HAccording to a media report, Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, could be charged with tax offenses and false information in connection with the purchase of a weapon. According to the Washington Post, investigators have gathered enough evidence. The next step, the newspaper quotes people familiar with the process, is for Delaware District Attorney David Weiss to decide whether to press charges. The prosecutor’s office is responsible for assessing whether the evidence is strong enough to possibly lead to a conviction. Weiss was nominated by Donald Trump in 2017.
In December 2020, shortly after Joe Biden won the presidential election, Hunter Biden said his tax affairs were under investigation. The investigations have been ongoing since 2018. He is “confident that a professional and objective review” will show that he acted “lawfully and appropriately”. Hunter Biden, 52, a lawyer and businessman, had done extensive dealings with foreign companies. From 2014 to 2019, for example, he was on the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
Central theme in Trump’s election campaign
Donald Trump made attacks on Hunter Biden a central theme of his 2020 campaign. In connection with Burisma, he accused Joe Biden of having put pressure on Kyiv as Vice President to prevent corruption investigations against the company and thus his son. The Biden family firmly denies these allegations. An investigation by Republicans in the Senate also found no evidence of undue influence. Should the allegations in this latest case be confirmed, however, it would put President Biden and the Democrats in trouble so close to the congressional elections in a month. Joe Biden has not yet commented on this.
According to the Washington Post, investigative authorities collected enough material about Hunter Biden months ago; now waiting for the decision of the public prosecutor’s office. This, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, weighs whether circumstances such as Hunter Biden’s well-known drug problems could exonerate him in a possible tax procedure. According to the Washington Post, given the heated atmosphere, Attorney General Merrick Garland has stressed that there will be no political or otherwise improper interference in the case. People familiar with the case said he hadn’t pressed prosecutor Weiss to make a quick decision either; the process, including investigations, often takes years. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor the investigative authorities nor Prosecutor Weiss wanted to comment on the case on Thursday.
A lawyer for Hunter Biden, when asked about the investigation by the newspaper, condemned the “crime” investigators committed when they released information about the ongoing case. He awaits an investigation by the Justice Department into the whistleblower, as well as prosecution. One is sure that the public prosecutor’s office works conscientiously and also takes into account the witnesses of the defense. She should “not be pressured, rushed and criticized” for doing her job.
Hunter Biden is the President’s second son. His mother, Neilia Hunter, and younger sister, Naomi, died in a car accident in 1972, and his older brother, Beau, died of complications from a brain tumor in 2015.
