CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang highlighted on Wednesday President Joe Biden’s apparent hypocrisy on gun laws.
At the White House press briefing, Jiang noted that “Biden has spent most of his political career working on gun laws, on gun reform.” As an advocate of more gun laws, then, Jiang asked whether Biden believes that “someone who is charged with possessing a firearm illegally should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law?”
Jiang did not cite Hunter Biden specifically, but she invoked the felony crime the first son admitted to. Hunter, of course, was offered pretrial diversion for that crime, not criminal prosecution.
Jean-Pierre, however, was not interested in touching the question with a 1,000-foot pole.
“I think I know where this question is going, and I’m just going to continue to say: As it relates to the case that we’re seeing in Delaware, I’m just going to not speak to that,” she responded. “It is an independent matter. This is up for the Department of Justice.”
07/26/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierrewww.youtube.com
But Jiang refused to accept “no” as an answer.
“[Biden] talks often about the need to get illegal firearms off of our streets. So when someone possesses one illegally, what does the president believe should happen to them?” she followed up.
The press secretary responded that Biden “has been very clear” and reiterated her previous answer, saying nothing more.
It’s true, then, that Jean-Pierre, by her own admission, could see where Jiang was steering her question. Biden claims to want stricter gun laws to prevent individuals from possessing firearms who he thinks should not have them. Yet he is silent when his own son illegally possesses a firearm.
To Jiang’s point, the Justice Department typically prosecutes those who illegally possess firearms to the fullest extent of the law. Earlier this year, in fact, the agency boasted about prosecuting individuals accused of committing the same crime that Hunter did, which normally carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
It’s unusual, on the other hand, for prosecutors to hand out diversion for such charges, especially because the DOJ’s own guidelines on diversion prohibit diversion for certain firearm-related offenses.
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