How Hunter Biden’s Lawyers Snatched Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

In a column Tuesday explaining how prosecutor David Weiss had given Hunter Biden his Second Amendment defense by dawdling for five years, I observed that the case had been a “clinic in bad lawyering.” That description is not confined to the prosecution. Paradoxically, as the Biden Justice Department has labored to get the defendant, the president’s son, out of jeopardy, the defense team has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, convincing prosecutors that they had no alternative but to indict him, which they have on gun charges and are very likely to on tax charges.

The Biden defense’s Midas touch was on display again this week as Hunter and his lawyers gratuitously put his father’s Justice Department and a federal magistrate judge in the awkward position of having to, respectively, object to and deny his request to be arraigned remotely (by video conference). From the perspective of the court, the arrogance of this application had to be deeply offensive.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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In a column Tuesday explaining how prosecutor David Weiss had given Hunter Biden his Second Amendment defense by dawdling for five years, I observed that the case had been a “clinic in bad lawyering.” That description is not confined to the prosecution. Paradoxically, as the Biden Justice Department has labored to get the defendant, the president’s son, out of jeopardy, the defense team has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, convincing prosecutors that they had no alternative but to indict him, which they have on gun charges and are very likely to on tax charges.

The Biden defense’s Midas touch was on display again this week as Hunter and his lawyers gratuitously put his father’s Justice Department and a federal magistrate judge in the awkward position of having to, respectively, object to and deny his request to be arraigned remotely (by video conference). From the perspective of the court, the arrogance of this application had to be deeply offensive.

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.