Federal agents believe they have enough evidence to support charging Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, with tax crimes and making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a gun, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
It is now up to U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, to decide whether to prosecute Hunter on those charges, noted the Post, which cited people familiar with the investigation.
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The newspaper reported that federal agents “determined months ago they had assembled a viable criminal case against the younger Biden.”
In a statement to NBC News, Chris Clark, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, said: “It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one. Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has committed such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors.”
“As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense,” Clark said. “That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.”
Hunter revealed in late 2020 that Weiss was conducting a criminal probe into his tax affairs.
The Post in its report noted that the potential gun-related charge stems from Hunter’s October 2018 purchase of a handgun, which required him to fill out a federal form that asked whether he was a user of or addicted to narcotics. Hunter answered “no” to that question, despite being a user of crack cocaine at the time, according to a book that he later wrote.