Headline RoundupSeptember 15th, 2023

What to Make of Hunter Biden's Indictment on Gun Charges

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday by Special Counsel David Weiss for allegedly lying about his drug addiction on a 2018 gun application. Are the charges lenient or harsh?

An 'Unusual Case': The Christian Science Monitor (Center bias) said "prosecutors could face difficulties in bringing those charges to trial and convicting Mr. Biden," and focused on voices who questioned "whether other defendants in similar situations are charged with felonies and taken to courtroom trial, rather than [striking] plea deals or diversion agreements."

A 'Sweetheart Deal': "The charges vindicate critics of the Justice Department’s earlier sweetheart plea deal," wrote The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board (Lean Right bias), suggesting Weiss is going easy on Biden and that his appointment as special counsel was to "suggest the appearance of independence." The editors added that "it isn’t clear why Hunter hasn’t been" charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for his previous role on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

An Attempt to 'Muddy the Waters': Hunter's "true offense is being the son of a president whom Republicans are hell-bent on vilifying and defeating," a writer for Los Angeles Times (Lean Left bias) said. The writer argued that the plea deal represented "a fairly common means of disposing of less serious charges," while these charges against "a relatively harmless firearm applicant seems to be without precedent" and give "radical Republicans in Congress the talking point they need to muddy the waters with respect to Trump’s multiple criminal indictments."

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