The Justice Department has been condemned by a former Manhattan federal prosecutor for the time it takes to investigate Hunter Biden, describing the five-year investigation as “ridiculous.”
Elie Honig, who now works as a senior legal analyst for CNN, said Monday the lack of progress was absurd.
The DOJ has been investigating Joe Biden’s 53-year-old son for possible violations of tax and money laundering laws related to his business dealings in Ukraine, China and elsewhere.
The department is also investigating whether he lied about a 2018 gun license application, in which he confirmed he was not using drugs.
Honig said the seemingly endless investigation was “beyond anything” he’s ever seen.
Elie Honig, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor, said it was “ridiculous” that the “five-week” investigation into Hunter Biden’s gun license had lasted five years
Hunter Biden, now 53, stated on a 2018 gun license application that he was not using drugs at the time
“This is ridiculous,” he said.
“This has been pending, according to our reporting at CNN, since 2018 — five years.”
Honig said he was shocked that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing the investigation, was taking so long to reach a decision on the charges.
“This study is not the laptop, by the way,” Honig said.
“This investigation is a tax issue: Did Hunter Biden declare his income? And some kind of obscure gun law: did he own a gun while addicted to drugs, which is illegal under federal law, did he lie about it?
‘But five years? I mean, that’s a five-week study. And this includes the Trump administration and the Biden administration.”
He added, “Someone needs to call about this case. I don’t know what’s going on. It goes beyond anything I’ve seen before.’
Hunter Biden’s lawyers point to one High Council decision last summer that gave Americans a broad right to carry firearms in public.
That could be a good legal game, but it seems to contradict the president’s own view of the conservative-minded court’s 6-3 ruling.
Hunter Biden lawyers have tried to discourage prosecutors from bringing a gun-related charge against their client based on an alleged false statement on a 2018 form in which he denied being addicted to drugs
The gun ruling “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution and should deeply concern us all,” Biden said last year.
Conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the opinion, saying it protects “an individual’s right to carry a gun for self-defense outside the home.”
President Biden has repeatedly called for new gun restrictions following a spate of mass shootings, including calling for renewal of the assault weapons ban.
Hunter Biden’s defense team, including Chris Clark, has argued that a government weapons indictment could be dismissed on appeal in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the New York Times reported earlier this month.
The pro-gun firearms policy coalition retweeted the story, marking Biden’s quote about the statement as an affront to “common sense.”
Federal authorities began that aspect of the investigation when Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s widow, allegedly threw a gun into a dumpster.
A 2022 Supreme Court ruling that could offer a legal opening has been drafted by Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas
U.S. attorney David C. Weiss, a Trump appointee, is overseeing the investigation
Don’t take your guns into town: A Supreme Court ruling last summer that established a broad right for Americans to carry firearms in public. Hunter had an altercation with Hallie Biden, who reportedly threw his firearm into a dumpster in 2018, beginning part of the current investigation
The FBI reportedly began investigating the .38 caliber handgun after his former girlfriend Hallie Biden, Beau Biden’s former widow, allegedly tossed it in a dumpster.
Angry texts about the incident were found on Hunter’s infamous laptop.
Hunter could face a possible charge of false statements regarding the form required for gun buyers.
His team has in the past accused prosecutors of alleged leaks related to the case.
On his 2018 form, Hunter checked “no” when asked if he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotics, or other controlled substance?”
He has since admitted in his autobiography that he was using drugs at the time.