After a jury found Hunter Biden guilty on three criminal charges on Tuesday, June 11, former federal prosecutor and ex-FBI General Counsel Andrew Weissmann argued that the verdict spoke volumes about President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party — in a good way.
President Biden, before the verdict, said that whatever the jury decided, he would not give his son a pardon. And he is sticking by that — which, according to Weissmann, shows that Biden and other Democrats still believe in "the rule of law" in contrast with MAGA Republicans who have been rallying around former President Donald Trump.
But MAGA claims that the Hunter Biden verdict shows that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is somehow using the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against Trump. One columnist is pointing out the absurdity of those claims.
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In a scathing article published by The New Republic on June 12, journalist Greg Sargent calls out the "deranged" verdict responses that have been coming from the MAGA far-right.
"Incredibly, they are declaring that this guilty verdict slapped on Biden's son also proves that the system is rigged against Trump," Sargent observes. "Which reveals something essential about how dependent the MAGA worldview is on elaborate fantasies about the movement's alleged persecution."
On X, formerly Twitter, Trump ally Stephen Miller said of the verdict, "This is all about protecting Joe Biden and only Joe Biden." And Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk tweeted, "Hunter Biden guilty. Yawn. The true crimes of the Biden Crime Family remain untouched. This is a fake trial trying to make the Justice system appear 'balanced.'"
In response to Miller's tweets, liberal firebrand and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann tweeted, "There was a period time when America thought you were warped and immoral - but possibly intelligent No longer You're a f—g paranoid buffoon."
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On MSNBC, The Lincoln Project's Stuart Stevens — a veteran GOP strategist who is supporting President Biden in the 2024 election — argued that MAGA's response to the Hunter Biden verdict makes Republicans "look pathetic."
In his New Republic article, Sargent lays out some reasons he considers MAGA responses to the Hunter Biden verdict absurd and illogical.
"For some reason," Sargent notes, "MAGA Nation seems disappointed by the outcome, as if they were secretly hoping for the opposite. It's worth dwelling on how convoluted the new MAGA claim truly is."
Sargent continues, "First, recall that the special counsel who secured Hunter Biden's conviction, David Weiss, was originally appointed as a U.S. attorney by Trump. Did he deliberately handle his prosecutorial task skillfully in order to serve this sinister end of making the justice system appear balanced, thus secretly doing Biden’s 11-dimensional-chess bidding?"
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Read Greg Sargent's full article for The New Republic at this link.