The Justice Department has refused to release Hunter Biden's mugshot taken in July, Breitbart reported. He was fingerprinted and had his photo taken as part of the legal proceedings for his initial plea deal that later fell apart.
During that hearing, attorney Abbe Lowell stated that Biden had been given the same treatment as other suspects at the Delaware courthouse. The U.S. Marshals Service used "the usual procedures (e.g., submitted to multiple sets of fingerprints, had his photograph taken, and filled out the required forms for release)."
The public has not seen that photo because, as Kim Reeves, Delaware U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson, said, the Justice Department "prohibits my office from providing photographs of defendants prosecuted in federal court." Still, Fox News host Jesse Watters believes the public has a right to see it.
Watters has submitted a Freedom of Information request for the photo to be released. He feels they may be concealing it for a reason, not the least of which is because of deference to the Bidens.
"It turns out Hunter Biden has a mugshot," the host said on his "Jesse Watters Primetime" program Tuesday. "So what is so special about a mugshot that they don’t want us to see?" he went on.
"Did he smile? Did he look defiant? In light of transparency, this mugshot must be released," Watters said.
"Sources tell us that federal inmates rarely have their mugshots released to the public — only in cases where the federal inmate escapes, and a leak would be very unlikely," he added. However, this is no ordinary defendant but rather the son of President Joe Biden and a man who arguably has strong claims to his father's influence and power.
It seems Special Counsel David Weiss was attempting to sweep all of the Biden family's alleged corruption under the rug by giving Hunter Biden a "sweetheart" deal on tax crimes and a felony gun charge. Before the unusually generous deal fell apart, Hunter Biden was given the option for a diversion program that would clear his criminal record for the gun charge.
He was given probation for the tax infraction despite not paying income tax on the $1.5 million he earned in 2017 and 2018. The deal also gave him immunity from prosecution for future crimes, which is something other alleged criminals can only dream about.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty and now will have to argue his case in court, but his mugshot remains concealed. Even if it's part of the normal procedure in this case, it's difficult not to see the comparison to the way former President Donald Trump's booking photo was treated.
Last month, Trump appeared at the Fulton County, Georgia, jailhouse and was photographed and fingerprinted, Politico reported. He was indicted in the state for charges related to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia and for supposedly inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The left was likely hoping to humiliate Trump with the photo, but the plan backfired spectacularly. Trump put the mugshot on his campaign's landing page with the message to "make a contribution to evict Crooked Joe Biden from the White House and SAVE AMERICA during this dark chapter in our nation’s history."
The tactic worked as Trump reported raised $7.1 million in the weeks following the release of the photo. There's not a chance that Hunter Biden's booking photo would have a positive impact, so it's no surprise that it is closely guarded from the eyes of the public.
If legal proceedings were always by the book regardless of political party, there would be no reason to release Hunter Biden's mugshot. However, the Department of Justice has been protecting the Biden family for years while other leftists doggedly pursue Trump on whatever they can make stick -- and this is yet another example of that disparity.
