Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Tuesday accused Democrats and the media of acting as "a phalanx of bodyguards" for President Biden and his son Hunter as Republicans probe what they call the "Biden family corruption."
During an interview on the "Hugh Hewitt Show" Tuesday, Cotton was asked about Hunter Biden’s plea deal stemming from a felony gun charge and two tax violations. The agreement was slammed as a "sweetheart" deal by critics and reignited criticism among Republicans accusing the DOJ of a two-tiered justice system and unequal application of the law for the president's son.
"The Democrats care a lot about gun violence as do I, but they propose a lot of solutions that won't work," Hewitt told the senator. "One solution I propose, enforce the laws on the book. One of those laws, if you lie on a federal background check for a gun, you go to jail - often for a long time. They're not even proposing any time on probation for that gun violation by Hunter Biden much less three felony charges on tax evasion… I've never seen a plea deal like this."
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Cotton pushed back on the host, arguing that Democrats care less about gun violence and more about "disarming law-abiding citizens" with "gun control."
As for the plea deal, Cotton added, "There seem to be two systems of justice in America. One for liberal Democrats and one for conservatives or Republicans."
The Justice Department announced in June that Hunter agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. The plea averts prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as well as a trial that could have lasted days or even weeks. The firearms charge stemmed from allegations that Hunter Biden lied on a background check for a gun purchase in 2018. Without a plea agreement, Hunter was facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge.
Hewitt said the president's son effectively got off with a slap on the wrist while others are spending years behind bars for committing similar crimes – and scolded the media for failing to highlight the comparison.
"Have you seen even one story comparing the average sentence for that crime against no sentence at all, not even probation for Hunter Biden? Have you seen even one story doing the comparison?" he asked Cotton.
"No, Hugh, because just like the Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, the traditional media is acting like a phalanx of bodyguards for Joe Biden and the Biden family as a whole," Cotton said. "They don’t want to write these kinds of stories because they’re worried about where they may lead. And if they even hint that they’re gonna write a story, start covering this, then lefties come down on 'em like a ton of bricks."
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Fox News Digital previously reported on comparisons between the Biden case and how rapper Kodak Black was sentenced to more than three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to firearms possession by a felon, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of marijuana.
Kodak Black received "46 months for the exact same thing that Hunter Biden is not even pleading to," the rapper's attorney Bradford Cohen told Fox News' "Hannity" last month.
Later that month, CNN's Daniel Dale published a fact check, claiming that there were "big differences between Hunter Biden gun case and rapper Kodak Black’s."
MSNBC also published a story in defense of Hunter, which was headlined "Legal experts say the charges against Hunter Biden are rarely brought."
The report argued that the gun charge against the president's son "is a rarely used statute that is facing legal challenges" and has "been used as a catch-all charge against White supremacists." The MSNBC story also claimed that tax evasion charges, like the gun charge, "are rarely brought against first-time offenders and even more rarely result in jail time."
Cotton said Democrats with the help of the media are "running interference for the Biden family," echoing Hewitt's critique about their coverage of the deal.
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
