Behind the Hunter Biden Investigation: Mistrust, Mutual Suspicion, Delays

livemint.com:

The yearslong criminal investigation into Hunter Biden has aired a lot of dirty laundry about the president’s son’s attempts at foreign business and his descent into drug addiction. A parallel congressional probe is now airing a lot of dirty laundry about the government officials investigating him.

The younger Biden was indicted in September on three felony gun charges and pleaded not guilty last month in Delaware federal court. In the lead-up to that indictment and in recent weeks, House Republicans have collected internal government records and interviewed prosecutors and federal agents, after two Internal Revenue Service agents alleged Justice Department officials had interfered in the probe.

A review of those records, including thousands of pages of transcripts, shows that multiple officials disputed several of the IRS agents’ most explosive allegations, while corroborating others, including widespread frustrations in the inquiry. The review, and interviews with other current and former law-enforcement officials, also shed new light on how the five-year investigation into President Biden’s son was ultimately hamstrung by suspicion among members of the team.

Republicans are accusing the Justice Department of giving Hunter Biden preferential treatment, particularly after prosecutors and agents had agreed in early 2022 that Hunter Biden should face tax charges, while Democrats have cast him as the casualty of a partisan smear campaign. David Weiss, who has overseen the investigation, first as the Trump administration’s top federal prosecutor in Delaware and now as a special counsel, is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday behind closed doors, to give his first testimony on the topic.