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Hunter Biden’s Contempt of Congress Has Wider Consequences
Hunter Biden's Contempt of Congress Has Wider Consequences
Hunter has opened a new potential front for prosecution
themessenger.com
Congress is often a theater of the absurd, from Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) pulling a fire alarm before a major vote to former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) being, well, a member of Congress at all. However, none of that compares to what unfolded on Wednesday as Hunter Biden stood outside Congress and defied a subpoena as being "beyond the absurd." What happens next could be even more bizarre.
Hunter was under a subpoena from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to appear for testimony. As I previously wrote, he had two choices: He could appear and either testify or invoke his right to remain silent. The only thing that he could not do is what he did — just refuse to go into the hearing room. Yet, there he was, with counsel Abbe Lowell by his side, holding forth with a public press conference while refusing to appear in the closed-door deposition being held in the building behind him.
By staying on the Senate side of the Capitol, Hunter guaranteed that the House sergeant at arms did not pull him into the hearing room. Ironically, that would have been a better option than his blowing a raspberry at the committee and then speeding away.
Many pundits immediately claimed this was a clever move because the subpoena was not really enforceable until the House voted on the formal impeachment inquiry a few hours later.
I disagree. As I noted in my testimony in the first impeachment inquiry, there is no requirement for a formal vote to initiate an impeachment inquiry. Indeed, that is precisely what then-majority Democrats did with the impeachment of then-President Donald Trump. While I encouraged the House to hold a formal vote on the inquiry, it is not constitutionally required.
~Snip~
In this instance, the contempt case would go to the U.S. Attorney in D.C., Matthew Graves, who previously declined to assist in bringing tax charges against the president's son. Yet by pulling a Bannon, Hunter now faces the expectation in many circles that he will get the full Bannon treatment from Garland.
There is another possible cost to this move. Fox News quoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that President Biden “was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say,” which suggests that the president spoke with his son before his act of contempt and discussed his statement. If that is true, it was a breathtaking mistake. One of the four most obvious potential articles of impeachment that I laid out in my prior testimony was obstruction. There already are questions over special treatment potentially being given to Hunter in the form of alleged felonies being allowed to expire, warnings about planned federal raids, and sweetheart deals.
In addition, President Biden has enlisted White House staff to actively push challenged accounts of his conduct and attack the House Republicans’ investigative process. Such acts could legally bootstrap prior misconduct into his presidency under abuse-of-power allegations.
~Snip~
Hunter, however, just tripped another wire that could seriously complicate matters not just himself but for his father. Perhaps that is why, when dramatist-scholar Martin Julius Esslin devised the term "theater of the absurd," he described it as "part reality and part nightmare.”
Commentary:
Good analysis by Turley.
Is there a chance Garland is going to prosecute Hunter? Any expert opinions?
Obviously from his actions, Merrick Garland is a bought and paid for DNCCP operative.
Whatever happened to the “bipartisan” and “crossing the aisle” that the Dems are always carrying on about?
I don’t think Hunter is in any legal trouble at all. If we were dealing with an apolitical justice system, yes, he would be. But we clearly are not.
It has become obvious that the DBCCP has created a two tier Justice system.
If Hunter were charged with contempt of Congress, the trial would be held in the District of Columbia. It would take less than 4 hours for a D.C. jury to acquit him.
Then there’s the Big Guy’s pardon. The left and the press (but I repeat myself) will heap praise upon a loving father sparing his politically victimized son (his only living son!) from having a criminal record. After all, Hunter is the smartest man Biden knows, an accomplished artist and a recovering addict.
