Justice Department files case against Hunter Biden. . . and himself in California – JONATHAN TURLEY

It appears that special counsel David Weiss finally brought the long-awaited case that exposed years of cover-ups and political corruption. No, it's not the case against Hunter Biden. Allegations of tax fraud in California are obvious and inevitable. Weiss just filed suit against the Justice Department and himself to protect Hunter Biden from the more damaging charges of being an unregistered foreign agent. In a new filing, Weiss released evidence about Hunter seeking money to advance a Romanian's interests in U.S. politics.

i have previously witnessed in the Foreign Agents Registration Act and they have previously written about the disturbing disconnect in the treatment of the president's son compared to figures like Paul Manafort.

Impeachment was always one of the White House's biggest fears. If Hunter Biden were a foreign agent, it would add to the influence-peddling scandal and further tie his conduct to his father's work as vice president and then president.

What was previously known about millions received from China, Russia and other countries made this charge obvious. In the past, the Justice Department has used indictments early and often in high-profile cases to pressure defendants and force cooperation or plea deals. During the Trump administration, an official could not go to Epcot without getting a FARA charge from the DOJ.

That position has been a favorite of the DOJ before the president's son was implicated in a massive influence-peddling scheme involving foreign figures.

This is the definition used in these cases:

A “foreign agent'' is defined as “(1) any person acting as an agent, representative, employee, or servant, or any person acting in any other capacity at the order, request, or under the direction or control of a foreign principal or of a person whose activities are directly or indirectly supervised, directed, controlled, financed or subsidized in whole or in large part by a foreign principal, and who directly or through any other person: ( (i) engage in political activities in the United States for or in the interest of such alien principal; (ii) act in the United States as a public relations adviser, publicity agent, information service employee, or political consultant for or in the interests of such alien principal; (iii) solicits, collects, disburses, or distributes contributions, loans, or other things of value for or in the interest of such alien principal; or (iv) within the United States represents the interests of such alien principal before any agency or official of the United States Government; and (2) any person who accepts, consents, undertakes or purports to act as, or who is or purports to be, whether or not pursuant to a contractual relationship, an agent of a foreign principal as defined in clause (1) of this subsection”.

For years, I have expressed alarm at the special treatment being given to Hunter Biden for the charges. Many of us have also criticized Weiss for allowing the most serious tax charges to lapse despite being able to extend the statute of limitations. He has yet to offer a compelling reason why prosecutors would allow viable felony charges to expire when they could have extended that period.

Now, Biden is seeking to avoid conviction on the tax charges in California. He is repeating the claims that failed in his recent arms violation. He claims he was an addict and not responsible for his criminal conduct, even though he was flying around the world collecting millions from foreign sources.

To rebut that claim, Weiss' team said it plans to introduce evidence showing its sophisticated scheme to tap foreign sources interested in influencing the government and federal policy.

In the filing below, Weiss takes issue with the Biden team's effort to exclude evidence of his work for the Romanians. Senior Assistant Special Counsel Derek Hines write to the file that “[t]the evidence of what the defendant agreed to do and did [the businessman] proves the state of mind and intention of the accused during the relevant fiscal years recorded in the indictment. It is also evidence that the defendant's actions do not reflect someone with diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence US public policy and to receive millions of dollars pursuant to an oral settlement.”

This is a lot like looking for a foreign agent job. Here is the language of FARA:

It's a curious argument. It's like saying we know he stole the car because he used it in the kidnapping. It makes most people wonder why you didn't press charges for the kidnapping.

The fact is that this is just one of a series of such contracts that have been detailed by the House Oversight Committee and other House committees. The other foreign dealings involved Hunter contacting government officials while his father was vice president. This includes the controversy over Joe Biden's sudden decision to issue an ultimatum to the Ukrainian government.

In a 2018 interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden boasted that he unilaterally withheld $1 billion in US aid from the Ukrainians to force them to fire chief prosecutor Viktor Shokin.

The Ukrainians refused, but Biden gave them an ultimatum: “I looked at them and said, 'I'm leaving in six hours.' If the prosecutor is not fired, you will not receive the money.” Well you son of a bitch. He was fired.”

However, a State Department memo is shedding disturbing light on this aspect and destroying aspects of Biden's justification for the action. It directly contradicts Biden's insistence that he took this extraordinary position because there was little hope for anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine if Shokin remained prosecutor.

The October 1, 2015 memorandum summarizes the recommendation of the Interagency Policy Committee tasked with anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine: “Ukraine has made sufficient progress on its reform agenda to warrant a third assurance.” A senior official even congratulated Shokin on his progress in the fight against corruption. So Biden was told to hand over federal aid, but chose to unilaterally demand Shokin's firing.

In the testimony of Devon ArcherHunter Biden's business partner, we learned that Burisma executives made removing Shokin a priority and brought it up with Hunter. He described how the need to neutralize Shokin was brought up with Hunter and how “a call to Washington” was made in response. While Archer also said that “the narrative told me that Shokin was under control,” he and others also felt concerns about Shokin and the risks of the investigation.

Other transactions directly sought intervention in matters being addressed by the Obama-Biden Administration.

So now, the Justice Department is citing some of these deals to show a conscious and premeditated effort to shake down foreigners to influence US policy. Weiss now contends that “the defendant received compensation from a foreign principal to attempt to influence US policy and public opinion as alleged in the indictment, and that evidence is relevant.”

They have done more than the case against Hunter Biden. They have made a conclusive and overwhelming case against themselves by going slow and playing down the charges against the president's son.

Here is the presentation: gov.uscourts.cacd.907805.181.0