Staff Reports
The ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes has moved on to a new phase. In California, lawyers led by special counsel David Weiss are stepping up their work. A grand jury in Los Angeles has started to send subpoenas to people who have business ties to Hunter Biden. This includes the President's brother, James Biden. This new development comes after a private meeting with U.S. attorney Martin Estrada, who said that Weiss had called him in September for unknown reasons.
Early reports from IRS informants hinted that Hunter Biden might be charged with tax crimes that happened between 2016 and 2019. But problems with California's authority had made it hard to pursue these charges in the past. In order to be able to indict Hunter Biden outside of Delaware as special counsel, Weiss had trouble getting the required jurisdictional expansion.
Even though Estrada and others tried to work together in California, the relationship did not work out. The Justice Department told Weiss that he couldn't charge Hunter Biden outside of Delaware, but he said he thought he could have gone ahead with an arrest if he had the final say. However, sources say that no charges were brought because Weiss did not have the power to do so.
New: Special counsel David Weiss's investigation of Hunter Biden appears to be entering a new phase with grand jury activity in California.
Weiss had called the US attorney there in Sept, and had previously conducted interviews in LA on the tax issue.https://t.co/p4ocv5F4oV— Sarah Bedford (@sarahcbedford) November 16, 2023
Weiss's investigation team had done work in the Los Angeles area before, which is where Hunter Biden lives. In April 2021, IRS agents used a conference room in the office of the U.S. attorney in California to talk to Hunter Biden's accountant about tax plans. Lawyers for both Hunter Biden and James Biden have not said anything about the latest grand jury proceedings.
Weiss's move to keep looking into the tax case is significant because it came after a plea deal fell through earlier in the summer. At the same time, Hunter Biden's lawyers are trying to make him look like he is a victim of political pressure. Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's lawyer, has asked for documents related to former President Donald Trump and other former Justice Department officials. She wants to build a defense around the claim that the Trump administration started a biased investigation against Hunter Biden to hurt his father's reputation.
Lowell says that Weiss broke the plea deal and went after separate gun charges in Delaware because Republican lawmakers were putting pressure on him because of the IRS leak testimony. Recent events have made the investigation more intense, which has caught the attention of both liberal and conservative onlookers.
