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Prosecutors on Tuesday made short work of Hunter Biden's request to subpoena documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials in the gun case brought against him. “His motion is meritless and should be denied,” they wrote in their response. Biden, 53, pleaded not guilty in October to violating laws against drug users owning guns when he bought a revolver in 2018.
Last month, his legal team filed papers in Delaware federal court requesting subpoenas for Trump, his attorney general Bill Barr and two other former senior Justice Department figures, Richard Donoghue and Jeffrey Rosen. They want documents, including journal entries, discussing Hunter Biden. as part of the defense that he was the victim of political interference. They say Biden was the victim of “certain instances that appear to suggest relentless, inappropriate and partisan pressure was applied.”
In their response, prosecutors said: “His charges and subpoena requests focus on likely inadmissible, far-reaching and non-specific categories of documents concerning the actions and motives of individuals who did not make the relevant prosecutorial decision in his case.” The investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes and a gun purchase began in 2018, when Trump was president. However, prosecutor Leo Wise pointed out in his response that charges were not filed until this year. An 'uncomfortable truth', he called it.
The subpoena to Trump included a demand for: “All personal documents (including diaries, diaries, memoirs, memoranda or notes) from the relevant period discussing or concerning Hunter Biden, including, but not limited to, references to formal or informal decision , discussion or request to investigate or prosecute Hunter Biden.” The move represented another blockbuster twist in a case that has already generated significant news coverage. It is the first-ever criminal prosecution against the child of a sitting US president. But the documents filed last month showed how his defense was beginning to take shape.
'Mr. Biden is seeking specific information from three former DOJ officials and the former president that goes to the heart of his defense that this may be a vindictive or selective prosecution stemming from a relentless pressure campaign that began during the last administration in violation of the demands from Mr Biden. Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution,” his lawyers wrote to the judge. Barr revealed in his memoir how he became irritated with Trump for pushing him over the status of the investigation into Hunter Biden.
And in 2020, after Trump lost the election to Hunter's father, then-President berated Barr for not disclosing the existence of the investigation before Election Day. He said Barr was a “major disappointment” in a series of tweets in which he said the revelation would have given Republicans a boost in the election.
The president's troubled son has long been the target of attacks from Trump and his allies in Congress. They accuse him of corrupt business practices and have tried to link his father to his activities. The allegations are at the heart of an impeachment inquiry led by Republicans in the House of Representatives. The White House dismissed the investigation as politically motivated.
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