[ad_1]
A subpoena for Hunter Biden documents requested information related to more than two dozen entities, including the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, according to a person familiar with a Justice Department tax investigation of the son of President-elect Joe. Biden.
The breadth of the subpoena underscores the wide-angle lens prosecutors are taking when examining the young Biden’s finances and international business ventures.
Pablo Martínez / AP
Hunter Biden confirmed that his taxes are under federal investigation.
Hunter Biden’s ties to Burisma in particular have long haunted the political work and political aspirations of his father, Joe Biden. It is unclear if Hunter Biden’s work at the Ukrainian company is a central part of the federal investigation or if prosecutors are simply seeking information on all of his sources of income in recent years.
The person was not authorized to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
READ MORE:
* Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden in a US Justice Department tax investigation examining Chinese businesses.
* How tragedy shaped Joe Biden for this moment
* 2020 US elections: Trump prompts questions about Joe Biden’s son
A lawyer for the young Biden, George Mesires, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment for this story, and a spokesman for Biden’s transition team declined to comment.
Hunter Biden confirmed that his taxes are under federal investigation. The revelation comes at a sensitive time for the president-elect of the United States, who is building his cabinet and will soon decide who will be his nominee to head the Department of Justice, the same department that oversees his son’s investigation.
In addition to the Burisma-related request, the subpoena issued last week also seeks information about Hunter Biden’s Chinese business dealings and other financial transactions.
The investigation was launched in 2018, a year before his father announced his candidacy for the presidency. At one point in the investigation, federal prosecutors were also examining possible money laundering offenses, two people familiar with the matter told the AP.
Andrew Harnik / AP
US President-elect Joe Biden, right, hugs his son Hunter Biden, left, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hunter Biden said he learned of the investigation Tuesday.
The young Biden joined Burisma’s board of directors in 2014, when his father, then vice president of the United States, was helping to conduct the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Ukraine. US President Donald Trump and his allies have long argued, without evidence, that Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine influenced the Obama administration’s policies toward the Eastern European nation.
Senate Republicans said in a report earlier this year that the appointment may have raised a conflict of interest, but they did not provide evidence that any policies were directly affected by Hunter Biden’s work.
The president-elect is not believed to be a focus of the investigation. He has not weighed in on the merits of the investigation, telling reporters only Friday that he was “proud of my son.”
For months, the US attorney’s office in Pittsburgh has also been collecting information from Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and others as part of the Justice Department’s process to receive and analyze information related to Ukraine, including documents that Giuliani wanted. present to the prosecutors he had. been meeting in Ukraine about Joe and Hunter Biden.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney for the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Announcing that process in February, Barr cautioned the department should be careful with any information coming out of Ukraine, saying: “There are many agendas in Ukraine, many cross-currents. And we cannot accept anything we receive from Ukraine at face value. “
The former mayor of New York City was a main character when the House voted to impeach Trump. The impeachment inquiry focused on Trump’s dealings with the President of Ukraine and whether he abused his post by pursuing the Bidens investigation. Giuliani lobbied officials to carry out investigations and has been pushing unsubstantiated corruption allegations against the Bidens.
Giuliani himself had also been under federal investigation, and federal prosecutors in Manhattan examined whether he did not register as a foreign agent, according to people familiar with the matter. It was unclear if that investigation remains active as Trump has discussed the possibility of preventive pardons for some of his close relatives and associates, including Giuliani.
