President Joe Biden has spent his decades lambasting the rich who dodge taxes, targeting those who illegally own firearms and railing against those who use crack cocaine — all of which became pastimes for his son Hunter.
Hunter Biden is currently facing 12 criminal counts, nine of which are tax-related charges. Three of those are felonies, in addition to three felony gun charges. The first son has a history of addiction to crack cocaine and also recently stood up a congressional subpoena. The White House has steadily insisted President Joe Biden stands by his son, whom he loves very much and supports, but in the political arena, Biden has a long history of villainizing people just like Hunter. (RELATED: KJP Dodges Questions On Hunter Biden’s Unannounced Marine One Trip)
Back in 1991, while on the Senate floor, Joe Biden called for those who were in possession of crack cocaine to be jailed for five years. Biden wrote a piece of legislation in 1994, most commonly known as the crime bill, which cracked down on drug possession and funded drug treatment programs, The Washington Post reported. The law enacted a five-year minimum sentence for individuals who trafficked 500 grams of powder cocaine or five grams of crack.
Sixteen years after the bill was enacted, Biden switched his position, calling the legislation “a profound mistake” in 2019 that he was seeking to correct, according to The Washington Post. During his presidency, the Biden administration backed a piece of legislation that limited disparities in crack and powder cocaine offenses, the outlet reported.
REPORTER: “Hunter Biden and his son were also on the helicopter…The White House provides to the public a list of staffers who travels with the president. Why don’t they provide a list of the family members that travel with the president…?”
KJP: “I have to double check…” https://t.co/WvJGqBsire pic.twitter.com/UcLtCHZcKN
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 19, 2023
During his season with addiction, Hunter Biden ran the risk of being the type of person his dad wanted to throw in jail until recently in his political career. In October 2018, Hunter Biden allegedly bought a revolver while being addicted to crack cocaine, NBC News reported. A court filing states the first son was in possession of a gun for 11 days while “he purchased and used crack cocaine regularly.”
Hunter Biden was indicted in September on three felony gun charges for allegedly providing false statements and knowingly possessing the gun while being addicted to drugs. The first son filled out a federally mandated form at the time of purchasing a gun and noted he was not using illegal narcotics despite being a “user of and addicted to crack cocaine at the time,” court filings said, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Hunter Biden’s Lawyers Plot Second Amendment Defense To Fight Gun Charges)
Hunter Biden’s charges for illegal gun possession come after his father railed against the illegal sale of guns. Throughout his administration, the president has targeted gun ownership and the possession of illegal guns, branding his actions as gun-violence prevention.
In 2021, the president rolled out a series of measures aimed at targeting “rogue firearms dealers” who were violating their state laws and selling guns illegally, according to Reuters.
“The secondary consequences of the pandemic and the proliferation of illegal guns have led to increased violence over the past year and a half,” a senior administration official said as the measures were being announced, Reuters reported.
While discussing gun dealers who were selling guns illegally, Biden made a threatening statement in 2021.
“My message to you is this,” Biden said. “We will find you and we’ll seek your license to sell guns. We’ll make sure you can’t sell death and mayhem on our streets.”
President Joe Biden embraces his family after being sworn in during his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today’s inauguration ceremony Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)
Hunter Biden is also facing nine tax-related charges for tax evasion, tax fraud and the failure to file taxes in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The first son has made more than $7 million in total gross income through his foreign business dealings with Ukrainian, Romanian and Chinese entities, an indictment shows. The first son allegedly failed to pay more than $1 million worth of taxes spanning over four years, according to the indictment.
During his campaign for president ahead of the 2020 election, Biden has repeatedly demanded the rich pay their “fair share” in taxes. In 2019, the president made multiple statements to that effect on twitter. (RELATED: Joe Biden’s Daughter Reportedly Owes Thousands In Unpaid Income Taxes)
Corporations need to pay their fair share in taxes.
I’ll reverse Trump’s giveaway to the super-wealthy and corporations because it’s time we reward work, not just wealth. https://t.co/ylZnO877mv
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 18, 2019
“As president, I’ll make sure giant corporations and the super-wealthy pay their fair share in taxes — and then invest that money in growing a stronger, more inclusive middle class,” Biden wrote in a 2019 tweet.
The president called for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to target those who were cheating on their taxes, even proposing the organization hire 87,000 new employees to help them do so during a 2023 reelection campaign reception, Fox News reported.
“The president’s compliance proposals are designed to ameliorate existing inequities by focusing on high-end evasion,” the Treasury Department wrote in a report produced during the Biden administration, according to Fox News. “These unpaid taxes come at a cost to American households and compliant taxpayers as policymakers choose rising deficits, lower spending on necessary priorities, or further tax increases to compensate for the lost revenue.”
WATCH IT IN FULL:
Hunter Biden speaks to the press ahead of his closed-door deposition on Capitol Hill today. pic.twitter.com/1n4c96Lw1o
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 13, 2023
Special Counsel David Weiss reported the first son “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” and “stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015” back in 2018. That extravagant lifestyle Hunter lived allegedly included spending thousands of dollars on strip clubs, a sex club membership, pornographic websites as well as payments to women, his tax-related indictment indictment shows.
Even Hunter Biden’s latest move has outlets and social media users pointing to Joe Biden’s previous comments. The president’s son arrived on Capitol Hill on Dec. 13 for a press conference. During his remarks, Hunter Biden announced he would be defying a House Oversight Committee’s subpoena and standing up a closed-door interrogation session relating to his foreign business relations.
Instead, Hunter reiterated he would testify publicly, a proposal House Republicans said they would only honor if the first son showed up to the closed-door session.
In October 2021, Biden called for those who defy a congressional subpoena from the January 6 House Select Committee to be prosecuted. A month after the president’s comments, Steve Bannon was prosecuted for doing such.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing the president was “very familiar” with what Hunter was going to say and do during his press conference. (RELATED: Comer, Jordan To Begin Contempt Of Congress Proceedings Against Hunter Biden After He Defies Subpoena)
As Biden continues to stress his love and support for his son, GOP strategists and legal experts warn all aspects of the Hunter Biden situation can have political ramifications for the president.
“One of the downsides of being a politician with 40 or 50 years in office, is that there’s a wide range of things you’ve said about public and current events,” Mark R. Weaver, a GOP strategist, told the Daily Caller. “Joe Biden has no doubt criticized others who refuse to come forward and give testimony. He will now have to backtrack on those comments because it involves his son. This will remind voters that for many politicians, there is a double standard, one for the regular people and the rest for the elite. An unobserved one for the regular people and a different standard for the elite and their family.”