Hunter Biden prosecutor slams first son’s attempt to subpoena Trump, Barr: ‘Meritless’ 

Special Counsel David Weiss urged a Delaware federal judge on Tuesday to deny Hunter Biden’s request to subpoena former President Donald Trump along with former Attorney General Bill Barr and other former Justice Department officials, calling the demand “meritless” and nothing more than a “fishing expedition.” 

Defense attorneys for the 53-year-old first son had asked US District Judge Maryellen Noreika to issue subpoenas for Trump, Barr, former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue earlier this month.

The attorneys claim statements made by the former officials suggest that there are “partisan ambitions” behind the five-year-long criminal probe into Hunter. Weiss disagreed.

“His motion is meritless and should be denied,” Weiss wrote in a filing submitted to the Delaware federal court opposing the subpoena request. 

“Not only does defendant’s motion fail to identify any actual evidence of bias, vindictiveness, or discriminatory intent on the Special Counsel’s part, his arguments ignore an inconvenient truth: No charges were brought against defendant during the prior administration when the subpoena recipients actually held office in the Executive Branch,” the Delaware US attorney added. 

Weiss notes that all charges filed against Hunter – three felony counts related to lying about being addicted to crack cocaine when he bought a gun nearly five years ago – have been brought “during the current administration — one in which defendant’s father, Joseph R. Biden, is the President of the United States and Merrick B. Garland is the Attorney General that was appointed by President Biden and who personally appointed the Special Counsel.”

“Defendant has not shown, nor can he, how external statements by political opponents of President Biden improperly pressured him, his Attorney General, or the Special Counsel to pursue charges against the President’s son,” Weiss argued. 

He further notes that “claims of vindictive and selective prosecution are not trial defenses” and are “never argued to trial juries.” 

Hunter’s lawyers, Abbe Lowell and Bartholomew Dalton, are seeking to obtain records or communications regarding the investigation dating back to Jan. 20, 2017 — including diaries, journals, memoirs, memos, and notes from Trump, Barr and the two other ex-DOJ officials. 

The attorneys argue that remarks, congressional interviews, and social media posts by each have hinted at “an almost-nonstop public pressure campaign” by Trump, 77, to prosecute Hunter for his own “partisan ambitions.”

They had hoped to obtain the documents related to their subpoena request by Dec. 1. 

Barr, Rosen and Donoghue all took office after the probe into Hunter’s alleged tax and gun law violations began in November 2018. 

“Defendant’s sweeping subpoena requests contain numerous requests that amount to the kind of fishing expedition that courts have condemned as improper,” Weiss argued. 

Hunter is expected to stand trial on the three firearms-related charges next year. He may face further tax fraud charges in Washington, DC, or Los Angeles for missing payments on millions of dollars he earned between 2017 and 2018.

House Republicans are also conducting an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, 81, alleging that he may have abused his office as vice president, profited from his son’s overseas business dealings and interfered in the government’s probe into his son.