OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Liberal Fox News contributor Juan Williams and former GOP Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich engaged in a spirited back-and-forth on Sunday during a discussion about the scandals surrounding first son Hunter Biden as the 2024 presidential election cycle begins to heat up.
The “Fox News Sunday” segment began with a clip of President Joe Biden telling MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle that he is “proud” of his son and does not believe he’s done anything wrong, despite multiple previous reports detailing alleged improper business deals along with reported violations of tax laws and a gun purchase.
“I think it’s – you know, people have to render their own judgment. First of all, I have no faith in the Justice Department. My hunch is he’ll get some kind of minor plea bargain that’s irrelevant. The underlying evidence that’s coming out, particularly from the House Republicans who have subpoena power is, millions of dollars went to the Biden family, period. I mean that’s just a fact. Millions of dollars went to the Biden family,” Gringrich said.
“You can get into arguments about legality and illegality. The vice president of the United States, through his son and his brother, was part of a process in which millions of dollars went to their family. In any reasonable judgment, that is corrupt,” Gingrich added. “You have a corrupt man telling you he doesn’t mind his corrupt son. What do you think he’s going to say?”
Williams responded:
I think you – you’re on the money, Shannon. And what Senator Grassley said, we don’t know — he doesn’t know if it’s true or untrue. So, what do we have here? We have more innuendo, we have more distractions, it seems to me, from Trump’s legal troubles, which are everywhere but which clearly we are persuading the Republican side an agenda of saying, you know what, Biden, you’ve – you put out your tax records for the last 25 years but, oh, Newt says millions have flow – you know, we don’t have any reason to say that.
But everything is done. We know Hunter Biden’s an addict. We know he’s an alcoholic. We know he’s had sex addiction problems. We know he’s not the son that you would have. But Joe Biden has acted as a father trying to protect his son and trying to help his son. I don’t think anyone’s going to fault him for that.
But you compare that to the graft and the grifting for Trump golf courses, Trump hotels, Chinese shoe deals with the daughter, the son-in-law getting billions from the Saudis. It’s unbelievable. Even this week you have to compare it to the trouble we’ve heard about in New York with a sexual assault case against Trump. But this is what Hunter Biden has come down to now. He is a distraction, a shield against all the trouble that Trump is experiencing.
That led to pushback from Gingrich.
“Look — here are facts. They may be legal. Here are the facts. The widow of the Moscow mayor sent millions of dollars to Hunter Biden. He got money from Kazakhstan. He got money from Ukraine and served on a board about which he knew nothing. He got a lot of money from China. And it’s a fact, Juan, that there were $3 million that has been disclosed that went to the Biden family from a Chinese billionaire. That is a fact,” the former Speaker said.
“Now, you – you can decide that none of this stuff matters. But the fact is, you have the vice president of the United States taking his son on Air Force Two into China where his son was making business deals. And you just described his son. Your language, he’s a sex addict, he’s an alcoholic, he’s a drug addict,” said Gingrich.
That led to fiery reply from Williams: “What does that say — is that an attack on – is that on a — you’re attacking the president? He’s not the president. He’s the son!”
