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With President Joe Biden set to announce his 2024 campaign, his charismatic son and perpetual family liability Hunter is back in the news in a big way. And while it’s unlikely to reach fall-2020 (or even fall-2019) levels of Hunter-ness, the updates surrounding the president’s son and the investigation into his alleged tax problems could still weigh on Biden’s reflection bid. Here are some quick updates on all things Hunter Biden, including the House inquires and the federal investigation into his taxes.
The FBI’s initial inquiry into Hunter Biden was focused on Russian disinformation, determining if sordid info from his laptop was leaked to influence the election. When the laptop was proven to be genuine, the investigation moved on to his finances. With that investigation wrapped up roughly a year ago, the case is in the hands of David Weiss, the US attorney in Delaware. According to multiple reports, investigators have found enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with two misdemeanor counts for failing to file taxes, one felony count of tax evasion, and a felony count of making a false statement on a form to purchase a firearm. In 2018, Biden apparently lied on an application form when buying a gun, claiming that he was not using drugs — even though Biden has been vocal about his struggles with crack cocaine around that time.
As Weiss determines if charges will be filed, an Internal Revenue Service official is concerned that the case has been influenced by politics. According to the Washington Post, a criminal supervisory special agent at the IRS has filed for whistleblower protection to testify before Congress on the matter. A letter from their attorney claims that there has been “preferential treatment and politically inappropriate decisions and protocols that would normally be followed by career law enforcement professionals in similar circumstances if the subject was not politically connected.”
According to two officials in the FBI who spoke with NBC News, there is “growing frustration” at the agency over the fact that investigators finished their inquiry about a year ago.
Even when the federal investigation formally closes — with or without charges — Hunter Biden’s conduct will remain under scrutiny thanks to the House Oversight inquiry led by Republican James Comer. On Thursday, former CIA deputy director Michael Morell revealed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when he was serving as an adviser to the 2020 Biden campaign, reached out to the CIA after the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop were published in the New York Post. Morell claims that Blinken’s contact helped spur a letter from former intelligence officials claiming that Post story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
For months now, Biden and his legal team have also been making efforts to wrap up the tax investigation. TheWashington Post reports that Biden’s friend the attorney Kevin Morris has loaned him $1 million to pay back taxes. The end to the investigation could be a boon for the president’s son, as prosecutors for lying when purchasing a firearm form are pretty rare and up to the prosecutor’s discretion.