Hunter Biden says indicted FBI informant tainted tax case

Hunter Biden slammed Special Counsel David Weiss for relying upon now-discredited FBI informant Alexander Smirnov to revive a federal gun case against him and derail his plea deal. 

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for the president's son, on Tuesday asked a judge in Delaware to force prosecutors to turn over additional information about his plea deal which collapsed in July, citing last week's indictment of Smirnov.

The former federal informant was charged with lying to the FBI about Hunter Biden and his father's connection to Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.

Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty to tax charges in federal court in Delaware but the deal collapsed after prosecutors revealed they'd reached an "impasse" in plea talks with him to resolve the case.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed David Weiss as special counsel in August to oversee the Justice Department's criminal investigation into the president's son. 

Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg

Weiss indicted Hunter Biden in September on federal charges he purchased a firearm without disclosing that he was unlawfully using drugs. In December, the president's son was again indicted by the special counsel in California for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes.

Smirnov was charged last week with falsely telling the FBI in 2020 that President Biden and his son each took $5 million in bribes from Burisma. The government investigated his allegations at the time, according to the indictment, and recommended the investigation into his claims be closed in August of that year. 

Lowell said Tuesday that Smirnov's claims helped shape the government's investigation of the president's son and also derailed his client's plea deal last July. 

"It now seems clear that the Smirnov allegations infected this case," Lowell said. It is remarkable that "the Special Counsel's team would follow Mr. Smirnov down his rabbit hole of lies as long as it did."

A spokesman for the special counsel didn't immediately return a voicemail and email messages seeking comment about Lowell's request. 

Political animus

Later on Tuesday, Hunter Biden's lawyers filed a flurry of motions in the federal court in California seeking to have the tax charges dismissed. 

One of the motions contends the indictment should be tossed because it was motivated by political animus, particularly from former president Donald Trump, who the lawyers claim pressured his Republicans allies to make sure that Hunter Biden was prosecuted in order to damage his father.

"Mr. Trump is ground zero for improper motive," Hunter Biden's attorneys wrote. "During his term in office, President Trump incessantly called on DOJ, the media, the public and even foreign governments to target and investigate Mr. Biden."

Trump continued to push for Hunter Biden's prosecution after he left the White House, the attorneys said.

In another filing, Hunter Biden's defense team claimed prosecutors used information he provided to them only after he'd been promised immunity as part of the earlier discussions about a plea agreement. 

Another motion argued the indictment should be dismissed because Weiss was appointed as special counsel unlawfully. Defense lawyers said federal regulations require special counsels to be appointed from "outside the government." Weiss is — and was at the time of his appointment — the U.S. attorney for Delaware.

In other filings, the defense lawyers said the case shouldn't have been charged in California because the alleged crimes occurred in Washington, and that the indictment should be tossed because two IRS agents, who testified before Congress and appeared often on news programs, disclosed private information about Hunter Biden's tax returns.  

The case is U.S. v. Biden, 23-cr-00599, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).