As part of the agreement, Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses in the federal case stemming from the years-long investigation into his tax affairs. The president's son has also entered into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
According to attorney Jenna Ellis, "Literally, it's really no punishment at all."
"He'll serve probation for the two misdemeanors," she begins. "A pretrial diversion basically stipulates that if he goes for a year without committing any new offenses in terms of drugs, then the charge would just be dropped and the conviction on his record. So, he's avoiding accountability for any of the felonies."
Ellis submits that few others would enjoy this kind of treatment.
"In similar circumstances with these types of charges and the evidence that the prosecutors had for Hunter Biden, this would have been prosecuted as multiple felonies, and they would have sought prison time with an average of probably asking for 40 months on just the gun-related charges alone," she says. "So, this does appear to just be a sweetheart deal for Hunter Biden."
While it requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is said to be narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Republicans on Tuesday called the federal charges "low-hanging fruit" and an example of "a two-tiered justice system."
Robert Knight, a columnist for The Washington Times, does not think anyone expects the Justice Department to throw the book at the Biden family. He agrees that the younger Biden got off easy and says the father will not even be charged for the bribery allegations he denies.
"I don't see Joe Biden getting charged with anything," Knight states. "But what might happen is the evidence may pile up so high that it could have the same effect that the Nixon investigations had, where Richard Nixon wasn't actually impeached, but he faced so much evidence that it became overwhelmingly obvious he should be impeached, so he was forced to resign. Perhaps that will happen with Joe Biden."
But because the president is "so shameless," he does not expect even that.
Knight is also not convinced that Biden will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024.
"I think Joe Biden's mental decline has become so obvious and troubling that I don't believe he will be the nominee. I think they'll have to replace him somehow," the columnist predicts. "I don't think Kamala Harris will be the nominee, because even Democrats don't seem to like her a whole lot. I think Gavin Newsom has the inside track right now."
California's far-Left governor is known for sending his four children to a wealthy private school when the state's public schools remained closed because of COVID, and for getting caught partying at a $350-a-person restaurant when business owners were losing their livelihoods and the people of his state were confined to their homes because of the government's shutdowns.
More recently, in his inaugural address marking his second and final term as governor, Newsom called his state "freedom's force multiplier" while calling the red states to which Californians are fleeing in unprecedented droves "oppressive."
And while likening Republican leaders to "kidnappers," Gov. Newsom has made his state a "sanctuary" for minors fleeing their parents in other states who do not "affirm" their gender identity – a move that even goes against the attitude of many parents in his own state.
But by Knight's observation, track records do not seem to matter to the Democratic Party.
"In state government, the bigger mess you make of things, the more you look like a hero to the Democrats," he concludes.
