Senate Democrat says Hunter Biden prosecution is ‘legally justified’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said in a Sunday interview that the case against Hunter Biden is “legally justified,” but he added that he thinks voters in 2024 will be able to recognize the separation between President Biden and his son.

“I think it’s legally justified,” Murphy said, when asked whether he thinks Hunter Biden’s prosecution is political, as his lawyers contend. “I think this is a very troubled individual who has, who has done things that are worthy of prosecution, and so I look forward to that case continuing.” 

“Ultimately, the American people understand that Hunter Biden is not going to be on the ballot next fall — that Joe Biden is going to be on the ballot, and that this is a president who has led an economic recovery that has been pretty unprecedented. That’s I think going to be what matters to the American people,” Murphy added.

Hunter Biden was indicted for the second time this past week as a result of special counsel David Weiss’s probe into the president’s son and his financial dealings. 

Hunter Biden now faces three felony tax charges in relation to tax evasion and filing a false return, as well as six misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019. 

Weiss alleged that Hunter Biden withdrew millions from his company, subverting the payroll and tax withholding process, and “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.”

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, dismissed the charges as part of a broader case that would not have warranted a prosecutor’s attention without the scrutiny brought by the GOP, saying in a statement this past week, “Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought.” 

Murphy insisted voters would see the difference between the president and his son.

“I think Hunter Biden is going to be held accountable in court for any violations of the law that he’s committed. And the American public are going to get the chance to watch that play out in real time. But what I am absolutely certain of is that the American public are going to see a distinct contrast between Joe Biden and Donald Trump,” he said.

The recent development comes after a plea deal fell apart this summer over a misunderstanding related to the extent of Hunter Biden’s immunity in future cases. 

Weiss has since filed charges in Delaware on three counts related to Biden’s purchase of a firearm while denying drug use he later acknowledged publicly, speaking in his book and elsewhere about his battles with addiction.

“First, U.S. Attorney Weiss bowed to Republican pressure to file unprecedented and unconstitutional gun charges to renege on a non-prosecution resolution. Now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence — and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full — the U.S. Attorney has piled on nine new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanors,” Lowell said in the statement.