Republicans have been complaining about the criminal justice system being “weaponized” against Donald Trump, but recent events have made it clear that their real concern is that it’s not being weaponized against their preferred targets.
The situation was revealed clearly after President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was convicted in a federal court on three felony gun charges related to lying about his drug addiction on a form when purchasing a gun.
The verdict put Trump’s allies in Congress in a bind. After all, they had been loudly theorizing without evidence all year that Trump’s criminal cases were somehow directed by Biden himself, even though they were brought by local and state prosecutors and a special counsel operating independently.
Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky argued that the president’s son being convicted on a charge rarely brought on its own in this kind of situation was not enough.
“Today’s verdict is a step toward accountability,” he said, “but until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling schemes that generated over $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden.”
Comer has insisted that while Joe Biden was a senator and vice president, he made millions from his son’s business dealings with foreign entities. Despite numerous hearings and countless pages of testimony, Comer hasn’t been able to provide any direct evidence of these explosive allegations. In fact, he doesn’t even have the votes within his own party to impeach Biden on these grounds.
But earlier this year, when House Democrats released a report showing that Trump’s businesses received millions from at least 20 foreign governments while Trump was president, Comer was dismissive, saying, “It is beyond parody that Democrats continue their obsession with former President Trump. Former President Trump has legitimate businesses but the Bidens do not.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana showed similar hypocrisy. When asked if Hunter Biden’s conviction undercut the Republican claim that there’s a separate, harsher justice system for Republicans, Johnson responded: “Every case is different. And clearly the evidence was overwhelming here. I don’t think that’s the case in the Trump trials.”
In both cases, jurors unanimously found the defendants guilty after a thorough review of the evidence and attention to every party’s arguments.
But in both cases, prosecutors had to operate under the same burden of proof. In both cases, jurors unanimously found the defendants guilty after a thorough review of the evidence and attention to each defendant’s arguments.
Pro-Trump Republican hypocrisy is not exclusive to our justice system. Another instance took shape in a House floor vote on Wednesday.
With the support of all but one Republican, the House voted to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for defying congressional subpoenas. But two of the very Republicans who voted in favor of the motion, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Andy Biggs of Arizona, have themselves defied congressional subpoenas — and proudly so.
Jordan refused to testify before the Jan. 6 committee or provide the panel with documents despite a congressional subpoena. But just months ago, Jordan used his power as the chair of the House Judiciary Committee to threaten Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with contempt of Congress after Willis had the nerve to indict Trump and his allies for election interference. Jordan chastised Hunter Biden when the president’s son declined to testify privately before the Oversight and Judiciary committees.
During Trump’s administration, when White House officials ignored congressional subpoenas at unprecedented levels, Jordan defended them every step of the way. He even advised then-President Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. to ignore a Senate subpoena.
Biggs blasted Hunter Biden for refusing to testify in a closed-door committee hearing. When Biden said he would only testify publicly, Biggs wrote, “Hunter Biden must show up for his deposition with us. There’s no way out of it.”
But in 2021, when the Jan. 6 committee requested closed-door testimony from Biggs, the congressman refused, saying, “They only wanted the testimony to have the ability to edit and misconstrue our statements to further their own false narratives, as they did with so many other witnesses.” That was the exact reasoning deployed by Hunter Biden. Maybe MAGA Republicans will find mealymouthed ways to make this hypocrisy seem in good faith to their followers, but the man they’re doing this in service of — Donald J. Trump — has already given away the game. Since his guilty verdict, Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of retribution against any entity working to hold him accountable. Since his guilty verdict, Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of retribution against any entity working to hold him accountable. “Well, revenge does take time, I will say that,” he told television’s Dr. Phil. “And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can.” He told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “Look, when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them.” “It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them,” Trump said on Newsmax. There isn’t a two-tiered system of justice that advantages one political party over the other, but Trump and his allies have shown they believe they are justified to create one if given the chance in November. For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend and Alicia Menendez, watch “The Weekend” every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET on MSNBC.
Michael Steele
Michael Steele is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. He is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Evan Brechtel
Evan Brechtel is a segment producer on MSNBC's "The Weekend." 
