Prominent social media users weighed on Hunter Biden’s guilty verdict on Tuesday, with some conservatives arguing it’s partly a cover-up to protect the Biden family, and liberals saying it proves the justice system in America is working as intended.
A Delaware jury found Biden guilty on all federal charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018. He was convicted of making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
"Don't get it twisted," podcast host Comfortably Smug declared on X, adding, "they went after Hunter on this, so they don't have to go after him on crimes that would bring down Biden. Don't take your eyes off the ball."
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Other conservatives made similar points about the verdict, while progressives defended it and attacked their political opponents’ interpretations as conspiracy theories.
Conservative digital strategist Greg Price argued this specific verdict was a DOJ strategy to protect both Hunter and President Biden on their alleged corrupt foreign business schemes.
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He posted, "Hunter Biden being convicted of a firearms charge is the ultimate red herring of red herrings. The DOJ allowed the statute of limitations [to] expire on his most serious tax charges, buried evidence of the Bidens' foreign bribery allegations, and attempted to give Hunter a sweetheart deal with broad immunity. David Weiss wouldn't go after him on the serious tax charges or on FARA because all of that would lead back to the shady business dealings involving his father."
He added, "Instead, they went after him for a much lesser charge, where the evidence was way too insurmountable to ignore, so they can scream ‘nobody is above the law’ when they put President Trump in jail."
Pro-Trump attorney Rogan O’Handley also posted about Biden potentially getting away with more serious alleged crime, stating, "HUNTER BIDEN GUILTY ON ALL 3 CHARGES. Now can we put him on trial for the actual crimes people care about like the foreign bribes in China, Ukraine, and other countries that he took on behalf of Joe Biden?"
Liberal X commentator Art Candee used the Biden verdict to slam former President Trump’s behavior over his own guilty verdict from earlier this month, writing, "Notice what you don’t see outside of the courthouse after Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three charges in his gun case: -Nobody is crying or melting down. -Nobody is screaming and threatening the prosecutor. -Nobody is calling the trial ‘rigged.’"
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CNN's Scott Jennings said the case embarrassed the media, given the earlier industry doubts about his infamous laptop that proved significant to the conviction.
"The most important thing about the Hunter trial is the laptop was proven real," the conservative commentator wrote on X. "Joe Biden, his campaign, & dozens of Democratic luminaries & media outlets were willing to lie about it and/or censor it despite knowing it was real. The amount of credibility burned is staggering."
Progressive pro-Biden commentator Brian Krassenstein put out a somewhat sarcastic response to the news, stating, "Just like I said before this verdict was read this morning, I support the US judicial system, which is a separate branch of government from the Executive branch. Read a civics book or something. Oh and regardless, I am NOT voting for Hunter Biden nor Donald Trump for President."
"Law and order matters, whether you are a Democrat or Republican," he added.
Conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong wrote, "With Hunter Biden's guilty verdict, Joe and the mainstream media can now claim that ‘no one is above the law’ and continue attacking Trump by pretending that Trump's charges were legitimate."
"The Federalist" senior editor John Daniel Davidson shared a clip of MSNBC co-host Andrew Weissman arguing that the president saying he will respect his son’s conviction proves he respects the rule of law.
Davidson commented on the clip, saying, "This was the entire purpose of the Hunter Biden trial. It was a fig leaf to cover the real crimes of the Biden family, and allow these clapping seals in corporate media to spout nonsense about how Joe Biden is the ‘living embodiment of the rule of law.’"
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson pointed out the difference in reaction between Trump and Biden regarding each of their recent convictions, stating, "Hunter Biden has been struggling to get and stay clean for years. It’s a story millions of American families understand. He’s been found guilty, and he will pay the price. Trump has been found guilty and has shown zero remorse or regret, and will never reform or improve."
Far-left commentator Molly Jong-Fast declared, "The law is the law for everyone if your last name is Biden or Trump."
Former CNN anchor Brian Stelter fired back at much of the conservative commentary following Tuesday’s verdict, stating, "Yes, from the RIGHT — Trump boosters are trotting out a new conspiracy theory — that the entire Hunter trial was an op to make a rigged system seem balanced."
