Peter Schweizer compares Hunter Biden treatment to how Donald Trump Jr. would be treated
Peter Schweizer compares Hunter Biden treatment to how Donald Trump Jr. would be treated
Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer has said he sees a double standard in how politicians like former Vice President Joe Biden appear to be "protected" in Washington.
Schweizer claimed in an interview airing Sunday on "Life, Liberty & Levin" that Donald Trump Jr. would be treated much differently if he was engaged in similar business activity to that of Hunter Biden -- the former Delaware senator's 49-year-old son -- while his father held elected office.
Hunter Biden was paid $50,000 a month by Ukranian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings while it was under investigation for corruption. Media scrutiny of the connection intensified after President Trump was accused of committing an impeachable offense by asking Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Hunter Biden's dealings.
On "Life, Liberty & Levin," Schweizer said there would be outrage in Congress and the media -- as well as from himself -- if Trump Jr. were involved in a similar situation while his father was in the White House.
"Imagine if Don Junior flew over on Air Force One with his dad and inked a $1.5 billion deal, let's say in an area he has no background in like telecommunications," he said. "Washington would be going ballistic, I would be going ballistic and rightfully so.
"It's a completely different circumstance in the way that response is -- and that's what I think so infuriates people. There are certain people that are supposed to be protected. Biden seems to be one of those."
During the interview, host Mark Levin alluded to Schweizer's 2018 book "Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends," which chronicles his own investigation into the Bidens and other top Washington figures.
"And you write about Republicans in your book [too]," Levin said.
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"Absolutely, they don't want to hear any of it," Schweizer said of the same figures in Washington who are outraged over the contents of President Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
Schweizer added Trump appears to be held to a different standard because he is not beholden to what he called the District of Columbia's standard "business model."
"One of the reasons that there was so much animosity towards Trump... is he represents a massive disruption to the business model of Washington, D.C.," he said, characterizing practices inside the Beltway as a cycle of enriching oneself and one's friends while serving in office and "cash[ing] in even further" when they leave public service.
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"If it's not possible to investigate Joe Biden now, then it's never possible to investigate him," he told Levin. "His son flew with him on Air Force Two -- he [the former vice president] was the point person on critically important national security issues with foreign governments."
Schweizer also criticized the press for giving scant attention to Hunter Biden's business overseas while his father was vice president.
"The media doesn't seem to think this is a big deal," he said.
Fox News' Nicholas Givas contributed to this report.