Federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes heats up

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs has intensified in recent months.
• The probe began as early as 2018 and involves activities in foreign countries dating to when his father was still vice president.
• President Joe Biden has repeatedly vowed to not interfere in the investigation.

The federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs has intensified in recent weeks. Leading the investigation is the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware.

Sources said that a growing number of witnesses have appeared before a grand jury in recent months. They have been questioned about Hunter Biden’s financial activities while serving on the board of directors of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company. The witnesses were also asked about how Biden paid off his taxes in recent years.

Reportedly, prosecutors have not yet decided on whether criminal charges against President Joe Biden’s son are warranted. Hunter’s past drug abuse, which can serve to undermine a criminal case over his financial activities, has also been debated.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Chris Clark, did not respond to a request for comment.

President Biden has repeatedly promised to not interfere in the Justice Department’s investigation. U.S. Attorney Dan Weiss, a Trump appointee, is leading the tax probe.

In a December 2020 statement, Hunter said that he was confident that he had managed his tax affairs “legally and appropriately.”

During the 2020 presidential election campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden’s rivals, including then-President Donald Trump, used Hunter Biden’s connection with Burisma as well as a series of unsuccessful investment endeavors in China. Trump and his allies were unsuccessful in implicating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings as evidence of Biden family corruption.

“In retrospect, look, I think that it was poor judgment on my part,” Hunter Biden told ABC News Anchor Amy Robach in October 2019, regarding the impact of his business dealings on his father’s political career. “Is that I think that it was poor judgment because I don’t believe now, when I look back on it — I know that there was — did nothing wrong at all. However, was it poor judgment to be in the middle of something that is … a swamp in — in — in many ways? Yeah.”

The federal investigation is the first possible legal threat linked to Hunter’s overseas work.

Sources told ABC News that prosecutors in Delaware are probing the tax implications of Hunter Biden’s work in both China and Ukraine.

Source: AOL