Joe Biden has a Hunter Biden problem, and vice versa. Yesterday, the first son’s trial for making false statements on a gun-buying application was further complicated by the announcement that House Republicans will refer Hunter and the president’s brother, James Biden, for criminal prosecution for “provably false statements” — perjury.

That may pose an immediate problem for Hunter and Jim, but the real target is Joe.

In sending the criminal referrals to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Special Counsel David Weiss on Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith said the Bidens’ false statements “implicate Joe Biden’s knowledge and role in his family’s influence peddling schemes and appear to be a calculated effort to shield Joe Biden from the impeachment inquiry.”

The GOP trio provided 60 pages of supporting records and evidence of the lies, including statements about who attended a meeting with Tony Bobulinski. Furthermore, they allege Hunter Biden “falsely distanced himself from a corporate entity — Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC — and its bank account (Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account) that was the recipient of millions of dollars from foreign individuals and foreign entities who met with then-Vice President Biden before and after transmitting money to the Rosemont Seneca Bohai Bank Account that then transferred funds to Hunter Biden.” Some of the money at play was “traced to Joe Biden’s bank account.”

Comer said the Republicans’ investigation “has revealed President Biden knew about, participated in, and benefitted from his family cashing in on the Biden name around the world.” The family cashed in on the Biden name, “the brand.”

As Smith put it Wednesday, “President Biden claims no one is above the law. We will soon see his Department of Justice put that principle to the test.”

Indeed, we will, and you can bank on all of that evidence promptly being thrown in Garland’s circular file, never to be acted upon because Garland is a political hack posing as a Rule of Law attorney general.

“If the Department of Justice fails to act on our criminal referral and hold Hunter Biden accountable,” Smith added, “they will once again be telling the American people there are two tiers of justice in this country.”

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley gives an example of those two tiers: “Notably, the Justice Department spent considerable time and money to pursue false statements against figures like Michael Flynn over just one statement describing a meeting with Russian diplomats. These are instances where Hunter was under oath, prepared for months, and had counsel present.”

Meanwhile, if the name David Weiss rings any bells, it’s because he was the special prosecutor who tried to give Hunter a sweetheart deal that ended up collapsing. Ergo, Hunter Biden is on trial this week in Delaware on gun charges and faces a second trial for nine felony and misdemeanor tax fraud charges in California in September.

That Hunter is amid two separate federal cases makes it even more of a no-no to commit a third federal crime “while on supervised release,” the Republicans said.

Now, about that gun trial. Oof.

First of all, with Jill Biden in attendance on her birthday on Monday, prosecutors opened by saying, “No one is above the law” — a direct quote from Joe Biden just last week as he spiked the football over his rival’s conviction.

The Wall Street Journal sums up the facts of the case: “Hunter Biden is charged with three felony counts related to his 2018 purchase of a .38 caliber Colt Cobra: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, lying on the application form when he said he wasn’t a drug user or addict, and illegally having the gun for 11 days.”

Last I heard, being a convicted felon is a big deal.

In this case, especially so. He faces a potential total of 25 years behind bars in part because, as the Journal also notes, “A Republican Senate and Democratic House increased the penalty for this gun [possession] offense to 15 from 10 years in 2022, signaling that they want those cases prosecuted. Joe Biden signed that legislation.”

Oops!

The evidence against Hunter is formidable. So far, jurors have heard testimony from the gun store employee Hunter lied to. He refuted defense attorneys’ argument that he convinced Hunter to buy the gun, saying Hunter came in looking for a particular one. Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, recounted how his drug abuse destroyed their marriage. The prosecution even played excerpts of Hunter reading from his own memoirs about using drugs. Zoe Kestan, Hunter’s former stripper girlfriend who is half his age, likewise testified of his addition just before the gun purchase.

Today, jurors heard from Hallie Biden, Hunter’s brother Beau’s widow and, at the time of the gun purchase, Hunter’s lover. She’s also the one who discarded the gun in a dumpster. She recalled discovering the revolver and ammunition alongside “trash, clothes, some remnants of crack,” and other “paraphernalia.”

Oh, and jurors saw a peculiar piece of evidence that ought to ruffle a few feathers — that infamous laptop that was supposed to be “Russian disinformation.” FBI agent Erika Jensen told the court that the laptop is real and free of tampering, which was surely devastating to the laptop deniers.

Then again, I can say, “I told you so,” but that’s small consolation for the fact that suppressing news of that laptop and Joe Biden’s corruption likely changed the results of the 2020 election. It was election interference, and the Left got away with it. Again.

Finally, the biggest difference between Hunter’s case and Trump’s is that, if he wins, Trump can’t pardon himself of a state conviction. Joe Biden can pardon Hunter Biden.

He says he won’t, though. He also said he never talked about business with Hunter. He says lots of things that aren’t true.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.

(Updated)