Prosecutors are close to a final decision on whether to charge Hunter Biden with tax and gun crimes following a meeting last week between the first son’s lawyers and Justice Department officials.
Hunter’s attorneys met in Washington with prosecutors from the office of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss to discuss the investigation, which has stretched for more than four years across two administrations.
Sources close to the investigation told The Washington Post that Weiss is nearly ready to announce whether his office will seek an indictment on felony and misdemeanor tax charges and lying on a federal gun purchasing form — or let the whole thing side.
The news comes after FBI investigators reportedly expressed “growing frustration” over the pace of the inquiry, and an IRS whistleblower came forward to allege Hunter has received “preferential treatment” under the auspices of Attorney General Merrick Garland.
On Tuesday, Garland referred reporters to Weiss’ office for questions about the investigation and stood by his past testimony to Congress that there were no political considerations delaying the Hunter probe.
The AG apparently did not attend the meeting with Hunter’s attorneys and the Delaware prosecutor.
It is also unclear how Hunter’s abandoned laptop has aided the probe after the FBI seized its hard drive in late 2019.
President Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of his son’s overseas business affairs that have led to the federal inquiry. He launched his 2024 re-election campaign last month.
Messages recovered from the laptop indicate that Hunter apparently picked up the tab for various family expenses, and even gave as much as half his earnings to his father.
“I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years,” he told his daughter Naomi in one January 2019 message. “It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike pop, I won’t make you give me half your salary.”
In an Arkansas court on Monday, Hunter pleaded that he could barely keep up with his $20,000-per-month child support payments for his out-of-wedlock daughter, as his lawyers claimed he “stayed on a cot in his dad’s room in Dublin” during a recent presidential visit to Ireland.
Hunter has denied that his multimillion-dollar business ventures abroad were unlawful or inappropriate.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” the first son said in a December 2020 statement acknowledging the federal tax investigation.
Despite the potential indictment, Hunter has remained at his father’s side in recent weeks — including on the Ireland visit, where Biden told his son to stand up and declared he was “proud” of him.
Federal investigators launched the Hunter tax probe in 2018 to uncover any violations of tax and money laundering laws stemming from the first son’s international business deals with Chinese and Ukrainian entities.
Around the same time, a separate firearm probe was initiated after Hunter’s sister-in-law-turned-lover, Hallie Biden, threw away his handgun — leading to a search by Secret Service agents for the weapon and a disclosure of its sale to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
An October 2018 gun purchase form revealed Hunter answered “no” when asked: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Felony charges for lying on a gun form have been pursued in other federal cases — including against rapper Kodak Black, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2019 for lying to purchase four guns at a store in Miami.
Hunter was discharged from the Navy Reserve in 2013 following a positive test for cocaine. He admitted in his memoir “Beautiful Things” that he was abusing crack at the time of the lost gun fiasco.