Tesla CEO Elon Musk, known for his provocative and controversial comments on social media, has weighed in on the recent scandal involving Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden. Hunter has been accused of owing over $3,00,000 in unpaid rent.

The billionaire entrepreneur shared a Fox News report on X, adding his own commentary: “Truth is stranger (and funnier) than fiction.”

Truth is stranger (and funnier) than fiction ???? https://t.co/YgtEBAEE8h

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 4, 2024

The fresh allegations against Hunter Biden came from Shaun Maguire, a partner at the venture capital firm Sequoia. On social media platform X, Mr Maguire expressed concerns after President Biden’s decision to grant his son a full and unconditional pardon.

Mr Maguire, who claimed to have been Hunter Biden’s landlord in Venice, California, stated that he failed to pay rent for over a year. He detailed the frustration in a post, saying, “So what happens to the $300k+ in back pay rent that Hunter Biden owes my family from 2019-2020? Is that pardoned now? Thanks, Joe (This is a true story).”

So what happens to the $300k+ in back pay rent that Hunter Biden owes my family from 2019-2020?

Is that pardoned now?

Thanks Joe

(This is a true story)

— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) December 2, 2024

In a follow-up post, Mr Maguire added, “Yup. True story. Hunter was our tenant in Venice, CA. Didn’t pay rent for over a year. Tried to pay w/ art made from his own faeces. Absolute s**t bag.”

Yup. True story. Hunter was our tenant in Venice, CA. Didn’t pay rent for over a year. Tried to pay w/ art made from his own feces.

Absolute shit bag.

— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) December 2, 2024

The property had a rental fee of $25,000 per month. Mr Maguire also recounted that Hunter “changed the locks and used secret service to enforce. We had no access to the property.”

He changed the locks and used secret service to enforce. We had no access to the property.

— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) December 2, 2024

In another comment, he expressed hesitation about pursuing legal action against the Bidens, suggesting they “are kind of a scary family to go after.”

It’s kind of a scary family to go after

— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) December 2, 2024

The presidential pardon applies to federal crimes committed between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024. Hunter Biden had previously faced federal charges for tax offences and accusations of lying about his substance abuse history on a firearm background check form.

According to the Fox News report, the unpaid rent allegations are a civil matter and not covered by a presidential pardon.

Joe Biden had earlier maintained that he would not pardon his son but changed his stance months before leaving the White House.

Washington:

US presidents traditionally dole out pardons as they leave office but Joe Biden’s “full and unconditional” pardon of his son Hunter is a rare instance involving a family member.

Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother Roger, who had served time in prison on 1985 drug charges, on January 20, 2001, his last day in office.

And Donald Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, a fellow real estate magnate whose son Jared is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, at the end of his first term in the White House.

Trump, now president-elect, nominated Kushner, 70, who pleaded guilty in 2004 to tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign contributions, on Saturday to be the next US ambassador to France.

Kushner, who served 14 months in prison, admitted hiring a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, who was cooperating in the campaign finance inquiry, and sending a videotape of the encounter to his own sister.

Hunter Biden, who has struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, is the first child of a sitting president to receive a pardon.

His father, who leaves office on January 20, had repeatedly said he would not pardon his son — but in announcing the move on Sunday he claimed that Hunter had been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”

“I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,” Biden said.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president said.

Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to tax evasion in September and was facing up to 17 years in prison. He risked 25 years in prison for the felony gun charge but was not expected to receive such stiff sentences in either case.

Presidents have also used their constitutionally-mandated pardon powers over the years on close friends and political allies.

One of the most controversial pardons in recent years was that of former president Richard Nixon by his successor in the White House, Gerald Ford.

Ford granted a “full and unconditional” pardon to Nixon, who was facing potential prosecution over the Watergate scandal, on September 8, 1974.

Trump is the first former president convicted of a crime — falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star — but he will not be able to pardon himself because the case involved state and not federal charges.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington DC:

US President Joe Biden’s latest move has revived allegations raised by Donald Trump of the US Department of Justice being manipulated by political powerhouses. In a stunning volte face, Mr Biden today extended the Presidential pardon to his convicted son Hunter Biden, who was days away from being sentenced to decades in prison.

Joe Biden’s move has raised questions about the US Department of Justice and its charges in the Adani case, as many geopolitical experts have pointed out on several occasions.

HUNTER BIDEN’S CASE

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, was not just an accused, but found guilty and convicted for gun crimes in the US and for tax evasion of over $1.4 million. He was facing separate prison sentences of 17 years in the gun crime case and up to 25 years for tax evasion.

He has also been accused of using his father’s political clout and influence to get exclusive rights to drill for oil in Ukraine as well as have a handful of murky deals with China – for which there can now no longer be a case pursued against him as his father’s Presidential pardon gives him immunity for whatever he has done between January 1, 2014, to December 1, 2024.

Hunter Biden’s sentencing in court to serve time in prison was scheduled for separate hearings starting December 12, 2024. But his father, President of the United States, went back on his word of “not interfering” in the case by extending the Presidential pardon.

On six occasions over the last year, Joe Biden had assured the US citizens of an “impartial” functioning of the US Department of Justice, but his move today is seen as a clear U-turn from his earlier resolve.

President-elect Donald Trump tore into Joe Biden’s move of using the Presidential office to benefit family by calling it a “miscarriage of justice”.

Hunter Biden is now a free man with a “full and unconditional” pardon for any action between 2014 and 2024. He cannot face action in future as well on his actions over the last 10 years – the time in which his father was the Vice President and then President of the US.

US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WEAPONISED FOR FOREIGN POLICY?

The US Department of Justice faces criticism about being weaponised against political opponents in the US and also misused for foreign policy that benefitted those in power. Geopolitical experts and former diplomats have highlighted how Hunter Biden used his father’s political clout to gain in Ukraine and China and how the US foreign policy was reportedly moulded by the Biden Administration to suit such personal gains.

President Joe Biden grants ‘unconditional’ pardon to son Hunter Biden in federal convictions; Experts Question Outgoing administration’s credibility point to DoJ’s Vindictive Action against Adanis.

On the panel: @Chellaney and former diplomat Yogesh Gupta with NDTV’s… pic.twitter.com/v7k9jGlmOQ

— NDTV (@ndtv) December 2, 2024

Joe Biden’s move has also raised serious questions over the US Department of Justice’s action against the Adani Group. There is a wider feeling among diplomats that the Adani indictment by the US Department of Justice is also politically driven by the outgoing Biden administration.

While US President’s son Hunter Biden was found guilty and convicted of his charges, there has not been a shred of evidence against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and senior executive Vneet Jaain who have been accused by the DoJ and SEC, suspected of acting on the orders of the Biden administration.

The DOJ and the SEC had filed an indictment and a civil complaint in the New York District Court against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and Vneet Jaain, key executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL). The Adani Group had rejected the allegations, terming it totally “baseless”, and said it would seek legal recourse to defend itself.

Finding itself on the back-foot due to the lack of any evidence, the US Department of Justice in a recent public statement in the Adani case said “The defendants are always innocent unless and until proven guilty.”

Joe Biden’s move today has sparked off a fierce debate in the United States’s power corridors on whether the Department of Justice is indeed “controlled” by political powerhouses.

WHAT NEW FBI DIRECTOR ‘KASH’ PATEL SAID

Kashyap Patel, lawyer, investigator and a stern critic of the US deep state, has spoken out openly about “partisan” and “motivated” practices and also called for a drastic overhaul of the US law enforcement and Intelligence agencies.

“All people in the Department of Justice are just looking for their next promotion,” said Mr Patel, who has been named as the next FBI Director by Donald Trump.

Many believe that these “baseless” allegations and “motivated and partisan” foreign policy of the Biden administration will be rectified by the incoming Trump administration. Donald Trump has already announced a complete overhaul of the US foreign policy, including how NATO functions. His administration’s DOGE, a department headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is looking to clean up the bureaucracy, while ‘Kash’ Patel looks to “clean up” the investigating agencies to rid them of working for “political powerhouses”.
 

President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday (December 2, 2024) night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.

The Democratic President had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

It caps a long-running legal saga for the younger M”r. Biden, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after his father’s 2020 victory — and casts a pall over the elder Mr. Biden’s legacy. Mr. Biden, who time and again pledged to Americans that he would restore norms and respect for the rule of law after Mr. Trump’s first term in office, ultimately used his position to help his son, breaking his public pledge to Americans that he would do no such thing.

In June, Mr. Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delaware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

As recently as Nov. 8, days after Mr. Trump’s victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Mr. Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

The elder Mr. Biden has publicly stood by his only living son as Mr. Hunter descended into serious drug addiction and threw his family life into turmoil, before pulling himself out in recent years. His political rivals have long used Hunter Biden’s myriad mistakes as a political cudgel against his father: in one hearing, lawmakers displayed half-naked photos of the drug addled president’s son in a seedy hotel.

And House Republicans sought to use the younger Mr. Biden’s years of questionable overseas business ventures in a since-abandoned attempt to impeach his father, who has long denied involvement in his son’s dealings or benefiting from them in any way.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Mr. Biden said, “I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Mr. Biden added. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Mr. Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The President had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Mr. Hunter and his family, and was set to depart later Sunday on what may be his last foreign trip as president before leaving office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Hunter Biden was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware who negotiated the plea deal, was subsequently named a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to have more autonomy over the prosecution of the President’s son.

Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.

The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.

Hunter Biden was supposed to be sentenced this month in the two federal cases, which the special counsel brought after a plea deal with prosecutors that likely would have spared him prison time fell apart under scrutiny by a judge. Under the original deal, Mr. Hunter was supposed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and and would have avoided prosecution in the gun case as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years.

But the plea hearing quickly unraveled last year when the judge raised concerns about unusual aspects of the deal. He was subsequently indicted in the two cases.

The sweeping pardon covers not just those offenses, but also any other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”

Hunter Biden’s legal team this weekend released a 52-page white paper titled “The political prosecutions of Hunter Biden,” describing the president’s son as a “surrogate to attack and injure his father, both as a candidate in 2020 and later as President.” Hunter Biden’s lawyers have long argued that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict the president’s son amid heavy criticism by Mr. Trump and other Republicans of what they called the “sweetheart” plea deal.

Both cases against the younger Mr. Biden were somewhat unusual. Criminal tax cases generally are rare, legal experts have said, and gun offences are usually brought alongside other more serious charges. In Hunter Biden’s case, his lawyers noted that he had the gun for 11 days and never fired it. And the back taxes he owed were repaid before he was supposed to stand trial.

Rep. James Comer, one of the Republican chairmen leading congressional investigations into Mr. Biden’s family, blasted the President’s decision to issue his son a pardon, saying that the evidence against MR. Hunter was “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability,” Mr. Comer said on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

Mr. Biden is hardly the first President to deploy his pardon powers to benefit those close to him.

In his final weeks in office, Mr. Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Mr. Trump over the weekend announced plans to nominate the elder Mr. Kushner to be the U.S. envoy to France in his next administration.

Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Mr. Trump, who has pledged to dramatically overhaul and install loyalists across the Justice Department after he was prosecuted for his role in trying to subvert the 2020 presidential election, said in a statement, “That system of justice must be fixed and due process must be restored for all Americans, which is exactly what President Trump will do as he returns to the White House with an overwhelming mandate from the American people.”

Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Mr. Biden said.

Hunter Biden’s legal team filed Sunday night in both Los Angeles and Delaware asking the judges handling his gun and tax cases to immediately dismiss them, citing the pardon.

A spokesperson for Weiss did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.

Washington:

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of making false statements on a gun background check and illegally possessing a firearm and plead guilty to federal tax charges.

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

The White House had said repeatedly that Biden would not pardon or commute the sentences of his son, a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans, including President-elect Donald Trump.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son,” Biden said.

“There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.”

Biden said he had made the decision over the weekend. The president, his wife, Jill Biden, and their family including Hunter, spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts and returned to Washington on Saturday night.

“Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further,” Biden said.

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

Joe Biden’s son Hunter pleaded guilty in his tax evasion trial on Thursday, without reaching the deal he had sought with prosecutors, in a case that has been an embarrassment and a distraction for the US president.

The 54-year-old admitted nine counts related to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes over the past decade, money that prosecutors said he splurged instead on luxury living, sex workers and a drug habit.

The pleas came on the day jury selection for a trial had been due to start, and hours after Biden had offered to plead guilty in the hope of striking a deal that might keep him out of prison.

But no deal appeared to have materialized and Biden made the pleas in open court, with US District Judge Mark Scarsi cautioning him that he could face a lengthy prison sentence, as well as a fine of up to $1 million.

Scarsi set sentencing for December 16.

A trial had been expected to re-hash sordid details of a life that the defendant and his family — including the president — have long acknowledged had gone off the rails.

Biden has already spent a chunk of 2024 in court, having been convicted in Delaware of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun — a felony.

He has yet to be sentenced for that crime, and could face up to 25 years’ detention.

– Political battle –

Lawyers for Biden have said he was only being brought before the court because of who he is.

“They want to slime him because that is the whole purpose,” Biden’s attorney Mark Geragos reportedly said during an August hearing in which he accused prosecutors of attempted character assassination.

Biden’s defense team has argued that the non-payment of taxes was an oversight in a life wrought chaotic by a spiraling drug addiction and the trauma of losing his older brother, Beau, to a brain tumor in 2015.

Biden has paid the back taxes, as well as penalties levied by authorities, and had previously reached a plea deal that would have kept him out of jail.

That agreement fell apart at the last minute, and Biden is understood to have been trying to reach another ever since.

But that has been difficult for prosecutors whose every move in this election year is being scrutinized by Republicans, who charge the defendant is being treated leniently because he is the president’s son.

Hunter Biden has for years been a foil for his father’s political opponents, who have sought — without producing evidence — to smear the family as a group of criminals who have gained wealth and power because of Joe Biden’s career.

The elder Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race in favor of Kamala Harris has taken much of the zeal out of the Republican drive to make an example out of his son.

Hunter Biden, a Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist who lives in Malibu, has said that he has been drug-free since 2019.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Los Angeles:

Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, offered a guilty plea to charges in his tax evasion case Thursday, just as jury selection was about to begin.

Lawyers said the 54-year-old was prepared to enter the plea, acknowledging the likelihood of conviction, but would maintain his innocence.

US District Judge Mark Scarsi, sitting in Los Angeles, called a recess to allow prosecutors to discuss the move.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

A judge on Monday denied a bid by U.S. President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, to dismiss a federal tax evasion case brought against him in California.

Hunter Biden was convicted in Delaware in June for lying about his illegal drug use to buy a gun, and is scheduled to go to trial in September in the tax evasion case.

Biden, who has pleaded not guilty to the tax charges, had argued that David Weiss, the special counsel leading both prosecutions, was illegally appointed.

The president’s son had relied on a federal judge’s decision dismissing a criminal case accusing former President Donald Trump of illegally retaining classified documents after leaving office.

Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon found the appointment of the special counsel in that case, Jack Smith, violated the U.S. Constitution because Congress had not given him the authority to pursue the case. Smith’s office is appealing.

But U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in Los Angeles said on Monday there was no valid basis to reconsider a prior order denying Hunter Biden’s bid to throw out the tax evasion indictment.

“The court declines to reach the merits of the motion because there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the court’s order denying Mr. Biden’s motion to dismiss,” the judge wrote.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

House Republicans have released their initial impeachment inquiry report into President Joe Biden, alleging an abuse of power and obstruction of justice in the financial dealings of his son Hunter Biden and family associates.

The nearly yearlong inquiry by Republicans stops short of alleging any criminal wrongdoing by the President. Instead, the almost 300-page report out Monday (August 19, 2024) ahead of the Democratic National Convention covers familiar ground, asserting the Biden family traded on its “brand” in business ventures in corrupt ways that rise to the Constitution’s high bar for impeachment.

With Mr. Biden no longer running for reelection, next steps are highly uncertain.

House Republicans have not had support from their own ranks to actually impeach the President, and removal by the Senate is even further afield. Many Republicans prefer to focus attention on the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, with some probes getting underway.

The White House has dismissed the House impeachment inquiry as a “stunt” and encouraged House Republicans to “move on.” “The totality of the corrupt conduct uncovered by the Committees is egregious,” wrote the House Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary and Ways and Means panels leading the inquiry.

The report said the Constitution’s “remedy for a President’s flagrant abuse of office is clear: impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal by the Senate.” Republicans have spent the better part of their time in the House majority with a hyper focus on Mr. Biden and his family’s businesses, encouraged by Donald Trump as the twice impeached and indicted former President makes a comeback bid for the White House.

The impeachment inquiry has been a cornerstone of the House GOP’s effort, launched by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy shortly before he was booted from leadership and formalized in December under new Speaker Mike Johnson. Republicans are investigating many aspects of Biden family finances going back to 2009 when he was vice president to Barack Obama.

Through bank records, interviews from some 30 witnesses, whistleblower accounts and millions of documents, House Republicans allege a years-long practice by Hunter Biden and his associates to solicit foreign business deals using the family’s proximity to power in Washington.

Much of the focus of the report is not on Biden’s time as president, but on the years when the Biden family was in turmoil after the 2015 death of his oldest son, Beau, and as the vice president was bowing out of elected office, declining to run for President in 2016.

Hunter Biden has acknowledged a serious addiction to crack in these years. He was convicted in June of felony gun charges and is set to stand trial next month on federal tax charges.

Former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2022 in another matter, told the committee, “At the end of the day, part of what was delivered is the brand.” To tie the elder Biden to his son’s actions, the Republicans rely on a series of phone calls and pop-by dinner meeting visits Joe Biden made while Hunter was conducting business. At times, Hunter would put his dad on speakerphone for his guests as the father and son exchanged pleasantries.

The Bidens are a famously tight-knit family and acknowledge they speak almost daily, including during this time, with the father checking on his son’s well-being.

In his own defiant closed-door deposition to House investigators, Hunter Biden insisted he did not involve his father in his business.

All told, the House Republicans allege the Biden family and its associates received some USD 27 million in business payments from partners or clients in Russia, China and other countries. They allege another USD 8 million in loans, including some from Hunter Biden benefactor Kevin Morris, a Hollywood attorney, and question the purchases of the son’s artwork.

The report said it is “inconceivable” that President Biden did not understand what was going on.

“President Biden participated in a conspiracy to monetize his office of public trust to enrich his family,” the report claims.

Mr. Biden himself declined a request to testify before the House.

Touchbacks to Trump’s impeachments at the hands of Democrats run throughout the report’s pages as Republicans work to contrast his grounds for removal to Biden family’s dealings and “grift.” But the differences are stark, as the indicted Trump faces actual criminal charges, including in the conspiracy to overturn Biden’s 2020 election and draw supporters to Washington on the day of the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

The report also accuses Biden of obstructing justice in the probe, revisiting previously aired complaints about the Justice Department’s handling of investigation into Hunter Biden. Attorney General Merrick Garland has forcefully denied those accusations, defending the department against claims of political influence.

It focuses heavily on what Republicans have long alleged was a pattern of “slow-walking” investigative steps and delaying enforcement actions to the benefit of the president’s son.

But the report provides no evidence that Biden had any involvement in his son’s investigation, which was launched under Trump’s presidency and has been led by a Delaware US attorney appointed by Trump. The US attorney, David Weiss, was kept on by Garland to insulate the probe from claims of political interference.

Garland has insisted that no one at the White House gave him or other senior officials at the Justice Department direction about the handling of the Hunter Biden investigation.

Beyond Hunter Biden, the report includes details of the involvement of Joe Biden’s brother, James, in the various family businesses.

Republicans have pointed to a series of payments that they claim show the president benefited from his brother’s work. They point to a USD 2,00,000 personal check from James Biden to Joe Biden on the same day in 2018 that James Biden received an equal amount from Americore, a healthcare company.

House Democrats have defended the transaction, pointing to bank records they say indicate James Biden was repaying a loan provided by his brother, who had wire transferred USD 2,00,000 to him about six weeks earlier. The money changed hands while Joe Biden was a private citizen.

Short of impeaching Biden, the House Republicans have issued criminal referrals recommending the Justice Department prosecute Hunter Biden and James Biden, accusing them of making false statements to Congress as part of the GOP investigation.

Attorneys for those men have argued those claims are baseless or a distraction.

Until recently, the president had been a focal point for Republicans in Congress, but his decision last month to drop out of the presidential race and Harris’ ascent to the top of the ticket have forced GOP leaders to reevaluate their marquee investigation.

A year ago, GOP lawmakers had hoped the Biden inquiry would build a strong enough case for impeachment’s “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But the longer the inquiry dragged and the little direct evidence against Biden investigators were able to produce in public hearings or even in closed-door sessions, the more concerns grew from moderate Republicans wary of a vote on the matter.

The report released Monday makes more than 20 mentions of the “Biden-Harris administration,” while previous releases from the committees investigating Biden typically only made direct references to him.

And while Harris is not mentioned on her own in the report, the same committees leading the inquiry have begun to open new probes into her and her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz.

Hunter Biden. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Hunter Biden has dropped a lawsuit against Fox News for publishing nude photos and videos of him in a fictionalised “mock trial” show focussed on his foreign dealings, according to a court filing by his lawyers on July 21.

The filing did not give a reason for the voluntary dismissal of the suit. ABC News reported that Hunter, who is the son of President Joe Biden, dropped the suit with the intention of refiling it against new defendants, citing a person familiar with the younger Biden’s legal strategy.

A spokesperson for Fox News Media told news website Axios the company was reiterating previous comments that the lawsuit was “politically motivated” and “devoid of merit.”

Lawyers for Hunter Biden and Fox News and media representatives for Fox News did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Fox aired “The Trial of Hunter Biden: A Mock Trial for the American People” on its Fox Nation streaming platform in October 2022 but took it down in April this year under the threat of a lawsuit by Hunter Biden’s attorneys. Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit earlier this month.

The TV series depicted a fictional trial of Hunter Biden on illegal foreign lobbying and bribery charges, crimes he has not been indicted for and includes photos and videos of Biden in the nude and engaged in sex acts, according to the lawsuit.

The dismissal of the suit comes hours after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 Presidential race under pressure from fellow Democrats.