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[[Republican lawmakers are ramping up investigations of Hunter Biden and seeking to equate the legal woes of the president’s son to those of former President Donald Trump, who is accused to trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.]]
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUS Hunter Biden TV
HEADLINE: Republicans Ramp Up Probe on Hunter Biden
TEASER: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the Justice Department’s indictment on former President Donald Trump is meant to distract from Hunter Biden’s case.
PUBLISHED AT: Thursday, August 2, 2023 at 6:33 p.m.
BYLINE: Patsy Widakuswara
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER: AP
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MAS, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP, Skype
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 1:56
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TV/R
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO: ))
[[Republican lawmakers are ramping up investigations of Hunter Biden and seeking to equate the legal woes of the president’s son to those of former President Donald Trump, who is accused to trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.]]
((NARRATOR))
House Republicans have launched an inquiry into the Justice Department's plea deal with Hunter Biden, which fell apart in court last week. The deal called for the president’s son to plead guilty to failing to pay his taxes. In exchange prosecutors would drop a separate charge for illegally owning a gun, as long as Biden did not violate his two-year probation on the tax charge.
((Kevin McCarthy, House Speaker))
“We have to find at the end if the justice system is fair to all Americans and not one system for the Biden Inc. family and another for America.”
((NARRATOR))
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sought to equate Hunter Biden’s legal woes
((NARRATOR))
with those of former President Donald Trump, who was arraigned Thursday
((NARRATOR))
for allegedly conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss.
((NARRATOR))
In a social media post, McCarthy said Trump’s indictment is meant to distract from Hunter Biden’s case and attack the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
((Radio: Jessica Tillipman is a professor of ethics at George Washington University))
((Jessica Tillipman, George Washington University Law School))
“By conflating the Hunter Biden charges, which are fairly low level, with a charge we don't see ((have not seen)) in the United States about an attempt to overthrow the election, it really isn't a comparison. But again, if you're viewing it through a political lens, you’re going see it quite differently than how the law does.”
((NARRATOR))
Republican lawmakers have threatened an impeachment inquiry over unproven allegations that the president was involved in his son’s foreign business dealings.
((NARRATOR))
Biden joked about it recently as he touted lower inflation.
((President Joe Biden))
“Maybe they'll decide to impeach me because it's coming down. I don't know, I love that one.”
((NARRATOR))
Hunter Biden’s former business partner told Congress earlier this week that Hunter tried to sell the illusion of access by having his father speak to his foreign business partners on several occasions over a decade but said that Biden was never party to any of his son’s business deals.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, Washington
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Washington
Embargo DateAugust 3, 2023 16:20 EDT
Byline
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
