreme accommodation for Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, etc.
Hunter Biden will flout every law he wants to, knowing daddy Joe will pardon him. It’s so sad what we have come to between the Biden’s obvious corruption and now the insane Colorado supreme court’s decision to take the vote away from Republicans in their recent political ruling.
Colour me not shocked. Anyone want to take a guess how long before those 54% are excommunicated under identity politics?
Rest assured the vast majority of the 54% will never vote republican plus they have an ample reserve of mail in ballots