The Feds Reportedly Have Enough to Charge Hunter Biden

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Federal agents investigating Hunter Biden believe they have enough evidence to charge him with lying on his taxes and on an application to purchase a gun, according to the Washington Post.

But as the Post notes, it’s Justice Department prosecutors, not federal agents, who will determine whether charges are filed — and it’s not clear what they’re thinking. The decision will ultimately rest with David C. Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by Donald Trump in 2017.

One possible tax charge would likely stem from Biden’s failure to declare income related to his nebulous lobbying work in Ukraine and China. An investigation into his taxes has been ongoing for many years; as the New York Times reported earlier this year, that probe took on a broader scope during the Trump years. Biden made a $2 million tax payment earlier this year that he might have hoped would forestall any charges.

The possible gun charge involves Biden’s answer on a federal firearms-licensing form that asks if the applicant is “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.” He reportedly answered “no” when purchasing a firearm in 2018 despite having chronicled his addiction to crack cocaine. The Post notes that it is “relatively rare” for such gun cases to be prosecuted and that prosecutors have wide discretion on whether to pursue them.

In a statement to the Post, Biden’s lawyer Chris Clark focused on the confidentiality of the ongoing probe. “It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one,” he said in a statement.

Given Biden’s connection to his father’s administration, the matter is obviously politically fraught, and it is unlikely that any charges would be filed before the midterm elections. Attorney General Merrick Garland has made assurances that there will be no political interference in the case.

Biden’s porn- and email-filled laptop has become a right-wing obsession since a computer technician handed it over to political operatives in 2020. But while conservatives have pushed the unfounded claim that Biden was involved in a kickback scheme involving the Ukrainian company Burisma, with his father on the take, he is being investigated for more pedestrian — if still serious — conduct.