CNN’s Sciutto Asks ‘Facetious’ Question On Hunter Biden Deal: Does This Mean Republicans Want ‘Tougher Enforcement Of Tax Crimes & Gun Crimes?’

While parsing the argument that Hunter Biden got a “sweetheart deal” when he pleaded guilty to two federal tax crimes and struck a deal on a third gun charge, CNN’s Jim Sciutto asked his panel a “facetious” but valid question: Wouldn’t Republicans kinda like this deal?

That was not his exact question, and absolutely no Republicans like the deal that Hunter Biden made. But after clarifying that the deal was not special treatment for the son of a sitting president with former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams, who called the deal “pretty standard,” Sciutto asked him and CNN’s political director David Chalian the following:

Now, this will come across as a facetious question, but are Republicans going to push now for tougher enforcement of tax crimes and gun crimes? I mean, that’s the essential argument here, that the penalty’s not severe enough for things that this party has actually undermined. For instance, the IRS’s ability to chase down tax crimes and tax fraud.

I mean, considering how some Republicans want to “[repeal] the income tax and other taxes, [abolish] the Internal Revenue Service, and [enact] a national sales tax,” why would they want to enforce laws against crimes they don’t think should exist? And when it comes to laws that regulate guns, Republicans are very, very, very, very against that, so why would they want to go after someone who is was merely in possession of a firearm (addiction to controlled substances notwithstanding)?

Chalian: I mean, if you’re looking for intellectual consistency to go all the way through here…

Sciutto: Doesn’t exist.

Chalian went on to say that the Hunter Biden deal, as attractive as it should look to Republicans on its face, will remain a “political punching bag opportunity” instead of a new legal or legislative precedent on tax and gun laws.

Watch the clip above via CNN.