Paul Sperry in RealClear Investigations details concerns that Hunter Biden will receive lenient treatment from the District of Columbia bar, which has a review underway of whether to lift the law license of the former president’s son. From the article:
A Washington watchdog group suspects investigators for the D.C. Bar are not serious about punishing Biden and are dragging their feet in the probe, which is now entering its ninth month.
“While Hunter Biden’s pardon for committing felonies was bad enough, the D.C. Bar’s slow-walking disciplinary action against him based on the pardon is outrageous and inexcusable,” said Paul Kamenar, counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog that previously filed a formal complaint against Biden with the Justice Department alleging he violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Hamilton Fox of the D.C. bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel was interviewed for the story and maintained, “This is a very complicated situation because of the pardon,” and claimed that he may have to prove Hunter’s crimes all over again. Fox is the bar official who investigates and prosecutes disciplinary cases. Also from the article:
Kamenar argued there is no reason to re-prove the crimes committed by Biden. “That’s a lame excuse,” he said. He pointed out that Biden originally pleaded guilty to the gun charges, before a judge ripped up a “sweetheart deal” he made with prosecutors and forced a trial which ended in a jury unanimously finding him guilty on all counts. Biden copped a plea to the tax charges as well.
Sperry reported that a status report on the case, which was filed late, stated that the “investigation is ongoing,” and “the parties intend to discuss possible dispositions of this matter soon.” Also from the article:
In other words, Kamenar said, Fox plans to enter into settlement talks with Hunter’s lawyers on how to dispose of the charges.
“Considering the slap on the wrist the D.C. Bar gave former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith for his felony criminal conviction for altering a CIA document to obtain a FISA search warrant to spy on a Trump adviser, it’s not surprising that Fox appears to be giving Hunter undeserved leniency,” Kamenar added.
Kamenar questioned the impartiality of Fox, a Democrat who like Hunter is a Yale Law School alumnus. Federal Election Commission records show Fox, a former Watergate prosecutor, has contributed several thousand dollars to Democratic political candidates, including Obama.
Also from the story:
Kamenar believes Hunter’s crimes are serious enough for the bar to suspend his license for at least three years. He pointed out that the D.C. Bar’s rules for professional conduct expressly state that criminal conduct such as “willful failure to file an income tax return” reflects “adversely on fitness to practice law.”
Sperry raised the issue of disparate treatment of individuals investigated by the D.C. bar based on political affiliation, pointing out that Fox “has thrown the book at” Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, and Paul Manafort.
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