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President Joe Biden's 2024 challengers outside the GOP are keeping their heads out of the latest scandal surrounding his son.
Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ) has sparked political outrage from Republicans of the Biden administration, with critics comparing the deal to the 37-count federal criminal indictment filed against former President Donald Trump this month. But while 2024 presidential candidates in the crowded GOP field have been quick to weigh in on the development, others running for Biden's job have stayed mum.
So far, only two Democrats and a third-party candidate have announced their White House bids against the president: anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., self-help author Marianne Williamson and progressive professor Cornel West, who is running as a member of the People's Party.
Both Kennedy and Williamson declined Newsweek's request for comment. West did not respond to Newsweek's inquiry.
Trump, who is the GOP front-runner, likened the plea deal to a "mere 'traffic ticket,'" while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest Republican rival, slammed it as a "sweetheart deal" and claimed that the president's son would already be in jail if he "was not connected to the elite DC class."
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is also running for the Republican nomination, said the deal raises further questions about the DOJ's "double standard of justice" while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, another 2024 hopeful, called it "a joke."
"It's no accident that the farcical Hunter Biden 'plea deal' comes right after the Trump indictment. It's the perfect fig leaf to pretend that 'no one is above the law,' while absolutely putting certain people above the law," Ramaswamy said.
Democrats who have spoken out about the plea deal have used it to legitimize the DOJ, arguing that the charges show the institution's independence and that federal prosecutors are wiling to go after those on both sides of the aisle.
"This development reflects the Justice Department's continued institutional independence in following the evidence of actual crimes and enforcing the rule of law even in the face of constant criticism and heckling by my GOP colleagues who think that the system of justice should only follow their partisan wishes," Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement.
But others, like Representative Adam Schiff, are joining Democratic presidential candidates in remaining silent on the deal. Schiff, who is running for Senate in 2024, declined Newsweek's request for comment.
Update 06/20/23 4:23 p.m. This story was updated with comment from Kennedy.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more