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Final week, President Joe Biden was defending the justice system as a “cornerstone” of society.

“It’s harmful, it’s irresponsible for anybody to say this was rigged simply because they don’t like the decision,” Biden mentioned on the White Home after Republicans tried to undercut the method that led to former President Donald Trump’s conviction in New York on state fees.

This week, the president should keep in mind these phrases whereas his son Hunter faces federal gun fees at a trial in Delaware, the primary of two separate circumstances this yr that would result in jail time.

The Biden household should be annoyed {that a} plea deal fell aside final yr when it was rejected by the Trump-appointed choose within the case, Maryellen Noreika. Plus, these specific gun fees are not often prosecuted on their very own, maybe proof of the improved scrutiny positioned on a president’s son.

Hunter Biden’s gun trial could be very completely different than Donald Trump’s hush cash trial, even when they each are available in an election yr, function the general public airing of painful, private particulars and basically boil all the way down to allegations of mendacity on paperwork.

Trump needed to endure the detailed, public testimony of Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who alleged an affair with Trump almost 20 years in the past.

Hunter Biden should endure a public recounting of his affair along with his brother Beau’s widow, their tortured textual content messages and his drug dependancy.

However Trump’s authorized issues all revolve round his personal campaigns and actions throughout and after his presidency. Trump was discovered responsible of falsifying enterprise data to cover hush cash funds meant to cowl up the alleged affair from voters in 2016. He additionally faces federal fees of mishandling categorized data in Florida and attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Washington, DC, in addition to Georgia.

Hunter Biden faces trial in Delaware beginning this week for mendacity on a firearm background test software. He checked the field that mentioned “no” he was not abusing or hooked on medication. He additionally faces trial in California later this yr for tax evasion. David Weiss, the Trump-appointed particular counsel prosecuting the case, has by no means made allegations to tie Hunter Biden’s tax issues to his father, though Republicans on Capitol Hill have tried, unsuccessfully, to attach the dots.

I’ve written earlier than about how the Division of Justice finally ends up prosecuting related numbers of Democratic and Republican lawmakers. In New York this week, as an example, the bribery trial of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez – his second distinct corruption trial lately – is underway.

Trump might finally keep away from federal prosecution. There’s a very actual chance that Trump, whereas discovered responsible in a New York courtroom, will face neither set of the federal fees introduced in opposition to him by particular counsel Jack Smith earlier than Election Day in November.

The US Supreme Courtroom has but to weigh in on Trump’s declare of absolute immunity, and the choose in his categorized paperwork case has delayed proceedings indefinitely. The Georgia case can also be delayed, and an appeals courtroom might not contemplate whether or not Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis can keep on the case till October.

However whereas Joe Biden’s son and the senior senator from New Jersey are each in main authorized peril, it’s shortly turning into an article of religion amongst Republicans that they’re a focused species by the justice system.

“What persons are seeing now could be that they’ll’t belief our judicial system,” Republican Nationwide Committee co-chair Lara Trump informed CNN’s Kasie Hunt on “State of the Union.”

The justice system “hunts Republicans whereas defending Democrats,” mentioned Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, reacting to the Trump responsible verdict.

In a fundraising pitch on X, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida inspired supporters offended in regards to the “travesty” to “get even.”

Showing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas took the conspiracy theorizing a lot additional, arguing that the Division of Justice is barely prosecuting Menendez and, individually, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas (who can also be charged with bribery) as a result of they’ve been essential of Biden on international relations and immigration coverage – an allegation for which there isn’t a proof.

Cotton predicted Biden would finally pardon his son. The White Home has mentioned there can be no pardon for Hunter Biden.

Even Republicans who opposed Trump throughout the 2024 major season are essential of Trump’s New York conviction.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu complained that Trump will face sentencing days earlier than the Republican Nationwide Conference in Milwaukee. “That may be a horrible concept,” he mentioned. “That’s going to do nothing however rile everyone up. It’s going to look much more political than it’s now, and simply forged a shadow of a doubt on this whole case.”

The irony right here is that Trump in 2020 really did strain the Division of Justice to research Hunter Biden. He additionally pushed Ukraine’s authorities to open an investigation, hoping to tie Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian pure fuel firm to his father.

In 2016, Trump’s supporters would launch into “lock her up” chants focusing on Hillary Clinton – habits Trump inspired on the time though the FBI, within the type of then-director James Comey, introduced earlier than the election that there was not a robust sufficient case to prosecute Clinton over her personal electronic mail server. Trump mentioned on Fox Information over the weekend that if elected once more, he may really feel in a different way about pushing for fees in opposition to Clinton.

“All of them mentioned ‘lock her up.’ However I felt – and I may have finished it – however I assumed it could have been a horrible factor. After which this occurred to me. So I could really feel in a different way about it,” Trump mentioned.

Don’t count on Democrats to indicate the identical degree of help for Hunter Biden that Republicans have proven for Trump.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee, promised Democrats would respect the method because it performs out in opposition to the president’s son.

“Democrats aren’t on the market saying that Hunter Biden’s trial is a farce, it’s a fraud, it’s rigged. We’re not attacking the justice system,” he mentioned.