The White House and the Secret Service have issued statements dismissing reports that the agency intervened in a 2018 incident involving President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and Hallie Biden, the widow of Beau Biden.
Politico reported on Thursday that in October, 2018, Hunter and Hallie Biden, who were dating at the time, “were involved in a bizarre incident in which Hallie took Hunter’s gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone.”
A police report obtained by Politico shows that law enforcement in Delaware started to investigate, noting their concern due to the trash can’s location across the street from a high school.
Politico reports that “a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact.”
The Secret Service said in a statement to The Hill that the agency had “no involvement in this incident.”
An unidentified White House official told the Hill that President Biden, who did not have Secret Service protection at the time, was not involved and had no knowledge of the incident.
“President Biden did not have any knowledge of, or involvement in, the Secret Service’s alleged role in this incident, and neither he nor any family member was a protectee at that time,” the official said.
This incident reportedly occurred just weeks after the gun was purchased, according to copies of the Firearms Transaction Record obtained by Politico, which notes that he answered “no” on a question on the transaction record asking about prior drug use despite his publicly-acknowledged history of cocaine use, for which he was discharged from the Navy Reserve five years earlier.
The Blaze first reported the incident last October, but it didn’t gain wider attention until Politico reported on it this week.
The store’s general manager, Paula Janssen, told Politico that the Delaware State Police eventually came to retrieve the store’s security footage and to interview Janssen.
“We complied with the police and gave them whatever security footage we could,” she said.
The FBI, which was investigating Hunter Biden at the time over his taxes, also arrived at the scene, but the agency declined to comment to Politico.
The police questioned Hallie and eventually called Hunter to come to the scene, where they questioned him near the store’s loading area. The report states that Hunter told the officers that he used the gun for target practice. It also said that at one point, after two store employees who were described in the report as “Mexican males” walked past them, Hunter told one of the officers that the store employed suspicious people. And according to the report, when asked if he was referring to the two who had walked by, Hunter replied, “Yea, prolly illegal.”
The report also notes that when an officer asked Hunter if the gun had been used to commit a crime, he “became very agitated with me and asked me if I was intentionally trying to make him mad.”
After an officer asked if Hunter had been doing drugs or drinking heavily, Hunter said, “Listen, it isn’t like that. I think she believes I was gonna kill myself.”
The report also states that when asked if he called his father about the incident prior to his arrival at the scene, Hunter said, “I have never called my dad for anything.”
The gun was later returned by a man who frequently looks for recyclable items near the grocery store, according to Politico.
Source: Newmax
