Booker says the Justice Department has handled the prosecution of President Biden’s son effectively, but that there is still a double standard in this country. He believes that presidents and members have been able to confess to marijuana use without repercussions while thousands of people who are less fortunate face harsh cannabis laws.
In an interview that aired on CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace”, the senator was asked if he believed that there is a partisan prejudice in the criminal justice system. He was reminded that the Justice Department had offered Hunter Biden an agreement in which he would plead guilty to tax evasion and avoid prosecution for separate allegations that he had lied about using an illegal drug while filling out federal forms to buy a gun.
Wallace compared the case to the federal prosecution currently underway against former President Donald Trump. Trump is accused of having illegally displayed classified documents that he had allegedly held and kept after leaving office. Booker stated that he was not familiar with details of Biden’s prosecution but had something to say regarding cannabis-related enforcement disparities.
Booker told the crowd: “You’re speaking to someone who has experienced the worst in the American criminal justice system–where there is a two-tiered system.” Booker said, “If you are a congressperson or senator, you can admit that you use marijuana. But we’re a country that arrests young, low-income Black people and brown people in America – literally thousands of them who cannot get a job – for doing things…that…at least…four Presidents have admitted doing.”
I’m not familiar with the details of this case. “I imagine there were prosecutors – a Trump-appointed prosecution, who is like many other prosecutors going after it with vigor – and they came to a deal,” he stated. “As for me, in my work I must do, justice has taken its own course.”
The Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges in connection with the President’s Son over his alleged illegal possession of a gun while actively using an illicit drug. Biden’s attorneys reportedly told DOJ officials before details of the deal were revealed that a recent court ruling on gun ownership for marijuana users would invalidate any charges relating to allegations that he had lied on the federal firearms form about his drug use.
The lie on the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Form is a felony. However, the constitutionality of this drug issue has been questioned by several federal courts, if only in relation to cannabis. Biden’s lawyer cited specifically a February decision in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma ruled that the prohibition on marijuana users buying or possessing firearms was unconstitutional.
Trump’s charges are related to allegations he illegally and improperly stored highly sensitive documentation, sometimes revealing it to people without clearance, in violation of the Espionage Act.
Booker told CNN that, while he believes it is true that many high-ranking officials get away with admitting to illegal drug use which has landed others in prison, he doesn’t see any partisan double standard.
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The senator who championed cannabis legalization in Congress is pushing separately for cannabis expungements as part of a bipartisan marijuana bank reform bill that could receive a Senate Committee vote this month .
Booker said that lawmakers were working to “resurrect” the package of reform legislation that was passed during the last session. He acknowledged that the failure to advance banking fixes for the marijuana industry “literally” means that hundreds businesses will go out of business.
In April, he notably referred to marijuana as a “dangerous substance” which he nevertheless wants to legalize.
California Courts have sealed 90 percent of marijuana cases that are eligible, according to a report by the State Attorney general
The post Booker Slams “Two-Tier” System Of Marijuana Crime Criminalization Shielding Powerful from Punishment While Discussion Hunter Biden Plea Agreement first appeared on Marijuana moment.
