First Lady Jill Biden has argued that her stepson Hunter broke no laws amid the current federal probe into his activities.
In an interview with NBC News on Friday, she noted that “everybody and their brother has investigated Hunter”.
“They keep at it, and at it, and at it. I know that Hunter is innocent. I love my son, and I will keep looking forward,” the first lady added.
She spoke after President Joe Biden told CNN that he had “great confidence” in his son last week.
“I love him and he’s on the straight and narrow and he has been for a couple years now. And I’m just so proud of him,” the POTUS pointed out.
His remarks followed the Washington Post (WaPo) reporting earlier this month that US federal agents had obtained enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes and making false statements related to a gun purchase.
The tax fraud investigation pertains to whether Hunter Biden failed to declare income from local and overseas businesses, the WaPo report said.
According to the newspaper, federal agents also found Hunter Biden allegedly lied when he filled out a form before the acquisition of a handgun in 2018. By declaring that he wasn’t an "unlawful [drug] user" or addicted to marijuana and other antidepressants, he contradicted previously confessions that he smoked crack cocaine, the report added.
The WaPo cited unnamed sources as saying that federal agents determined “months ago” that they had gathered “a viable criminal case” against Hunter Biden, but that it’s up to prosecutors at the Justice Department whether to file charges against the US president’s son.
The sources argued that the final decision on the matter would be made by Delaware Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed to his current post by former US President Donald Trump.
While Hunter Biden was initially probed for his financial and business dealings in foreign countries during his father’s stint in the vice presidency, US prosecutors significantly widened their scope to include his business associates, their related deals, and the purchase of at least one firearm.
The investigators in particular dealt with information related to Hunter Biden’s so-called “laptop from Hell”, which contains compromising emails, photos and videos pertaining to the US president's son that have been released since 2020, when the New York Post was the first to make public several documents from the device.
The laptop’s content shed light on details about potentially illegal activities by the US president’s son, ranging from parties with prostitutes to “business deals” involving the trading of cash in exchange for access to Joe Biden during his tenure as Barack Obama’s vice president. The 46th US president has repeatedly dismissed any knowledge of his son’s business activities.