US elections: Hunter Biden investigation derails transition

President-elect Joe Biden’s historically challenging transition to power is suddenly getting even more complicated.

A federal investigation into the finances of Biden’s son Hunter threatens to embolden Republicans in Congress, who have already shown little willingness to work with the incoming president or even acknowledge his decisive victory in last month’s election. Of course, it will complicate Senate confirmation hearings for Biden’s yet-to-be-appointed attorney general, who could ultimately oversee the investigation into the new president’s son.

It all raises the possibility of even deeper dysfunction in a capital that is already struggling to address the nation’s most pressing crises, including a growing pandemic whose daily death toll is beginning to outpace the devastation of the 9/11 attacks. Republicans, particularly those watching the presidential election in 2024, are making it clear that they will pressure Biden on the issue.

“Joe Biden must commit today that he will cooperate with the federal investigation and respond under oath to any questions,” Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday, “and that if sworn in as president, no investigator or attorney federal working on the Hunter Biden criminal case will be eliminated. “

Hunter Biden has long been a source of concern for his father’s campaign and was the subject of repeated unsubstantiated accusations from President Donald Trump and his allies. But news of the investigation, which was revealed Wednesday and looks at some of Hunter Biden’s business dealings and other transactions in China, caught most of his father’s employees by surprise.

The investigation threatens to destabilize a transition that has prioritized a methodical deployment of cabinet selections, White House hires and political targets, all aimed at ensuring momentum when Biden takes office and immediately has to deal with a growing pandemic. and an unstable economy.

In particular, the investigation highlights one of Biden’s most important choices: his attorney general.

Alabama Senator Doug Jones and Judge Merrick Garland have become the main contenders, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press this week. But the dynamics could change, as any Biden election will now be scrutinized for perceived loyalty to the president-elect and bias in any investigation of his son.

Both Garland and especially Jones have long-standing ties to Biden.

The president-elect himself is not the subject of the investigation, and Biden’s aides believe that because other Hunter Biden stories have faded, this will too. They point out that a tax fraud investigation pales in comparison to Trump’s refusal to concede the election or the pandemic that has killed more than 290,000 Americans.

Biden is expected to announce more cabinet elections, but not attorney general, on Friday.

Trump’s initial public response was surprisingly quiet. But privately, he demanded to know why the investigation was not revealed before Election Day, accusing officials of deliberately stalling to help Biden’s chances, according to two Republicans familiar with the talks but not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Other Republicans, including potential presidential contenders, were anything but shy about joining.

“If there were ever circumstances that created a conflict of interest and required a special attorney, I believe those circumstances are present here,” Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton said Thursday. “The Biden family has been negotiating for Joe Biden’s public office for fifty years. Do we really think that will change if Joe Biden becomes president, the highest office in the country?”

The Hunter Biden investigation is the latest in a series of politically charged investigations the Justice Department has addressed over the past five years, following investigations into Hillary Clinton’s email use and Trump campaign ties. with Russia.

Regardless of the facts of the investigation, a new Justice Department will likely feel compelled to assert its independence from the White House following allegations that its actions were overly politicized during the Trump administration. Biden has said that he will play no role in the department’s investigative decisions.

“There are a lot of people who are going to get their hands on this case, but I think it will really be driven by the push from the new administration to have complete independence in any investigation,” said former Justice Department prosecutor Michael Weinstein.

“I think that is going to be paramount. They are going to do everything they can to make sure they do the opposite of the current administration, which is independence, let the investigation run its course.”

In this case, however, there is no perfect result for Biden.

A lengthy criminal investigation resulting in an impeachment would be a huge distraction as the new president tries to implement his agenda. But if the Justice Department decides not to press charges, officials will feel pressured to explain their steps and reassure the American public that the investigation was conducted competently and thoroughly.

Federal investigators served a round of subpoenas Tuesday, including to Hunter Biden, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The federal investigation, focused on possible tax offenses, had been conducted at least a year before Biden announced his 2020 candidacy. Investigators were not communicated in the weeks leading up to the vote due to department policy around elections that prohibits open investigation acts.

Biden, fiercely protective of his own family, was said to be, in a statement issued on his transition, “deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including vicious personal attacks of the past few months, just to emerge stronger “. .

Biden adopted an equally challenging tone throughout the campaign whenever questions about his son arose, which he did frequently. When Trump attacked Hunter Biden as a drug user during the first presidential debate in Cleveland, his father acknowledged that Hunter had had substance abuse problems in the past, but added: “He’s worked on it. I’m proud of him. I’m proud of him. of my son”.

The attention on Hunter Biden intensified in the final weeks of the election, after Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, pushed forward with unsubstantiated claims about their overseas business.

Hunter Biden had joined the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2014, when his father, then vice president, was helping to conduct the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine. But, in a later report, Senate Republicans did not present any evidence that hiring influenced US policy.

Joe Biden largely refused to even acknowledge the allegations. Meanwhile, his son stayed almost completely out of the public eye during the nearly 18 months his father ran for president.

One of the few times he was seen was on stage outside the convention center in Wilmington, Delaware, while his father was surrounded by joyous family members after his speech declaring victory in the presidential election. Hunter Biden and his young son were in the middle.