Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal and Donald Trump’s Defense
To the Editor: Re “Hunter Biden Likely to Avoid Prison in Deal” (front page, June 21): The criminal travails of former President Donald Trump and President Biden’s son Hunter are giving us attorneys a couple of new defenses to use in representing clients charged with serious offenses.
The ex-president’s explanation for the purloining and maintenance of classified and sensitive national security documents, given right after his federal indictment: He was too “busy” to comply with the law.
He doubled down on that Monday night in an uncharacteristically probing interview on Fox News, claiming that he was “very busy.” Hunter Biden fended off serious sanctions for nonpayment of taxes and improper gun possession by asserting that his conduct was due to drug addiction, a bromide that is often raised in criminal proceedings but rarely applied to tax evasion and gun possession charges.
So, add “too busy” to follow the law and drug addiction to the stack of justifications for serious wrongful behavior. If it works for these top-tier criminal defendants, it ought to be applied to lesser ones, too.
