President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden on Wednesday sought a federal court's permission to subpoena documents from former President Donald Trump and top Justice Department officials in his administration as part of his defense against federal gun charges.
The younger Biden's lawyers in a filing in U.S. District Court in Delaware cited public reporting suggesting "incessant, improper, and partisan pressure" applied by Trump to then-Attorney General William Barr and senior Justice Department officials Richard Donoghue and Jeffrey Rosen to investigate Biden.
"Mr. Biden seeks specific information from three former DOJ officials and the former President that goes to the heart of his defense that this is, possibly, a vindictive or selective prosecution arising from an unrelenting pressure campaign beginning in the last administration, in violation of Mr. Biden’s Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution," Biden's lawyers wrote to the judge.
Barr declined to comment. Rosen, Donoghue and a spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hunter Biden, 53, in October pleaded not guilty to charges that he lied about his drug use while buying a handgun, in the first-ever criminal prosecution of a sitting U.S. president's child.
Special Counsel David Weiss brought the charges against Hunter Biden after a proposed plea deal unraveled under questioning from a judge.
The president's son has been the subject of criticism from Trump and Republican lawmakers, who have set his foreign business dealings at the center of an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The White House argues the impeachment probe is politically motivated and unsubstantiated by evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
Hunter Biden's lawyers argued in their court filing that political pressure by Trump during his administration tainted the investigation.
The filing cities instances in which Trump reportedly raised the Hunter Biden investigation with Justice Department officials, including conversations where Trump was reportedly rebuffed. In his memoir, Barr wrote that he told Trump in an October 2020 conversation that he would not discuss the younger Biden.
Hunter Biden's lawyers are seeking the documents by Dec. 1, arguing that may be relevant to pretrial legal motions he plans to file.
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