Lawyers for Hunter Biden are set to meet with Department of Justice (DOJ) officials next week to discuss the criminal inquiry into the president’s adult son, according to a new report.
This meeting, requested by Biden’s legal team, is expected to include Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss and at least one senior DOJ official, sources told The Wall Street Journal. The news outlet noted it is routine for the DOJ to approve requests from defense lawyers to receive updates on criminal investigations and to present their view on evidence gathered.
As part of the probe that has reportedly been going on since 2018, FBI and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigators have been looking into Biden’s foreign business dealings, tax affairs, and more. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are conducting their own investigations into Hunter Biden and the rest of President Joe Biden’s family.
Although Hunter Biden has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing in the criminal investigation, The Washington Post reported in October that federal agents believed they had sufficient evidence to charge the younger Biden with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase, but a decision to file charges would be left up to Weiss.
The U.S. attorney has remained silent, at least publicly, about the progress of his inquiry.
Last week, an IRS supervisor reached out to top lawmakers, seeking to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress about a high-profile investigation, which has been identified as the Hunter Biden probe.
Mark Lytle, the IRS official’s lawyer, said his client has already made disclosures to multiple inspectors general including “examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions” and claims that “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.” Lytle told CBS News that his client has emails and other communications to back up his disclosures.
The senior official referenced by Lytle in his letter to Congress is Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to the New York Post. Garland spoke briefly about the inquiry during congressional testimony early last month. “I pledged not to interfere with that investigation and I have carried through on my pledge,” Garland testified under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
In response, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Chris Clark, said the IRS official “appears” to have committed a crime. “It is a felony for an IRS agent to improperly disclose information about an ongoing tax investigation,” Clark said in a statement reported by NBC News.
Lytle told Fox News the statement was “unfortunate,” but stressed that his client is not backing down. “Attacks like this are kind of what he was worried about, but he wants to come forward and tell the truth,” he said.
Sources told NBC News there is also “growing frustration” in the FBI over a lack of charges in the inquiry as prosecutors have considered charging the younger Biden with three tax crimes and one false statement crime related to a 2018 firearm purchase at a time when he was struggling with a drug addiction.