The Duggar family is reportedly not “as close as they once were” amid brother Josh Duggar’s legal scandal, a source tells People. Duggar is currently facing two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography and is awaiting trial, which should take place in the next three months. “They aren’t as close as they once were because of all of Josh’s legal drama,” a family source revealed. “It’s creating a lot of stress on them — although the majority of the family is acting like nothing has happened.”
Immediately following his arrest in April, his sister Jinger and her husband Jeremy Vuolo released statements in support of law enforcement and expressed their desire for “justice.” “We are disturbed to hear of the charges against Josh. While this case must go through the legal system, we want to make it clear that we absolutely condemn any form of child abuse and fully support the authorities and judicial process in their pursuit of justice,” the statement read, which was a fairly different tune from the message parents Jim Bob and Michelle said in their statement in support of Josh. “It is our prayer that the truth, no matter what it is, will come to light … We love Josh and Anna and continue to pray for their family,” Jim Bob and Michelle said at the time. The source claims the two “are very much standing by their son.” “Jim Bob always wants to sweep things under the rug,” the insider continued. “He’s never going to talk about the scandal because it’s bad for business.”
Josh is currently staying with the family’s close friends Lacount and Maria Reber in their Arkansas home, where he is confined to stay until he begins trial. He’s not allowed to have contact with minors or children outside of his own –– and he can only visit his kids as long as their interactions are supervised by his wife Anna. According to the source, Duggar seems to be optimistic that he’ll escape the severe charges. “He really thinks he’s going to get out of it,” the source said. His team of lawyers has been taking strides to have his case dismissed on a series of various claims. His lawyers recently filed documents to have his child pornography charges dismissed on the grounds that prosecutors allegedly “failed to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence.” Most recently, his lawyers made another leap by using a Donald Trump-related loophole as well as attempted to pin the charges on another employee who previously admitted to watching pornography while at work.