As with the first two days, the Media Research Center spent a good part of its third day covering the Hunter Biden plea deal, June 23, complaining that the Republican obsession with Hunter was commented upon. It was Ana Schau’s turn to complain first:
Wednesday morning’s CNN News Central featured a slew of guests to complain about the Republican response to the specifics of the Hunter Biden plea deal, and to present their own opinions on the deal as well. Anchors Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner brought on CNN senior legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid, “It’s Complicated” podcast host Renato Mariotti, former federal prosecutor Shan Wu, and former U.S. attorney Michael Moore to rail about how “absolutely not true” Republicans were because they “paint the whole thing as a sham.”
Paula Reid’s complaint was that Republicans had “put a lot of energy and time into” discussing Hunter Biden’s legal issues, and that this was superfluous because the “Trump-appointed U.S. attorney” had “narrowed this case down” to several relatively insignificant charges. She emphasized how the plea deal for the tax misdemeanor charges was absolutely normal, but the gun charge itself was abnormal. She attributed this abnormality to how it was “uncommon to be prosecuted at a federal level for failing to disclose addiction on the form when you purchase a firearm.”
Yes, it may be abnormal to pursue such charges, but it’s also rather abnormal to have a case in which there is proof in the accused’s own words, both in an autobiographical book and on social media, that he was addicted to narcotics during the exact period of time in which he had purchased the gun. Reid may want to consider that.
NIcholas Fondacaro followed with the same complaint:
The morning after the broadcast networks seemingly moved on from Hunter Biden’s cushy plea deal with his father’s Department of Justice, NBC’s Today show revisited the story Thursday morning to decry Republicans’ attempts to hold Democrats accountable. They also huffed at Republicans for censuring Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (CA) for using his former position on the House Intelligence Committee to push the Russia Collusion Hoax, a censure ABC and CBS ignored.
Leading into the report, Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles lamented that “Republican lawmakers are convinced there’s still more dirt to dig up on the president’s son” and that they were trying to ensure Hunter’s “legal woes” were “becoming a pestering political problem for his father.”
Intentionally ignoring the audio evidence and whistleblower reports showing that President Biden indeed talked with his son about his oversea business dealing, Nobles rhetorically scoffed at the GOP’s focus on the possible misdeeds of the Biden family:
The MRC got bored with the story after that. A May 24 item by Clay Waters, however, made sure to rehash all the talking points:
Hunter Biden, the controversial son of President Biden, announced he would pled guilty to two federal charges of tax fraud and a felony charge of gun possession last Tuesday, and that evening’s taxpayer-funded PBS News Hour proved itself eager to move along, dismissing Republican accusations of a cushy plea deal from his father’s Department of Justice, appealing to emotion by painting the President as a distraught father who deserves sympathy, not suspicion of possibly benefiting from his son’s sordid business undertakings in China and Ukraine, even suggesting Hunter’s plea deal was “somewhat harsher” than usual.
Host Geoff Bennett claimed that “the deal promises a potential end to Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal saga. But the political drama is far from over.”
Host Bennett ran a soundbite of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy complaining of “the two-tier system in America. If you are the president’s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”
Johnson tried to deny favoritism was shown to the president’s son, even suggesting Hunter was treated more harshly that he should have been.
Yep, even the complaints about the GOP’s obsession with Hunter were repeated.