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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   33834 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023

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In an interesting development in US politics, Hunter Biden has apparently reached an agreement with the Justice Department that will allow him to avoid felony firearms and tax charges in exchange for pleading guilty to two misdemeanors.

Hunter Biden Reaches Deal to Plead Guilty to Misdemeanor Tax Charges

Hunter Biden agreed with the Justice Department on Tuesday to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and accept terms that would allow him to avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge, a big step toward ending a long-running and politically explosive investigation into the finances, drug use and international business dealings of President Biden’s troubled son.

Under a deal hashed out with a federal prosecutor who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his 2017 and 2018 taxes on time and be sentenced to probation.

The Justice Department also charged Mr. Biden but, under what is known as a pretrial diversion agreement, said it would not prosecute him in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018 during a period when he was using drugs. The deal is contingent on Mr. Biden remaining drug-free for 24 months and agreeing never to own a firearm again

Right-wing political factions are upset with this agreement. I believe the core argument is best exemplified by Andrew McCarthy at the National Review

The Intentionally Provocative Hunter Biden Plea Deal

Under Justice Department policy, even with a plea agreement, the government is supposed to seek a plea to the “most serious,” readily provable “offense that is consistent with the nature and full extent of the defendant’s conduct.” Hunter Biden committed tax offenses that could have been charged as evasion, which is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment for each count. Furthermore, he made a false statement that enabled him to obtain a firearm; that’s a ten-year felony under legislation pushed through by then-senator Joe Biden to show how very serious Democrats are about gun crime.

Biden apologists have tried to minimize that transaction as a “lie and try” case, which they say is often not prosecuted. But such non-prosecution (though it shouldn’t happen) occurs because of what you’d infer from the “try” part — i.e., the liar got caught and failed to obtain the gun. Hunter’s case, to the contrary, is a lie and succeed case. He got the gun. What’s more, he was then seen playing with it while cavorting with an “escort” (see the New York Post’s pictorial, if you’ve got the stomach for it). Shortly afterwards, he and his then-paramour — Hallie Biden, the widow of his older brother — managed to lose the gun near a school (it was later found by someone else).

Those are the kinds of gun cases that get charged by the Justice Department even if the suspect hasn’t, in addition, committed tax felonies by dodging taxes on the millions of dollars he was paid, apparently for being named Biden.

I have seen arguments and counter-arguments flying around the internet about the appropriateness of this legal action. Those in favor argue that any non-violent offender would be offered a lenient deal. Those arguing against reference past cases for tax crimes and paperwork-related firearms offenses that resulted in far more grievous punishments. In both cases, the other side argues that since the facts of the cases do not map 100% perfectly to this one, they cannot be used as precedent for deciding the fairness of this action.

What do you think? Was this action fair, in an ethical sense? Was this action within precedent, and if so, what other historical actions are you using as your guideposts? Do you think the choice to offer pretrial diversion was politically motivated? I'm interested to hear your opinions.

On the one hand, I sympathize with Joe for having a failson (it doesn’t seem that Joe’s a bad father, Beau turned out well and Ashley seems fine, I guess) and it’s also likely that any president’s child would get a similar sweetheart deal. If the president intervened, well…I think most people here would do what Joe did for their own children if they were president, I’m pretty sure.

On the other hand, Hunter seemingly can’t stop fucking up and it might well have been good for him and good for Joe to put him away for a few years.

and it’s also likely that any president’s child would get a similar sweetheart deal.

Would Trump's children receive such a deal?

We didn't prosecute Trump's son for misdemeanors no one is charged for. We didn't prosecute Biden's son for misdemeanors everyone is charged for. Therefore, equal treatment!

Above you stated it is not the IRS’ MO to seek felony convictions for tax fraud if after the whole process the taxpayer pays the money. Now you are claiming prosecutions for firearm possessions while lying about being a drug addict are “crazy rare.”

This cannot be from personal experience. The overlap between someone who practices enough million dollar plus tax evasion cases to understand the government’s MO and someone who practices enough drug addicts with guns to understand the government’s MO is zero. They are just fundamentally different practice areas for different clients with different skill sets.

This isn’t even a matter of “general legal analysis of the law.” No you are talking about the law as applied not as written which requires some experience.

So, what is your source for your claims? And what is your counter source (ie did you consider someone on the other side of the argument)? And how did you weigh them against each other? Or did you just make shit up and try to sound authoritative hoping no one would say boo?

Lawyers for gang leaders describes someone familiar with both those practice areas, but also this information seems like it’s reasonably accessible to the general public. Federal charges relating to firearms acquisition are basically never filed, and the IRS’s MO is pretty widely known.

Maybe for gang leaders, but how frequently do gang people go for tax issues, especially more complex tax fraud issues?

And no, how the IRS handles tax fraud is not widely known. It isn’t a common thing. It really only comes up with celebrities and often the details of how and when repaid are entirely unclear. How often do people know about this when it deals with semi complex issues that even the IRS felt should be a felony until the DOJ allegedly overruled them.

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