MAGA Claims Russian Mutiny Was 'Smoke Screen' to Cover for Hunter Biden

Some right-wing commentators claimed on social media over the weekend that Wagner Group's mutiny against the Russian government, which quickly de-escalated Saturday afternoon, was just a "distraction" from Hunter Biden's alleged "crimes."

The Wagner Group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, rebelled against the Russian defense ministry and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, and accused the Russian military of attacking his mercenary's positions in Ukraine. In addition, Prigozhin, once a Putin ally, claimed that the Russian president was lying about the real reasons behind his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was launched last February.

The private military company has been helping the Russian army with military operations in Ukraine, but Prigozhin, for months, has been criticizing the Russian defense ministry and Moscow's military performance in the Eastern European country.

However, Prigozhin ended the advance toward Moscow later Saturday, saying that his convoys are turning around and heading back to their field camps after negotiations with Putin's top ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Wagner boss ended up accepting a proposal to stop the private military company's advancement inside Russia, among other de-escalation steps, according to Lukashenko's press service.

Before the de-escalation, the development of events in Russia alarmed some officials and an emergency meeting was held in a call on Saturday in which G7 foreign ministers and the European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discussed the situation, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Additionally, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, expressed concerns and described Wagner's mutiny as a "staged coup d'état."

However, some MAGA supporters developed a conspiracy theory touting that the Russian mutiny was a mere distraction meant to cover for Hunter, President Joe Biden's son, who is being investigated for tax evasion allegations and foreign business dealings.

"The left will do anything to distract us from Hunter's crimes. They'll sit on information about the sub that imploded for 4 days while the world anxiously searches. They'll attempt a coup in Russia to remove Putin. Anything to distract us from the Biden family corruption," Brigitte Gabriel, a Trump supporter and the founder of the anti-Muslim group ACT for America, tweeted on Saturday.

Wendy Patterson, a MAGA supporter, tweeted on Sunday morning: "I'm off for the night but before I go, I want to say how proud I am with my followers who recognized that the Russia 'coup' was just a smokescreen to take our focus off of Joe and Hunter Biden's crime sprees. Every single time they do that, we are going to ignore it and we are going to continue to talk about the topic that they don't want us talking about."

The president's son has been heavily targeted by Republicans, who are trying to determine whether his father was involved in his foreign business dealings while serving as vice president during the Obama administration. Hunter accepted a plea deal from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday as part of an ongoing probe into his failure to pay income taxes. A separate gun-related charge might also be dismissed as part of a potential future agreement.

"I don't care about the planned distraction in Russia ... I care about the solid proof of Joe and Hunter Biden's treason ...," Twitter user Catturd wrote Friday, who also claimed in another tweet that Democrats controlled the news cycle heavily focusing on the situation in Russia to distract Americans from "the fact Hunter and Joe Biden just got caught red-handed committing treason."

"For decades, the CIA has had the capability to trigger civil war and complete institutional collapse in Russia at will, but sat by while Putin wreaked havoc on the Western Coalition until one fateful day, they had to distract from Hunter Biden's two minor tax misdemeanors," Patrick S. Tomlinson, a sci-fi novelist, wrote on Twitter.

A similar conspiracy theory was recently touted when several right-wing commentators accused the president of withholding news related to the Titan submersible to distract from recent developments with his son after it was revealed the U.S. Navy likely detected the vessel's implosion.

"First the submarine. Now the CIA staging a coup against Putin. Just keep talking about anything but Hunter Biden, huh? Joe will start World War Three before he lets the media actually scrutinize his bribes," political strategist Joey Mannarino tweeted.

However, a Twitter user by the name of @JoJoFromJerz bashed his claim by writing, "Amazing how the 'senile' Sleepy Joe guy who 'can't find his pants' simultaneously has the power to implode a billionaire's submersible and start a Russian coup in the span of a week."

Several other social media commentators reacted to the theories emerging from MAGA supporters, including journalist Seth Abramson who called their claims the "stupidest" remarks ever read.

"The level of batsh*t crazy this Russia news is causing in MAGA world is basically DEFCON 1. Apparently Hunter Biden's minor tax evasion case is worth Joe Biden secretly orchestrating WWIII over. Or something. It's all just the scariest, but also stupidest, lunacy you ever read," tweeted Abramson.

Meanwhile, researcher Oliver Jia, wrote: "It's really funny how the biggest dolts on the left and the right tie everything back to the CIA if it contradicts their worldview. And FYI, no one outside of America gives a toss about Hunter Biden. The idea that Joe Biden staged a coup against Russia via Wagner is ludicrous."

Newsweek reached out by email to the White House for comment.