Donald Trump on Tuesday night called for Hunter Biden to be executed for tax fraud and falsifying a gun permit.
Hunter, 53, agreed on June 20 to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of federal income tax fraud, and a separate deal related to a felony gun charge.
Republicans have claimed that the agreement is a ‘sweetheart deal’, and are questioning the prosecutor, David Weiss.
Weiss, appointed by Trump as U.S. Attorney for the district court of Delaware, on Monday insisted he reached his conclusion independently – despite two I.R.S. whistleblowers alleging that the process was corrupted.
But Trump reacted with fury to Weiss’s decision to reach a plea agreement, insisting he should have sentenced Hunter to death.
The death penalty is not an option for tax fraud or gun charges.
‘Weiss is a COWARD, a smaller version of Bill Barr, who never had the courage to do what everyone knows should have been done,’ wrote Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social.
‘He gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence.’
Despite Trump himself appointing Weiss, the former president blamed the two Democrat senators for Delaware – Tom Carper and Chris Coons – who recommended him.
‘Because of the two Democrat Senators in Delaware, they got to choose and/or approve him,’ said Trump.
‘Maybe the judge presiding will have the courage and intellect to break up this cesspool of crime.
‘The collusion and corruption is beyond description. TWO TIERS OF JUSTICE!’
Amid the Republican anger and accusations, Weiss said on Monday he had been reassured by the Justice Department he would have the authority to file charges outside his Delaware district against President Joe Biden’s son should he wish to do so.
The U.S. attorney outlined his powers in a letter to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, after the South Carolina senator wrote and asked him to clarify allegations from an IRS whistleblower that he was denied special counsel status.
‘I have not requested Special Counsel designation,’ Weiss noted.
‘I was assured that I would be granted this authority if it proved necessary,’ Weiss added. ‘And this assurance came months before the October 7, 2022, meeting referenced throughout the whistleblowers’ allegations.’
Garland had said: ‘As I said at the outset, Mr. Weiss was appointed by President Trump as the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration.’
Garland said Weiss ‘would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to.
Mr. Weiss has since sent a letter to the House Judiciary confirming he had that authority. ‘I don’t know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution, given that he has this authority,’ he said in June.
He claimed Weiss never asked to be appointed special prosecutor.
‘Mr. Weiss had, in fact, more authority than a special counsel would have,’ said Garland.
‘He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own.
‘Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department by claiming that we do not treat cases alike.
‘This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy.’
