WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers took aim at their Republican colleagues on Sunday over GOP attacks against the Department of Justice’s appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and their lack of criticism of former President Donald Trump as he faces three indictments.
“If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I’m a Democrat saying that,” Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “You don’t hear any currently elected Republicans saying that if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged with them and held accountable.”
Most Republican lawmakers have denounced Trump’s various criminal cases, accusing the Department of Justice and prosecutors of political favoritism in favor of Democrats.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on X, formerly Twitter, that Trump’s latest indictment over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election is “DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.” There isn’t evidence that federal or state officials handling cases against Trump have sought to target his reelection bid.
But the Justice Department’s appointment of U.S. attorney David Weiss, who has investigated Hunter Biden for the past five years, to a special counsel role is the latest example of what Republicans say is a two-tiered justice system.
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“This move by Attorney General Garland is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family coverup,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight Committee said in a statement. “The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family’s corruption.”
Republican lawmakers have yet to offer substantial evidence that President Joe Biden benefited from his son’s business dealings.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the Hunter Biden investigation has been a “bumpy” process. But he called for lawmakers to “allow the justice system to run its course,” while also pointing out Weiss was appointed by Trump.
Raskin said he thought it was clear Hunter Biden “did a lot of really unlawful and wrong things.”
Republican lawmakers, Raskin said, are “not saying that about Donald Trump. Any time Donald Trump actually gets indicted, after a grand jury has already determined that there’s probable cause, they attack the prosecutors, they attack the judges, they attack the system. For them, Donald Trump could never be guilty of anything.”
