Hunter Biden attorney pushes back on GOP howls

by Rebecca Beitsch - 06/20/23 3:56 PM ET

Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, pushed back on GOP claims that the president’s son received favorable treatment after accepting a plea deal.

Biden, the president’s son, agreed to a plea deal on Monday to two counts of willful failure to pay income tax, concluding a five-year investigation. He separately agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program on a gun charge, a charge that is likely to be removed from his record if he complies with the terms of the program.

“This was a five year, very diligent investigation pursued by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors, one of whom at least was appointed by President Trump,” Clark said during an appearance on MSNBC with Katy Tur.

“What I can tell you is, they were very diligent, very dogged. This was – it took five years and it was five years of work that they put in, and even throughout working out the ultimate resolution, I think that they were always driving for what they thought was fair.”

More Hunter Biden coverage from The Hill

Voices across the Republican Party on Monday complained of the terms of the plea agreement, which still has to be approved by a judge.

Former President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. said it reflected a double standard while House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) called it a “sweetheart deal.”

“It continues to show the two-tier system in America,” McCarthy said of Hunter Biden’s plea deal. “If you are the president’s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. But if you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”

Clark pushed back on McCarthy directly.

“I’ve heard Speaker McCarthy say a lot of stuff I don’t agree with. There was no basis for what he said. And he’s not right,” he said.

Clark later said he’s unsure whether someone who was not as high profile as Biden would have been prosecuted for the crime.

“It’s very clear he didn’t timely pay the taxes he was supposed to pay at the time. He subsequently has paid them, but he didn’t timely pay them. I think it’s a very hard question whether I would have been prosecuted for that or not. And I think I could have been, but I think that’s a hard question, and it’s one I can’t answer,” he said.

Former President Trump, who was among the GOP voices to criticize the Hunter Biden plea deal agreement as amounting to a “traffic ticket,” is also facing charges.

In New York, state prosecutors brought charges in a hush money probe alleging that Trump falsified business records.

And special counsel Jack Smith brought a 37-count indictment against Trump, arguing he violated the Espionage Act and committed obstruction of justice as prosecutors sought to recover more than 300 classified records from his presidency.

Tags Donald Trump Jr. Hunter Biden Jack Smith Kevin McCarthy