US President Joe Biden’s son has been struggling with legal problems for some time. Republicans keep attacking Hunter Biden. Now the US Attorney General is responding.
Washington – The legal problems for Joe Biden’s son Hunter are coming to a head dramatically and are becoming an increasing political burden for the US President. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in Washington on Friday that he had appointed a special prosecutor to investigate Hunter Biden.
In addition, an agreement between the 53-year-old and the public prosecutor investigating him recently fell through, making a court case against the president’s son more likely. All of this comes in the midst of Joe Biden’s campaign for a second term and a time of highly charged political sentiment in the US regarding the country’s justice system.
Additional powers for David Weiss
Investigations against Hunter Biden have been ongoing for several years, including with a view to possible tax offenses. Attorney David Weiss of the state of Delaware had previously led the investigation and is now given additional powers as a special counsel. Among other things, he can use it to advance research beyond Delaware.
Garland said Weiss informed him Tuesday that “he believes the investigation has reached a stage where he should continue his work as a special counsel.” “I have come to the conclusion that it is in the public interest to appoint him as a special counsel,” the Attorney General said.
In June, the public prosecutor’s office in Delaware published formal allegations against the president’s son: According to this, Hunter Biden’s taxable income in 2017 and 2018 was more than 1.5 million US dollars (around 1.37 million euros). However, he failed to pay federal income taxes of more than $100,000 each year on time.
Was there a questionable deal?
Prosecutors also charged Hunter Biden with illegal possession of a firearm in 2018. When buying the gun, he concealed his drug addiction. As a drug user, he shouldn’t have bought a gun. Hunter Biden himself published his long-standing drug addiction in a book in 2021.
Parallel to the publication of the allegations against Hunter Biden, the Delaware public prosecutor’s office also published a possible agreement between the two sides in June: Hunter Biden had agreed to plead guilty to the tax offenses and to an agreement with certain people to the weapons offense It was said at the time that conditions had to be entered into in order to avert a process. A court should have approved any deal of this kind. However, at a hearing on the matter at the end of July, a judge objected to the agreement and did not approve it for the time being. Instead, both sides should renegotiate.
That didn’t lead to success. “After the hearing, the parties continued negotiations but reached an impasse,” Weiss court documents released Friday said. A process is therefore appropriate.
Politically delicate situation
Hunter Biden and his lawyers may have hoped that the planned deal with prosecutors would close the case quickly and avoid a court hearing. Instead, the investigations against the 53-year-old are now expanding.
For the son of an incumbent US President to be prosecuted for multiple federal misdemeanors is in itself highly unusual – if not unprecedented. And it’s politically sensitive. This is all the more true in these times: Democrat Joe Biden wants to run for a second term in the 2024 election. His son has been the target of political attacks from Republicans for years, especially from ex-President Donald Trump. He raised allegations of corruption against Hunter Biden in connection with deals in Ukraine and China. In Congress, Republicans have been pushing ahead with investigations into Hunter Biden for some time.
Republicans: Two-tier justice system
Three charges have been brought against Trump in the past few months for various allegations. Trump is facing trials in all cases – a fourth indictment could follow soon. Several Republicans have therefore complained in the past few weeks that there is a two-tier judicial system in the USA in which Trump is being treated with all severity, while Hunter Biden is to be spared through a deal with the public prosecutor’s office.
In view of this political target, Garland may have decided to appoint a special counsel. The minister had previously used special investigators in sensitive cases – for example to outsource the investigations into Trump. The minister also hired a special counsel to investigate Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents from his time as vice president. Garland was proposed as Attorney General by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate. dpa
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