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Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, will not face charges ahead of November's midterm elections, according to a former federal prosecutor.
It follows reports from CBS News and The Washington Post that federal agents believe they have enough evidence to prosecute Hunter, for tax offences and making false statements when purchasing a firearm.
Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor who spent nearly three decades at the Department of Justice [DOJ], told Newsweek that any charges are likely to wait until after the election to avoid the appearance of political "meddling."
Rossi said: "The Justice Department will not present any charges to the grand jury before the election. Such charges would be an overwhelming meddling in the political process and violate DOJ protocols."
Rossi added that, if tax charges are levied, Hunter Biden will likely find them tough to defeat in court.
He said: "If the allegations involve taxes, such charges likely would involve the failure to include hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign income, and the concealment of it. In my experience, federal criminal tax charges are very tough ombres [blends] to be beat in a court of law."
However, Peter Zeidenberg, another former federal prosecutor at the DOJ who now works for ArentFox Schiff, said it is hard to assess whether charges will be brought, based on the information given by CBS News and The Washington Post.
He told Newsweek: "I would say that it is not possible to make any prediction based on these stories – there are not anywhere near sufficient facts reported here from which one could say that these cases are or are not viable."
Hunter Biden, 52, first came under investigation in 2018 concerning his foreign business interests and consultancy work.
Insiders told The Washington Post that the case is now focused on whether the president's son reported all his income, and if Hunter lied on paperwork used to buy a gun in 2018.
The case is being supervised by David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, whom President Trump appointed in 2017.
A federal subpoena seen by CBS News shows authorities sought access to Hunter Biden's bank records, going back to 2014.
Political opponents of Joe Biden have for years focused on the activities of his son. In 2019, then-President Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "look into" allegations against the Bidens, according to a White House memorandum.
Earlier in this month, the Daily Mail released a voicemail left by Joe Biden for his son in October 2018, when he said: "It's Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world, pal. You gotta get some help. I know you don't know what to do. I don't either."
Joe Biden has admitted Hunter "had a drug problem" but said "he's fixed it and worked on it, and I'm proud of my son."
In September, My Son Hunter, a film about the Bidens starring British actor Laurence Fox, 44, and distributed by Breitbart News, was released.
Newsweek has contacted the Biden family for comment.
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is on covering news and politics ... Read more