Various Republicans and legal experts have suggested that the recent indictment against former President Donald Trump amounts to an effort by partisans to take the unpopular Democratic president’s top rival — now leading in the polls — out of the 2024 race.
Trump reckons there may be another reason behind the indictment and its timing.
The Republican presidential candidate suggested on the debut episode of WABC’s “The Roger Stone Show” Sunday that “it was done for political reasons, but it was also done, I guess, to cover up the kind of massive crime that’s now being revealed by the Republicans in the House.”
Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability have been investigating President Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s alleged influence peddling schemes. These efforts and other hard looks at the Biden families’ foreign dealings have reportedly been stymied at every turn by elements of the Biden administration and the administrative state.
For instance, the FBI — which whistleblowers claim precluded investigators from looking into Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election — spent the month of May trying to avoid handing over a document detailing alleged criminal activity involving Biden.
TheBlaze previously reported that while the FBI was flouting a congressional subpoena, an IRS criminal supervisory special agent came forward as a whistleblower, alleging that the Department of Justice had interfered in the Hunter Biden probe.
“There was [sic] multiple steps that were slow-walked at the direction of the Department of Justice,” said Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the IRS.
“When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past,” he explained. “These deviations from the normal process, each and every time, it seemed to always benefit the subject.”
Responding to the claim by longtime Trump ally Roger Stone that the indictment was dropped on “the exact same day that House Republicans discovered undisputed evidence that Vice President Joe Biden and his son each took $5 million bribes to ensure that Biden would pressure a Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor who was investigating corruption in Ukraine involving Hunter Biden and Burisma,” Trump suggested the timing was indeed tactical.
“I do believe it was put up at a time that they found horrible things about the [Biden] family,” said Trump.
“It’s incredible when you look at what happened, when you look at the kind of money that flows into the Biden family, and to Joe Biden, by the way, and so they wanted to do a distraction,” added Trump. “They’ll probably come up with a jaywalking charge on Hunter in the not-too-distant future — you know, a very small charge — so they can say it’s fair, but this is a very unfair situation.”
Per Trump’s suggestion, a minor charge that might be cited by Democrats as evidence of fairness, but will be unlikely to adversely impact the Biden campaign, is possibly in the works.
The Hill reported that the U.S. attorney in Delaware is looking into Hunter Biden, with prosecutors nearing a decision on whether to charge the absentee father with tax- and gun purchase-related violations.
Sources familiar with the investigation told CNN in April that prosecutors were mulling over whether to bring two misdemeanor charges for failure to file taxes, one count of felony tax evasion, and a charge of a false statement regarding a gun purchase against Hunter Biden.
While theories vary about the machinations behind the indictment, nearly half of Americans are convinced it is ultimately about politics, not justice.
A new ABC News/Ipsos poll revealed that 47% of respondents viewed the latest charges as being politically motivated: 80% of Republican respondents said this was the case, and 16% of Democrats conceded that the indictment was likely politically motivated, reported The Hill.
The poll also showed that Trump’s favorability increased by six points since April, whereas Biden’s has fallen another three points.
The indictment lists 37 felony counts against Trump, including 31 counts of willful retention of classified documents; 1 count of conspiracy to obstruct justice; 1 count of withholding a document or record; 1 count of corruptly concealing a document or record; 1 count of concealing a document in a federal investigation; 1 count of scheme to conceal; and 1 count of making false statements and representations.
CBS News indicated that at least four of the charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Trump is set to appear in court Tuesday.
While similarly accused of mishandling classified documents, Biden has neither been indicted nor had his properties raided.
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