A federal subpoena seeking various documents from Hunter Biden requested information related to at least two dozen entities. One of them is the Ukraine gas company Burisma, according to a source close to the Justice Department tax investigation of Hunter Biden, who is President-elect Joe Biden’s son.
The wide swath of the subpoena, which was issued last week, emphasizes the wide-angle federal prosecutors are trying as they look at Biden’s finances and many international business dealings.
Hunter Biden’s connections to Burisma significantly have long affected the political aspirations of Joe Biden. It is not clear at this time whether Hunter Biden’s work at Burisma is a significant part of the federal investigation. Or, it could be that federal prosecutors are looking for more information about all sources of his income in the past several years.
Hunter Biden Confirms His Taxes Are Under Federal Investigation
The younger Biden confirmed last week that his federal taxes are being investigated. The revelation comes at a precarious time for Joe Biden, who is filling out his cabinet and soon deciding who he wants to run the Justice Department. It is the same department overseeing the federal investigation into Hunter Biden.
In addition to the request regarding Burisma, the subpoena also is asking for information on Biden’s dealings in China and many other financial transactions.
The federal probe was launched two years ago, the year before Joe Biden announced he was running for president. At one time in the investigation, prosecutors also looked at several money laundering offenses.
Hunter Biden said he only found out about the investigation last week. The younger Biden became part of the Burisma board in 2014 when his father was helping the Obama administration with its foreign policy with Ukraine. President Trump has long argued that Biden’s work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration’s Ukraine policies.
Senate Republicans stated in early 2020 that the appointment could have been a conflict of interest but did not offer evidence that any foreign policies were affected by the younger Biden’s work.
Joe Biden is not believed to be part of the investigation. He has not discussed the merits of the federal investigation, only saying that he is proud of his son.
Information Has Been Collected for Months On Hunter Biden Matter
In Pittsburgh, the US Attorney’s office has been gathering information on Hunter Biden from Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and others as part of DOJ’s process to obtain information about Ukraine. This included document s that Giuliani wanted to give to federal prosecutors collected in Ukraine about both Bidens.
In the announcement of that process in February, Attorney General Barr said DOJ needed to be cautious about information coming out of Ukraine. He noted many agendas in the country, and it is unwise to take any information from Ukraine at face value.
Guiliani was a significant character when the US House voted to impeach Trump, which centered on Trump’s work with Ukraine’s president and whether he abused the presidency by attempting to investigate the Bidens. Guiliani encouraged federal officials to conduct the investigations and has been talking about corruption allegations against both Bidens.
Joe Biden’s DOJ Has Hunter Biden Problem
The federal investigation into Joe Biden’s son has fueled debate inside the DOJ about the steps Biden’s attorney general will need to take to insulate the Department of Justice from any appearance of political bias.
Biden’s yet-unnamed AG will also need to work through difficult questions about dealing with lingering federal probes of President Trump and his associates. They also will need to deal with the landmines left by the outgoing Trump administration, such as a special counsel probe looking at who started the Trump-Russia investigation.
In media interviews, former DOJ officials say that not every one of Biden’s possible AG’s has the skills to handle these problematic dynamics. They also say Biden’s choice may want to think about changing how DOJ handles politically explosive cases. The pick needs to have the credibility to handle this task.
One DOJ insider said Biden should pretend this situation is Watergate. Find an AG that everyone says has unimpeachable integrity, one whose decisions will not be second-guessed.
One possible remedy is to use special counsels to insulate politically sensitive cases from the department. That might allow the Biden administration to say it is doing all it can to ensure that law enforcement decisions are being shielded from politics.
Others say that such extraordinary measures should be used rarely in DOJ. They feel that most prosecutions and investigations should be handled in regular DOJ channels. Many people in the department think investigations should happen with no regard to politics, so special counsel appointments should rarely be needed.
Geoffrey Nathan Comments On Hunter Biden Situation
Attorney Geoffrey Nathan recently commented about the Hunter Biden case on One America News.
According to Attorney Nathan, Hunter Biden has received a target letter from DOJ that says the department wants to talk to you about an investigation, probably involving taxes and money laundering.
‘The letter usually says, if we don’t hear from you, we will continue our investigation. By his recent media statements, Hunter Biden indicates he has received a target letter,’ Nathan noted.
Nathan added that the DOJ could not send out a target letter for no reason. ‘The investigation is predicated on facts, there must be a basis for the investigation. You must have certain things to open a federal investigation. They may try to get Hunter to cop to some type of tax offense. If not, he’ll have his door knocked down, and he’ll be taken out in handcuffs eventually.’
Regarding sentencing, if Biden is convicted, Nathan said it hinges on
how much money is involved. It depends if it was a sophisticated tax evasion process or only not reporting income. Nathan estimates Hunter Biden might be facing six months in prison. But if the alleged crime is more than just not reporting income, the sentence could be years.
Of course, Biden has not yet been charged with any crime. Any discussion about sentencing would be just speculation if he were charged and convicted of a federal crime.
References
- What We Know About the Hunter Biden Subpoena. Accessed at https://www.al.com/news/2020/12/what-we-know-about-the-hunter-biden-subpoena.html
- Hunter Probe Complicates Joe Biden’s Attorney General Pick. Accessed at https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/11/hunter-probe-complicates-joe-bidens-attorney-general-pick-444664