Justice Department prosecutors have countered Hunter Biden's assertion that he is a target of selective prosecution fueled by pressure from Republicans.
In a Friday court filing, they argued that Biden is promoting a “conspiracy theory” to evade accountability for his purported violations of federal tax law.
“From this fairly unremarkable set of procedural events, the defendant concocts a conspiracy theory that the prosecution has ‘upped the ante’ to appease politicians who have absolutely nothing to do with the prosecution and are not even members of the current Executive Branch,” the legal team for Special Counsel David Weiss wrote in a filing.
The prosecutors highlighted that President Donald Trump is no longer in control of the executive branch. Furthermore, they emphasized that David Weiss was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was nominated by Hunter Biden's father, Joe Biden.
“Second, to state an obvious fact that the defendant continues to ignore, former President Trump is not the President of the United States. The defendant fails to explain how President Biden or the Attorney General, to whom the Special Counsel reports, or the Special Counsel himself, or his team of prosecutors, are acting at the direction of former President Trump or Congressional Republicans,” the court filing reads.
Weiss and his team of prosecutors detailed the tax charges against Hunter Biden, alleging that he failed to pay over $1 million in taxes for tax years 2016-19, despite having the income to fulfill his obligations. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to the tax charges in January and could face a maximum of 17 years in prison if convicted.
The Justice Department refuted Hunter Biden's assertions in a court filing last month that the indictment of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov undermines Weiss's criminal investigation. Smirnov is facing charges for providing false statements to the FBI, alleging that Hunter and Joe Biden accepted $10 million in bribes from Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky.
The prosecutors highlighted that while the defendant testified to Congress that the Special Counsel had undermined the impeachment inquiry conducted by House Republicans, he now argues to the Court that the Special Counsel is working on behalf of House Republicans.
Part of the impeachment inquiry is centered on the actions of David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, and the Justice Department's handling of the Hunter Biden case before Attorney General Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel in August.
Federal prosecutors filed additional responses to Hunter Biden’s legal arguments aiming to dismiss various counts of the tax indictment. This includes his claims that David Weiss’s appointment as special counsel is unlawful due to Weiss's employment with the DOJ.
