The Biden Justice Department is concealing 400 pages of "sensitive documents" which show cash flowing in for the Biden family from China, Russia, and Ukraine, a Colorado lawyer alleges.
The charge comes from a lawyer suing the government over a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking documents and emails over Hunter and Joe Biden's ties to foreign businesses, including "'any relationship, communication, gift[s], and/or remuneration in any form' between Bidens and China, Russia or Ukraine," the Daily Mail reported Monday.
Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans, a FOIA expert, started the process in November 2020 and has faced over two years of government hurdles, with the feds now appearing to claim they can neither confirm nor deny the existence of documents confirmed previously.
"They eventually produced about 60 pages of documents, but they're all letters from senators and congressmen asking about Hunter, and letters from DOJ back," Evans told the Mail.
"Then towards the end of last year they said, ''Well we have these 400 pages of potentially responsive documents, we need to review them.''
"In March, I filed suit, and before Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty, they made the same representation: They've done a thorough search, they've uncovered 400 potentially responsive documents."
But now the government is using a "Glomar response" to deny the release of the documents it can neither "confirm nor deny" exist, according to Evans. The "Glomar response" is a precedent from the FOIA law that dates to 1975 Los Angeles Times story about a covert government salvage ship built to search for a sunken Soviet submarine, according to the Mail.
"I don't know how the heck they now can take the position that Glomar is applicable," Evans told the Mail. "To me, it seems the cat's out of the bag here after having disclosed the documents exist."
Ultimately, Evans told the Mail, the government is going to hide the files from release under the guise of privacy.
"I'm quite confident that they will move for summary judgment on the privacy exemptions under FOIA in an effort to avoid having to produce these documents," Evans told the Mail.
"But I don't think they should in this instance, particularly when they've disclosed and put on the record that potentially responsive documents exist.
"The problem is, FOIA has become a toothless vehicle. Courts do not comply with the spirit of the law, they're more inclined to bend over backwards to accept the government's position rather than force disclosure."
The next hearing in Evans' case comes later this month, according to the report.
Justice Department prosecutor David Weiss is investigating Hunter Biden for alleged money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying, and tax crimes tied to foreign business dealings, according to the Mail.
The National Archives and Records Administration is also weighing the release of Obama-era documents related to apparent Biden ties to the controversial Ukrainian gas company Burisma, according to Business Insider.
Joe Biden was vice president then, but now he is president and is weighing executive privilege to prevent the release of the documents. President Biden has until February to veto the release and keep the records sealed until 2029.