Hunter Biden Is Under Federal Investigation
By: JONATHAN TURLEY
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Hunter Biden confirmed yesterday that he is indeed under investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Delaware for possible tax violations. For years, the media has maintained a virtual blackout on Hunter Biden stories even as some of us noted that a 2019 subpoena indicated an active criminal investigation. Apparently, there was no way to "say this nicely" so the media said virtually nothing at all. The son of the incoming president will now be investigated by his father's Justice Department. In the meantime, many in the media are still struggling with the journalistic version of the denial stage in the Kubler-Ross stages of grieving. The move during the lame duck period could reflect a desire to iron plate the investigation before the arrival of a Biden Justice Department. It will certainly add a new complication to any already difficult situation with a pending Special Counsel investigation.
Reports indicate that Joe Biden is not implicated and that Hunter Biden may be either a "target" or a "subject."
Hunter Biden stated "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."
Weirdly, he insisted that he only learned of the investigation on Tuesday when his lawyer was advised of the investigation by federal prosecutors. He was aware of a subpoena in 2019 over his laptop. Before the election, neither Hunter nor Joe Biden would admit that the laptop and its emails were authentic. In the meantime, most media refused to seriously cover the story and NBC actually debunked different documents shortly before the election. Some of us noted at the time that such subpoenas are not issued for recreation and that Biden could be implicated in a federal criminal investigation.
It is not known what or who is the focus of investigation beyond Hunter Biden being either a target or a subject. What was striking about the laptop emails was the discussion of millions in fees or payments with a dangerous level of informality and fluidity. It is not clear if those transactions occurred and whether some of the referenced payments or gifts (including a diamond from a Chinese source) are being examined by the federal investigators. It appears that this investigation has been going on for at least two years.
Notably, in October, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in asking the FBI to resist pressure to investigate Hunter Biden.
The Justice Department ordinarily waits until after election for major indictments or moves that might impact the election. The move this week is consistent with the lame duck strategy that I discussed after the election where prosecutors need to move before a Biden Justice Department take hold of such pending cases:
The danger for prosecutors is greater because the Biden administration can rely on a supportive media. The only people more embarrassed by allegations of criminal conduct in the Hunter Biden investigation would be media members who have repeatedly assured the public that there is nothing to investigate. If these investigations move forward with possible criminal charges related to Biden or his family, there may even be a question of whether the current or next attorney general should establish a special counsel.
After that column, Durham was made a special counsel and now Delaware is formally moving to cement its own investigation during the lame duck period. Both investigation now leave the incoming Biden Administration in a muddle.
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The story that was kept under wraps until after the election and now gets released by the Biden team!
New York Post vindicated!
NBC shamed!
Trump and his supporters are off topic
No pictures or cartoons
Joe Biden is not the one under investigation here. Why would an investigation into possible tax fraud by his son be at all relevant? Trump himself is being investigated for tax fraud, I would think that would be more relevant than his opponents son, but no, Trump loyalists will only see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear, facts and reality be damned.
Perhaps he should be. Who do you think "the big guy" was in Hunter's email exchanges while Joe was VP? Santa Claus?
How many presidents had their sons under criminal investigation?
Would the president-elect object to a special Counsel investigation?
Too bad no pictures. I have the perfect meme for that one............LOL
I can only imagine, but we must be fair!
Bottom line is Hunter will walk!
Ya, I'm getting the same sickening feeling.
It's rather hilarious that some here are already claiming he's guilty and will walk because of a dirty justice department before they've actually seen any evidence or anything illegal has been proved. Funny how they circle their wagons around any Republican who is under investigation and reject any "alleged" misconduct as partisan bullshit, but when it's a Democrat they're already sharpening the guillotine before they even know what the Democrat may be guilty of. They are no doubt the same dumb shits who fantasize about Democrats eating babies or some invisible "deep state" with exactly zero evidence.
Hilarious?
"Fox News reported that, according to a “well-placed government source,” Hunter Biden is a “subject/target” of the grand-jury investigation. Fox also cited multiple sources who said the investigation involved Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from the Treasury Department flagging transactions involving “China and other foreign nations.” The centrality of SAR’s to the probe suggests a money-laundering component is involved.
In federal grand-jury investigations, suspects are classified as one of three things: a “target,” a “subject,” or a “witness.” A “target” is someone who has a high probability of being charged, while a “subject” is a person whose conduct is the subject of the grand jury’s inquiry, indicating he might or might not be charged depending on the investigation’s outcome. Those classified as witnesses are not suspected of criminal conduct, but could have information pertinent to the case."
And they admitted keeping it "covert".
What do you call that again?
The policy at the FBI and Department of Justice!
We wouldn't want to effect the election or confirm a factual news story from the New York Post, would we?
"The liberal mainstream media largely ignored the ongoing Hunter Biden scandal until after his father won the presidential election — and media watchdogs feel it was a strategic move to help Joe Biden defeat President Trump.
“The news media helped silence a story and alter the results of an election. They are probably laughing in newsrooms all around the country,” Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News.
In the final weeks of the campaign, there was an unprecedented media blackout of the explosive reporting from the New York Post that shed light on Hunter Biden's questionable business dealings overseas. It was even revealed through leaked recordings from Project Veritas that CNN president Jeff Zucker and CNN political director David Chalian urged staff to avoid the scandal, which involved a laptop allegedly belonging to the son of the president-elect and purportedly contained evidence of his dealings with Ukraine, among other things.
It is not clear whether the ongoing taxes probe is in any way connected to the laptop's contents.
On Wednesday, the Biden-Harris transition announced that the younger Biden's "tax affairs" were being investigated and suddenly CNN and MSNBC found time to cover the news.
The scandal that was once dismissed by members of the media as “too disgusting” to cover and a "baseless conspiracy theory" now appears to be newsworthy in the eyes of the networks' decision-makers.
The Hill media columnist and Fox News contributor Joe Concha said the New York Post is presumably angry that it was accused of “peddling Russian disinformation.”
Jut in: The FDA finally, at long last voted to recommend authorizing the vaccine. Now we got to wait for these bureaucrats authorize it.