Are Hunter Indictments Just a Prelude to the Worst?

After his sweetheart deal that included only two misdemeanor tax charges fell apart following IRS whistleblower exposures of political meddling, the DOJ has belatedly indicted Hunter Biden on three felony and six misdemeanor tax evasion-related charges prospectively intended to de-link him from foreign influence peddling involving his father.

On Dec. 7, Special Counsel David Weiss issued a 56-page indictment charging the president’s son with evading $1.4 million in federal taxes from 2016 through 2019 through failures to file and filing “false business deductions” and “willfully” ignoring tax obligations in preference of an “extravagant lifestyle.”

These charges add to a September indictment in Delaware for three felony gun charges.

Some suspicious souls among us — this writer included — hypothesize that timing of the recent indictments may have much to do with providing Hunter with attempted legal arguments to dodge questions during subpoenaed House Oversight and Judiciary Committee depositions scheduled for Dec. 13.

Whereas Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell has said that Biden is willing to sit for a public hearing but not for the private questioning, failures to comply are entirely certain to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings.

The latest indictment incorporates sidelined recommendations that had previously been submitted by IRS investigators on the case in late 2021, which came to public light only after IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler testified before Congress that the Justice Department, its Tax Division, and the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office “provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest.”

Shapley also noted that his team found evidence of several illegal business expenses during the course of the investigation, and suggested the alleged crimes perpetrated by Hunter totaling $2.2 million of owed taxes likely would’ve quickly landed “any other person” in prison.

Nevertheless, DOJ political interference allowed the statute of limitations to lapse on Hunter’s 2014 and 2015 tax returns, which Shapley says contained the most egregious conduct, including a possible Foreign Agents Registration Act violation.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who is leading the congressional probe into Hunter and President Biden, has accused Weiss of recently bringing the minimum possible charges to shield both father and son from potentially more damaging revelations.

Comer told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “We think that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” adding, “We think there are many more crimes, and my concern is that Weiss may have indicted Hunter Biden to protect him from having to be deposed in the House Oversight Committee.”

When Tapper skeptically responded that Hunter was potentially facing 17 years in prison, Comer shot back: “Jake, this whole thing’s been about a cover-up… You indicted him on the least little thing, the gun charge, and not paying taxes.”

As Comer said, “Anybody else in America would already be in prison. You say he owes $2 million. He may owe $7 (million) or $8 million, if these loans are fraudulent loans. I mean, a loan means you are going to pay it back.”

All of this has potentially huge implications — including tax consequences — for Joe Biden as well.

As lead IRS investigator Shapley told CBS reporter Jim Axelrod, “There were certain investigative steps we weren’t allowed to take that could have led us to President Biden.”

A recently released June 2018 email to a bank executive from an internal investigator who was monitoring Hunter’s accounts as a “politically exposed person” (PEP) identified “suspicious account activities” and “negative News” indicating Hunter to be a “high risk.”

As reported by Kimberly Strassel in The Wall Street Journal, the investigator was specifically concerned with the description of a $5 million deposit in August 2017 from Northern International Capital Holdings, a company affiliated with Chinese-government-linked energy firm CEFC. The investigator notes the money was listed as a “business loan,” yet “there was no loan agreement document submitted.”

Up to that time 16 wire transfers totaling more than $2.9 million were indicated to be management fees and reimbursements without identifying what services were rendered.

Meanwhile, bank records obtained by the House Oversight Committee, show that at least $40,000 of that $5 million quickly ended up in a Joe Biden bank account — via his brother James, who recorded it as a loan repayment.

Despite contrary evidence on Hunter’s laptop, published photographs, and witness accounts, Joe Biden has denounced as “lies” reports that he met while vice president with son Hunter Biden and brother James Biden’s Chinese, Kazakhstani, Mexican, Russian and Ukrainian associates.

“I did not. And it’s just a bunch of lies” Joe Biden said in response to a question from the New York Post.

Instead, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) responded on X:“The President just lied again to the American people. FACT: There are at least 22 examples of Joe Biden speaking with or meeting with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates.”

We have also learned that former V.P. Biden had sent or was privy to hundreds of emails to Hunter’s former business partner Eric Schwerin, director of his Rosemont Seneca Partners firm, under false surnames including “robinware456,” “JRBware” and “RobertLPeters.”

Why, after all, with no evident business services, would the Biden family and associates need more than 20 shell companies who reportedly raked in over $24 million dollars between 2015 and 2019 by selling Joe Biden as “the brand?”

Expect a likely House vote later this week to convene a Biden Impeachment Inquiry seeking lots of answers.