'Scorched-earth litigation': Analyst explains why Hunter Biden’s filing against Trump could flop
Hunter Biden decision to file a motion Wednesday seeking to subpoena President Donald Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr for documents that may assist with his defense ahead of his pending criminal trial could very well flop, according to former U.S. attorney and analyst Barbara McQuade.
The son of president Joe Biden alleged in a 16-page filing "that he may be a victim of 'a vindictive or selective prosecution that arose out of an incessant pressure campaign that began in the last administration, in violation of Mr. Biden's constitutional rights.'"
"It's a pretty high bar, Yasmin, and I think it's not terribly likely that Hunter Biden will succeed here," McQuade told MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian. "He's arguing either selective prosecution or vindictive prosecution. Selective prosecution is an equal protection clause violation. It means that you are charging me only on the basis of some discriminatory factor, like race, religion, or other arbitrary factor, and that could include politics. But you have to show that the person intended to violate your equal protection rights, and others that it had the effect of doing that. So you have to show that others who were similarly situated were not also prosecuted, so I'm not sure that's gonna fly."
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She continued, "Same with regard to vindictive prosecution — you have to show that you are prosecuted for exercising some legal rights, so sometimes someone takes an appeal, and then after they appeal, the case goes back for a retrial, and the person is treated more harshly to get back at them for exercising that right. Again, I don't know that we've got that sort of allegation here. But I think what this really signified is a shot across the bough that Hunter Biden is not going to go quietly, and this is going to be scorched-earth litigation."
Watch the video below or at this link.
'Scorched earth litigation': Analyst on Hunter Biden's legal action against Trump and Bill Barryoutu.be
READ MORE: 'Pressure campaign': Hunter Biden wants to subpoena Trump and Barr in criminal trial
