U.S. Department of Justice officials deliberately delayed an investigation into Hunter Biden’s potential tax law violations and sketchy overseas business dealings because of the effect it could have on the presidential election, according to a Politico report.
Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss allegedly postponed allowing prosecutors to obtain search warrants and issue grand jury subpoenas last summer, after facing pressure from other officials who feared the investigation’s influence on the 2020 presidential election and now-President Joe Biden’s campaign.
“They advised [him] to avoid taking any actions that could alert the public to the existence of the case in the middle of a presidential election,” reported Politico, one of the many corporate media outlets that brushed off the possibility of any wrongdoing by Hunter despite the discovery of his incriminating laptop.
This you? https://t.co/ll3rtNboMo pic.twitter.com/c4gw6USV70
— Extremely Careless (@Shanghaibeast) July 16, 2021
One person “involved in the discussions” told Politico that it was “to [Weiss’s] credit, [that] he listened.”
“It was a close call,” the person said. “That case has way more credibility now.”
Weiss first assumed his position as a U.S. attorney in 2017 after former President Donald Trump nominated him. As noted by Politico, the nomination was based on “the recommendation of Delaware’s two Democratic senators, who both praised the choice.” The attorney has deep ties, previously engaging and even leading a long list of investigations in President Biden’s home state of Delaware and on the national level, even connected to the infamous Ukrainian energy firm Burisma with which Hunter Biden was involved.
Shortly after his nomination, Weiss began to explore Hunter’s roguish business dealings with Chinese businessmen possibly linked to the communist regime. The probe originally focused on “possible money laundering and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” but later shifted to questioning “whether [Hunter] had paid taxes on all of his income.”
When the time came for more formal exploratory measures into Hunter’s dealings, however, Weiss declined to take any drastic actions “that were likely to make the existence of the Hunter Biden probe public” because he feared political scrutiny and giving “many of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters” what they were looking for.
“Concerns about affecting the presidential election loomed large when Weiss entertained arguments about advancing the probe, according to the person involved in the discussions. No matter what he did, the decision was sure to come under scrutiny for signs of politicization,” Politico reported.
Shortly before Election Day, prosecutors and then-Attorney General Bill Barr worked together to keep the investigation from going fully public and decided not to appoint a special investigator for the case.
“The probe did not gain widespread attention outside of the conservative media sphere until several weeks after the presidential election, when Hunter Biden released a statement saying Weiss’s office had notified him of it,” noted Politico.
Hunter was quick to hire a defense attorney from legal firm Latham & Watkins in December, just one month before his dad appointed another partner from the same firm, Nicholas McQuaid, to temporarily run the Criminal Division of the Justice Department. Despite his previous work on cases with Hunter’s attorney, it is still unclear if McQuaid signed a waiver or recused himself from overseeing the investigation into Hunter.
The DOJ’s two standards of justice, in action. https://t.co/db3gumEVWj
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) July 16, 2021
DOJ’s only purpose anymore is to protect the ruling regime’s friends and persecute the regime’s political enemies. It is corrupt and unsalvageable. https://t.co/A9VACBt4hN
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 16, 2021
Source: The Federalist
