No. of Recommendations: 2
Biden claimed that the prosecution of Hunter was infected by raw politics. He's claiming that the DoJ was affected by politics. That Hunter was prosecuted because of (presumably) Republican political pressure on the DoJ demanding that outcome.
Was the DOJ affected by politics in the Hunter Biden case? Of course it was. Republicans put a lot of pressure on the DOJ to investigate and prosecute Hunter.
The historical independence of the DOJ is from the President, not from politics. The DOJ is affected by political pressure all the time. Congressional committees refer matters to the DOJ, and then apply pressure to have those matters investigated further and prosecuted. The President sets various political priorities for the DOJ through his AG, then applies pressure to see those priorities implemented.
The key here is that President Biden did not interfere with this specific political pressure. He didn't tell the DOJ not to investigate Hunter. He didn't tell them to whitewash what they found. President Biden and the DOJ kept their independence from each other regarding this matter.
Frankly, I see the DOJ as having done their job here. They didn't just roll over and refuse to prosecute Hunter because he was the President's son. And they didn't seek permission from President Biden to investigate and prosecute Hunter. Quite the opposite, President Biden publicly said that the DOJ should do their job and he wouldn't interfere with that job by pardoning Hunter before the facts were made known. On the other side of the coin, they stood up to the Republican pressure - which was to find some connection between both Bidens, Burisma, and Ukraine. The DOJ didn't roll over and say they found something when they hadn't. And the DOJ didn't roll over and refuse to prosecute what they did find, even though it was a different crime by the President's son.
The DOJ has stood strong here. They did their job - investigating possible crimes and letting the facts and the law drive further investigations and prosecutions.
--Peter
