December 9, Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Biden, issued a statement saying that federal prosecutors are conducting a tax investigation against him. On December 14, the U.S. Electoral College will hold an official vote.
After the news came out, the U.S. media immediately revealed the relevant details: Hunter’s tax investigation began as early as 2018. The investigation involved a number of financial issues, including whether Hunter violated tax and money laundering laws in overseas business dealings.
At the same time, the American media also talked about Hunter’s personal problems of long-term drug and alcohol abuse, as well as Hunter’s “computer repair scandal” and “illegitimate child scandal”.
The Electoral College poll is about to begin, and Hunter is out of order again.
According to CNBC on the 9th, Hunter wrote in a statement on the same day, “Yesterday, I first learned that the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in Delaware notified my legal counsel that they were conducting a tax investigation into me. I will take this investigation very seriously, and I believe that a professional and objective review will prove that I have handled the relevant matters legally and properly, including my dealings with professional tax consultants.”
The Biden transition team also responded to the matter that day. The team issued a statement saying, “President-elect Biden is very proud of his son. Hunter has gone through many serious challenges, including the vicious personal attacks in recent months, but he will only become stronger.”
The time revealed by the Hunt investigation is just five days before the voting of the U.S. electoral college. It is not clear whether Hunter’s incident will have an impact on the Electoral College vote.
According to public information, the U.S. Electoral College will meet with Washington, D.C., in state capitals on December 14 to formally vote for the next President and Vice President of the United States. At present, according to US media, Biden and Trump have 306 and 232 electoral votes respectively.
However, according to CNN, people familiar with the matter revealed that in fact, in the past few months of the U.S. election, the investigation has been largely suspended due to concerns about the impact of the election. Biden is not implicated in this. At present, the U.S. election has ended, and the investigation has begun to be actively carried out.
Two people familiar with the matter told CNN that U.S. investigators are investigating multiple financial issues of Hunter, including whether Hunter and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in their overseas travel.
People familiar with the matter also revealed that the investigation had begun as early as 2018, when William Barr had not yet become the U.S. Attorney General. At present, federal prosecutors in Delaware are working with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to prepare for public action, such as issuing subpoenas and seeking conversations.
“Computer Repair Storm” and “Illegitimate Child Scandal”
In October this year, as the U.S. election entered the heat, a big news about Hunter in the New York Post caused a huge whirlpool of public opinion. At that time, President-elect Biden of the United States was also involved.
According to the New York Post, the owner of a computer repair shop in Delaware revealed that Hunter went to his store to repair the computer in 2019, but did not retrieve the computer and hard disk later. Subsequently, a large number of private documents in Hunter’s hard disk were leaked, including a large number of Hunter’s commercial documents and his personal privacy information.
In December 2019, the FBI confiscated a computer and hard disk allegedly Hunter. The repair shop owner also copied a hard disk file and gave it to Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the report said.
However, CNN said that it is not clear whether the content of the computer hard disk, including the commercial documents, is related to the local federal investigation conducted.
Hunter, who has a long history of alcohol and drug abuse, is often criticized by the outside world. The CNBC report mentioned that Hunter has long struggled with drug addiction and other personal problems, such as his “illegitimate child scandal”.
Earlier this year, Hunter faced court charges for refusing to disclose his financial situation to a woman in Arkansas. The woman’s name is Lunden Roberts. She claims to have given birth to Hunter’s child, but Hunter is unwilling to bear the related maintenance.
Roberts’ lawyer asked Hunt to disclose his financial documents, including his source of income, tax returns and the company he owns.
Hunter initially claimed that he had never had sex with Roberts. But later DNA identifications showed that Hunter was indeed the father of the child. The New York Post also revealed that Roberts is a dancer in a club in Washington, D.C., where Hunter once visited.
