Representative Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Friday that he believes Hunter Biden should be held accountable for his crimes, while also criticizing Republicans for not taking the same stance against former President Donald Trump.
Biden, the oldest son of President Joe Biden, was the subject of a yearslong Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into his tax history, resulting in a deal last month that saw him agree to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges for failure to pay his income taxes on time. He is also facing a charge of lying about his history as a drug addict while applying for a gun permit.
Later, in a reversal of that initial deal, Biden pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the misdemeanor charges in court after questions were raised by U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee who is presiding over the case. The judge declared the deal "null and void" after raising concerns about whether or not the deal offered blanket immunity from prosecution in all of his plea dealings, or only for the tax offenses. The not guilty plea will remain as such until the parties involved can meet again to address the issues Noreika rasied with the agreement.
Appearing on MSNBC on Friday, Himes addressed the situation, stating that he believes the president's son committed crimes and should be held responsible for them. He also compared his stance to that of most Republicans, who he accused of excusing the various alleged crimes committed by Trump.
"Let me say something that you never heard a Republican member of Congress say in the four years of the Trump administration, which is that if Hunter Biden broke the law, he should be prosecuted," Himes said. "And it is clear that he broke the law with respect to taxes and possibly the ownership of a handgun. He should be held accountable for that."
The congressman continued: "If he traded on his father's influence, he should be held accountable for that. And I'm emphasizing this because you never, ever heard a Republican say the same thing about Donald Trump or his family."
Trump is facing new charges in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, according to new court documents filed this week by the DOJ. He is facing two new counts of obstructing justice, with federal prosecutors accusing him of trying to delete security footage from his Palm Beach, Florida, home amid the investigation last summer. Prosecutors also charged him with one count of willfully retaining a top-secret document based on an audio tape allegedly depicting Trump discussing a document outlining a potential military attack against Iran with guests at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021.
The DOJ previously indicted the former president on 37 charges, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, accusing him of illegally removing classified documents while vacating the White House in January 2021 and obstructing government efforts to retrieve the files. Trump pleaded not guilty to each charge and has maintained his innocence.
Despite the initial deal seeing Hunter Biden plead guilty for various wrongdoings, numerous Republicans were highly critical of the deal, saying that he had gotten off with lighter charges than he deserved. Additionally, others have gone a step further and accused President Biden of intervening on his son's behalf to secure the deal, which the White House and those in charge of the investigation have all strongly denied.
"Hunter Biden is a private citizen, and this was a personal matter for him. As we have said, the president, the first lady — they love their son and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said about the situation. "This case was handled independently, as all of you know, by the Justice Department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president, President Trump."
Newsweek reached out to Hunter Biden's legal team via email for comment.
