Hunter Biden Says He’s Under Federal Investigation Over ‘Tax Affairs’
President-elect Joe Biden’s son revealed Wednesday that he’s facing a federal investigation in Delaware over matters relating to his “tax affairs.”
Hunter Biden, who has long been a target of personal attacks from associates of President Donald Trump, said in a statement issued by his father’s transition team that he learned of the existence of the probe on Tuesday. The investigation is being led by the U.S. attorney’s office in Wilmington, Delaware, the younger Biden added.
“They are investigating my tax affairs,” he said. “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
The specifics of the investigation are not known, and an attorney for Hunter Biden did not return a request for comment. Kim Reeves, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware, declined to comment, citing “an ongoing investigation.”
President-elect Biden is “deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger,” according to a statement from his transition team.
Word of the Hunter Biden probe comes as his father is assembling a Cabinet ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration. Hours before the transition team statement on Hunter Biden, the president-elect formally unveiled his defense secretary pick at an event space in Wilmington.
Hunter Biden, 50, became a political punching bag for Trump, Rudy Giuliani and other conservatives who insisted that he was involved in corruption while working for Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, and that his father, as vice president, helped him evade prosecution in the eastern European country.
Trump’s obsession with Burisma resulted in his impeachment after he tried to pressure Ukraine’s president in the summer of 2019 to launch an investigation into the Biden family despite no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the former vice president.
Hunter Biden has faced other challenges.
While his father was still vice president, Hunter Biden was discharged from the U.S. Navy after testing positive for cocaine. He subsequently admitted a yearslong struggle with addiction.
___
(c)2020 New York Daily News
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
