Hunter Biden’s attorneys are arguing a special counsel appointed by President Biden’s Justice Department is doing the bidding of Russian intelligence officials.
The defense attorneys, led by Abbe D. Lowell, suggested in a court filing on Monday that special counsel David Weiss’s criminal prosecution of Hunter Biden is carrying out the mission of Russian intelligence officials.
Biden’s attorneys are attempting to connect Weiss’s prosecution of Hunter Biden on federal tax and gun charges to the indictment of disgraced ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, who Weiss is prosecuting for false statements to the FBI alleging Hunter and Joe Biden received bribes from a Ukrainian oligarch.
“This case illustrates the very continuing harm identified by the Special Counsel. The Special Counsel tells us Russian intelligence sought to influence the U.S. presidential election by using allegations against Hunter Biden to hurt President Biden’s reelection,” the filing reads. The supplemental filing is part of Hunter Biden’s argument for selective prosecution by Weiss.
Weiss and his team of prosecutors revealed Smirnov’s apparent ties to Russian intelligence in a memo last month argued for keeping him detained while awaiting trial. Biden’s attorneys referenced the information disclosed by the special counsel to cast doubt on the special counsel’s prosecution.
“In these actions, the Special Counsel has done exactly what the Russian intelligence operation desired by initiating prosecutions against Mr. Biden,” the document adds.
Smirnov’s discredited allegations were memorialized by the FBI in June 2020 and publicized by Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) in July. The former informant claimed Ukrainian oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings gave Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each and alleged Zlochevsky possessed evidence showing he was coerced to make the bribes.
Grassley said in a speech on the Senate floor last month that the FBI believed Smirnov to be credible, and his identity was unknown to lawmakers prior to his indictment.
The claims Smirnov made are not connected to the alleged tax and gun offenses for which Biden is being prosecuted. Hunter Biden is facing nine federal tax charges connected to his alleged failure to pay over $1 million in taxes over tax years 2016–2019 and three federal gun charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while he was using crack cocaine.
Hunter Biden’s income from Burisma over the relevant time period is cited in his federal tax indictment as evidence he had the income necessary to pay his overdue taxes. Joe Biden is not referenced in the indictment, and neither are Smirnov’s claims.
Weiss became special counsel in August after Hunter Biden’s guilty plea agreement in Delaware on two tax misdemeanors and pretrial diversion agreement on a felony gun charge collapsed during a July court hearing. Weiss is the U.S. attorney for Delaware and his office began investigating Hunter Biden years earlier, a probe marred by allegations of special treatment by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
The dispute between Hunter Biden’s legal team and the Justice Department over the failed plea deal centered around whether an immunity provision tucked inside of his diversion agreement was necessary for the plea deal to go through.
Federal prosecutor Leo Wise asserted the Justice Department could still bring under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a statement Biden’s attorneys took particular issue with, the court transcript shows.
Hunter Biden and his associates primarily conducted business dealings with individuals and entities in Ukraine, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Romania. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika noted the presence of foreign companies in Hunter Biden’s guilty plea, which makes no mention of the Smirnov allegations.
Nonetheless, Biden’s attorneys appear to believe the criminal prosecution originated from Smirnov’s allegations by suggesting the special counsel’s pursuit of Hunter Biden happened only after the bribery allegations became public.
“The chain of events that is only partially revealed by the public filings supports the conclusion that the Special Counsel found some pretext to renege on the Agreement it signed, actually caved to political pressure in doing so, and brought unprecedented charges — all originating with the now-revealed and totally discredited Russian disinformation” the filing states.
Last week, the special counsel accused Hunter Biden’s attorneys of peddling conspiracy theories by insisting the prosecution is being pressured by former president Donald Trump and House Republicans. Weiss was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of President Joe Biden.
House Republicans are carrying out an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden based on his apparent role in his son’s foreign business dealings. The impeachment inquiry has also looked into the IRS whistleblower allegations and the trove of documents they turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Hunter Biden testified last month and used the credibility of the Smirnov indictment to discredit the impeachment inquiry — a contradiction pointed out by Weiss and his team of prosecutors. The latest filing from Biden’s team failed to address their client’s sworn testimony.