Opinion: Criminal charges against Trump and Hunter Biden are more complicated than they seem
As Republicans see it, the Justice Department is coming down hard on former President Donald Trump for political reasons, while it is going easy on Hunter Biden because he is the president’s son. Although there are plausible grounds for both assessments, they glide over the question of what justice would look like in these cases.
That is not what the statute, which Congress passed in response to Richard Nixon’s similar assertion of complete discretion, actually says. But the law itself does not prescribe any criminal penalties. By contrast, the five obstruction charges in the indictment, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison, do not hinge on the nature of the documents. The indictment plausibly alleges that Trump deliberately concealed those records, in the process flouting one federal subpoena and attempting to evade another.
In Hunter Biden’s case, the original plan was that he would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses, while prosecutors would recommend probation. Under a separate agreement, Biden would have avoided prosecution for illegally buying a gun by completing a two-year pretrial diversion program.
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