‘The Hill with April Ryan’: Hunter Biden federal charges; DOJ probe of Minneapolis police
Catch an all-new episode of “The Hill with April Ryan” every Thursday on theGrio.com and theGrio’s social media platforms.
On this week’s episode of “The Hill With April Ryan,” theGrio’s Washington Bureau Chief and White House Correspondent April D. Ryan examines the details of first son Hunter Biden facing misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes.
Biden, who already reimbursed the government, also faces a felony gun charge for lying about his drug use. Legal experts say that the charge could be dismissed in a plea agreement. The Justice Department investigation is reportedly resolved; however, the investigation of Hunter Biden by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill is ongoing.
In a separate DOJ matter, the department reached a consent and decree agreement with the Minneapolis Police Department and the city due to racist and discriminatory practices uncovered by the federal government. This report also found that the 2020 police murder of George Floyd was not the first such encounter with Minneapolis police.
In an interview with theGrio, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledged, “It is undeniable that we have a problem.”
Ellison supports the DOJ overhaul in what he believes was a long overdue challenge of the agency’s decades-long practices of bad policing. He recalled a civil lawyer in 1997 suing the city of Minneapolis for a pattern of excessive force and discriminatory conduct that ended in Hennepin County being found liable by a jury.
“The Hill” also takes a look at the Congressional Black Caucus nominating the late Henrietta Lacks for a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal. It is the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress. The group of Black members of Congress reintroduced a bill in honor of the Black woman from Baltimore, known as a medical pioneer.
Johns Hopkins harvested her cancer cells without her or her family’s consent and used them for groundbreaking research in cancer, polio, HIV, Parkinson’s and other diseases. The Lacks story was made into a motion picture by Oprah Winfrey.
And in unrelated Baltimore news, Ryan highlights efforts for a postage stamp for the late Congressman Elijah Cummings. U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland reintroduced a resolution for the stamp and wrote to the postal commissioner for approval of Cummings’ likeness on a stamp. Mfume also sent a message to House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer for support of the stamp.
Watch the full episode above and catch an all-new episode of “The Hill with April Ryan” every Thursday on theGrio.com and theGrio’s social media platforms.
