WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers turned to their Republican colleagues on Sunday over GOP attacks against the Justice Department’s appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden and their lack of criticism of former President Donald Trump as he faces three charges .
“If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged for them. I’m a Democrat saying that,” said Rep. Dan Goldman, DN.Y., on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “You don’t hear elected Republicans right now saying that if Donald Trump has committed crimes, he should be charged and held accountable.”
Most Republican lawmakers have denounced Trump’s various criminal cases, accusing the Justice Department and prosecutors of political favoritism in favor of Democrats.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on X, formerly Twitter, that Trump’s latest charge of trying to overturn the 2020 election is “DOJ’s attempt to distract from the news and attack the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, President Trump.” There is no evidence that federal or state officials handling cases against Trump have attempted to target his re-election bid.
But the Justice Department’s appointment of U.S. attorney David Weiss, who has spent the past five years investigating Hunter Biden, to a special counsel role is the latest example of what Republicans say is a two-tier justice system.
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“This move by Attorney General Garland is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to try to cover up the Biden family,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., Chairman of the House Oversight Committee in a statement. “The Biden Justice Department is trying to withhold congressional oversight as we presented the American people with evidence of the Biden family’s corruption.”
Republican lawmakers have yet to provide substantial evidence that President Joe Biden profited from his son’s business dealings.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the Hunter Biden investigation has been a “bumpy” process. But he called on lawmakers to “let the justice system take its course,” while also pointing out that Weiss had been appointed by Trump.
Raskin said he thought it was clear that Hunter Biden was “doing a lot of really illegal and wrong things.”
Republican lawmakers, Raskin said, “don’t say that about Donald Trump. Whenever Donald Trump is actually indicted, after a grand jury has already determined probable cause, they attack the prosecutors, they attack the judges, they attack the system. To them, Donald Trump could never be guilty of anything.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dems slam GOP response to Donald Trump cases amid Hunter Biden drama
