Hunter Biden verdict throws ‘sand in the gears’ of GOP’s attacks on legal system

Republicans are scrambling to prevent Hunter Biden’s conviction on felony gun charges from undermining their argument that the judicial system is being weaponized against Donald Trump.

They just can’t agree on how.

Trump’s campaign cast the conviction of his rival’s son on Tuesday as a “distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family,” while some hard-line supporters dismissed the proceedings as “fake.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson argued that Hunter Biden’s conviction “doesn’t” undercut Republicans’ claims of a two-tiered justice system because the evidence against him was “overwhelming.”

And still other Hill Republicans went so far as to describe the verdict as a “step towards ensuring equal application of the law.”

Republicans’ divergent responses to the verdict on Tuesday afternoon offered a real-time glimpse into the party’s struggle to reconcile what should have been a political win — the criminal conviction of the president’s son — with the guilty verdict rendered against their own standard bearer.

“It throws a bit of sand in the gears of people suggesting the Biden Department of Justice has been engineered to go after Trump,” said Jason Roe, a GOP strategist and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

But, Roe conceded, “one feature of the modern Republican Party is ignoring facts that don’t support the argument and sometimes embracing the conspiracy theories that do.”

Trump’s team made no mention of either Hunter Biden or the former president’s own legal troubles in its response to the Delaware jury’s decision.

“This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family, which has raked in tens of millions of dollars from China, Russia and Ukraine,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a prepared statement. “Crooked Joe Biden’s reign over the Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on November 5th, and never again will a Biden sell government access for personal profit.”

The statement appears to be a modified version of one initially provided to CNN, which included well wishes for Hunter Biden “in his recovery and legal affairs.”

Trump and his allies have long accused the president of profiting off his son’s business dealings, even as they have struggled to substantiate the charges. A GOP impeachment inquiry in the House has stalled. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who has been leading investigations into Biden, called the verdict a “step toward accountability” but blamed the Department of Justice for not investigating his business dealings and providing the president cover.

The rendering of a guilty verdict against the president’s son less than two weeks after a jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan criminal trial appeared to mollify other Hill Republicans — at least a little.

“Today’s verdict is a step towards ensuring equal application of the law, regardless of one's last name,” Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) posted on X.

Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.) wrote on X that he is “glad to see that justice has been served. Nobody is above the law, including the President’s son.”

But others were conspiratorial, suggesting without evidence that the Department of Justice did not proceed with other cases against Hunter Biden that could potentially tie back to the president. Hunter Biden is facing a separate trial in California on federal tax charges. That case isn’t expected to go to trial until the fall.

The “gun charges are a giant misdirection,” former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller argued in a post on X. “DOJ is Joe’s election protection racket.”

“Never forget DOJ tried to avoid this trial & verdict by giving Hunter a sweetheart plea deal. Until the judge exposed them,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) posted on X. Last summer, a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would have spared him from an election year trial fell apart.

And Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally and conservative commentator, warned his millions of followers on X not to “fall for” a “fake trial trying to make the Justice system appear ‘balanced.’”

Others tried to have it both ways. Kash Patel, a former national security adviser to Trump, said the verdict “demonstrates a fleeting moment of justice for all” — while also arguing that the trials of the former president and his rival’s son “expose the inequities in our legal system based on its weaponization.”

And then there was Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who said: “The Hunter Biden gun conviction is kinda dumb tbh.”

Biden said in a statement Tuesday that he “will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” He previously told ABC News that he would not pardon his son.