White House Doesn’t Approve of Hunter Biden’s Legal Strategy – Hunter Biden has an aggressive legal approach and a lawyer going on the offensive to fight the president’s son’s various legal troubles.
But now the White House is getting involved, and some of President Joe Biden’s advisors are at odds with how Hunter’s more assertive legal team is doing business.
Could You Donate to Hunter’s Legal Defense?
One of the gambits Hunter’s relatively new lawyer is pursuing is to set up a legal defense fund that will take donations, perhaps including donors from foreign countries.
The problem is that the younger Biden is being investigated for his business dealings overseas that have included wire transfers for unknown reasons.
Hunter Tries a New Lawyer
Hunter’s legal team added Abbe Lowell in December to try and take the fight to Republicans who are investigating his client. This is a shift away from Hunter’s previous lawyer’s more passive legal strategy.
Lowell’s idea to create a legal fund has at least one expert wondering if that is a good idea. Anthony Coley, the former spokesman for the Department of Justice and senior adviser to Attorney General Merrick Garland, told Axios this legal fund needed to dot all the I’s and cross all the T’s.
“For this fund to work, it must be extraordinarily transparent and even restrictive by prohibiting foreign citizens and registered lobbyists from contributing,” Coley said. “Without these type of guard rails, the fund will be a legitimate headache for the White House.”
The White House Wanted Hunter’s Previous Lawyer to Stay on Board
Biden’s previous lawyer Josh Levy quit the legal team after Lowell was hired, seemingly disagreeing with Lowell’s approach.
White House advisors preferred Levy to stay on board as he was seen as someone who would do better defending against the congressional probes looking into Hunter’s business practices.
Federal authorities are also investigating Hunter for tax improprieties and allegedly lying on a federal gun application. He could be indicted for these transgressions.
White House personnel want Hunter’s legal team to be forthcoming with information and updates when there are developments with the case and hope that Lowell will keep them advised as things change.
For example, Hunter’s lawyers were recently summoned by the DOJ to discuss the status of the investigation and the president’s advisers would like to be informed on the case as its status evolves at the Justice Department.
Typically, a meeting between defense attorneys and DOJ lawyers can mean indictments are imminent, but no charges have been filed as of May 5.
What Is the Proper White House Role?
The White House is in a tricky situation. The president has already claimed he knew nothing about Hunter’s business dealings and has never discussed them with his son.
And the White House does not want to give the appearance they are interfering with the DOJ, FBI, and IRS – the government entities that are interested in Hunter’s alleged activities with tax returns and the gun application. White House staffers are walking a tightrope between monitoring the situation and wanting to influence Hunter’s legal strategy.
Hunter is reportedly in dire financial straits and owes lawyers millions of dollars. This is why he is contemplating a legal defense fund. He also must pay child support to a woman in Arkansas.
The legal situation for Hunter does not look good and a shift in strategy is understandable. But will it be effective if the younger Biden gets indicted? If that happens, he will need even more money to pay his legal bills, so a defense fund is understandable.
This will not keep critics at bay who believe that he is in a quandary because there already have been too many dollars flying around the president’s son.
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Author Expertise and Experience
Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
