By Lindsay Whitehurst
Hunter Biden asked a judge on Wednesday to approve subpoenas for documents from Donald Trump and former Justice Department officials related to whether political pressure wrongly influenced the criminal case against him.
Biden's attorneys allege there were “certain instances that appear to suggest incessant, improper, and partisan pressure applied” by Trump to his then-Attorney General William Barr and two top deputies, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue.
While charges against President Joe Biden's son were not brought until this year, the investigation into his taxes and a gun purchase began in 2018, while Trump, a Republican, was still president.
The court filing cites public comments made by Trump, information from the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and details from Barr's book in which he described bubbling tension after Trump tried to pressure him over the status of the Hunter Biden probe.
The push for subpoenas comes as defense attorneys fight the federal firearms case filed against Hunter Biden, who is accused of breaking laws against drug users having guns. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case is on a track toward a possible trial in 2024 while his father, a Democrat who defeated Trump in 2020, is campaigning for reelection.
The subpoenas would seek documents and other communications about the investigation, including its origins and charging decisions. Representatives for Trump and the three former top Justice Department officials did not immediately return email messages seeking comment.
Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell argued the information was essential to his defense that the case is “possibly, a vindictive or selective prosecution arising from an unrelenting pressure campaign beginning in the last administration," that violated his rights.
The subpoena request is before U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump nominee whose questions about a proposed plea deal over the summer ended with the agreement imploding in July.
Hunter Biden had been expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges in an agreement that would have spared him prosecution on a gun count if he stayed out of trouble for two years.
It had been pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Trump and congressional Republicans investigating nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the Justice Department’s handling of the case.
Hunter Biden has taken a more aggressive legal approach in recent months, striking back with lawsuits against Republican Trump allies who have traded and passed around private data from a laptop that purportedly belonged to him.
No new tax charges have yet been filed, but the special counsel overseeing the case has indicated they are possible in Washington or in California, where Hunter Biden lives.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
The Supreme Court is allowing Lisa Cook to remain as a Federal Reserve governor for now.
Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.
A new report finds the Department of Government Efficiency’s remaking of the federal workforce has battered the Washington job market and put more households in the metropolitan area in financial distress.
A new poll finds U.S. adults are more likely than they were a year ago to think immigrants in the country legally benefit the economy. That comes as President Donald Trump's administration imposes new restrictions targeting legal pathways into the country. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey finds Americans are more likely than they were in March 2024 to say it’s a “major benefit” that people who come to the U.S. legally contribute to the economy and help American companies get the expertise of skilled workers. At the same time, perceptions of illegal immigration haven’t shifted meaningfully. Americans still see fewer benefits from people who come to the U.S. illegally.
