Hunter Biden wants to subpoena TRUMP: Attorneys want documents from ex-president and officials including Bill Barr on start of investigation into him and their ‘incessant, improper and partisan pressure’
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter asked a federal court on Wednesday to subpoena documents from former President Donald Trump and senior Justice Department officials as part of his defense against gun charges.
In their filing, his lawyers allege that the former president exerted political pressure for a criminal investigation into him.
Biden, 53, pleaded not guilty last month to violating the law against drug users who own guns when he bought a revolver in 2018.
He has acknowledged that he was struggling with addiction at the time.
On Wednesday, 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.
Hunter Biden, 53, is accused of violating laws against drug users owning guns when he bought a revolver in 2018. His defense team took a bold step on Wednesday
Lawyers have asked a federal court for permission to subpoena documents from former President Donald Trump and senior Justice Department officials as part of Biden’s defense
His lawyers cited public reporting alleging that Trump had exerted “relentless, inappropriate and partisan pressure” on his three officials.
The subpoena to Trump includes 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.”
This move is another blockbuster in a case that has already generated a lot of attention.
It is the first-ever criminal prosecution against the child of a sitting US president.
But the documents filed Wednesday show how his defense is starting 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.
In 2020, Trump accused his then-attorney general of failing to make public the details of the federal tax investigation into his election opponent’s son.
The subpoena to Trump includes a demand for: ‘Any personal documents (including diaries, journals, memoirs, memoranda or notes) from the relevant period discussing or concerning Hunter Biden’
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 dismisses the investigation as politically motivated.
The criminal investigation into Hunter Biden began in 2018, when Trump was in office.
It started with an investigation into his income taxes and foreign business dealings, but expanded to include the purchase of a gun in 2018.
Federal prosecutors accuse him of making two false statements, saying he was not addicted to or using illegal drugs, in paperwork to complete the purchase.