The Justice Department is trying to prevent the disclosure of 400 pages of sensitive documents about Hunter and Jim Biden’s dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine – by pretending they don’t exist.
Colorado attorney Kevin Evans sued the department in March after it failed to comply with his request for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records of the Bidens’ dealings.
Evans, a FOIA expert, asked for documents regarding “any relationship, communication, gift(s) and/or compensation of any kind” between the President’s son, Hunter or Brother Jim, and China, Russia or Ukraine.
He said prosecutors initially admitted in court to having at least 400 pages of “potentially relevant” documents – but are now trying to get away with saying they could “neither confirm nor deny” the existence of records matching his request.
The DoJ is trying to prevent the disclosure of 400 pages of sensitive documents related to Hunter and Uncle Jim Biden’s dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine, can reveal
Colorado attorney Kevin Evans sued the department in March after it failed to comply with his request for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records of the Bidens deals.
A Justice Department prosecutor, David Weiss, is currently considering criminal charges against Hunter on possible charges of money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying and tax crimes related to the First Son’s foreign operations.
The 400 pages isn’t the only cache of Biden records requested by the government.
The National Archives and Records Administration is preparing to release hundreds of internal Obama White House documents containing information about Hunter’s relationship with controversial Ukrainian gas company Burisma, Business Insider reported this month.
At the time, Joe Biden was Vice President and responsible for relations with Ukraine. His son served on the Burisma board of directors and was paid $83,000 a month.
Biden’s administration can veto the release but must decide by February whether to invoke executive branch privilege to keep it hidden until 2029.
The records are from 2014 and include 69 pictures and 260 email messages mentioning Burisma.
The Evans case has its next hearing in January.
The Greenwood Village, Colo., attorney said he filed his FOIA application in November 2020 after reading about the Bidens’ foreign dealings, and the Justice Department hung him for nearly two years before eventually suing them.
“They ended up producing about 60 pages of documents, but it’s all letters from senators and congressmen asking about Hunter and letters back from the DoJ,” he said.
“Then towards the end of last year they said, ‘Well, we have these 400 pages of potentially responsive documents, we need to review them.’
“In March I filed a lawsuit and before Magistrate Michael Hegarty they made the same statement: they conducted a thorough search and uncovered 400 potentially relevant documents.”
Evans said in his lawsuit that he filed his FOIA request in November 2020 after reading about the Bidens’ foreign operations, and the Justice Department hung him for nearly two years before eventually suing them
Evans said the government hesitated for a few more months and then came up with a puzzling new argument: it could “neither confirm nor deny” the existence of records.
Government agencies have precedent for making such claims to avoid disclosures that could harm national security.
The precedent dates back to a 1975 Los Angeles Times story about a recovery ship secretly built by the CIA to recover a sunken Soviet submarine.
The newspaper submitted a FOIA request, and the agency responded that it “cannot confirm or deny” that it has records of the ship USNS Hughes Glomar Explorer. The response, which was upheld by courts, became known as the “Glomar response.”
“I don’t know how the hell they can take the position that Glomar is applicable now,” Evans said. “It seems to me that the cat is out of the bag after revealing the existence of the documents.”
But the lawyer believes the government will still try to avoid disclosing the papers.
While Biden was vice president, Hunter served on the board of controversial Ukrainian gas company Burisma and was paid $83,000 a month
Justice Department Attorney David Weiss is considering criminal charges against Hunter on possible charges of money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying and tax crimes
“I’m quite confident that they will seek summary judgment on the privacy exceptions under FOIA to avoid having to produce these documents,” he said.
“But I don’t think they should do it in this case, especially if they have disclosed and put on record that potentially relevant documents exist.
“The problem is that FOIA has become a toothless vehicle. Courts do not follow the spirit of the law, they tend to bend back to accept the government’s position rather than compel disclosure.’
Emails obtained by from Hunter’s abandoned laptop and testimonies from whistleblowers show he was involved in a multi-million dollar deal with a Chinese oil giant with close ties to the Chinese government.
Bank records show that Hunter’s Chinese business partners transferred $10 million to their joint venture.
And emails, texts, and whistleblower accounts suggest Joe knew about, and may even have been involved in, the deal.
The most notorious example is a 2017 email from one of Hunter’s business partners, James Gilliar, suggesting that Hunter would hold 10% of the equity of the business on behalf of the “big man” – a nod to his father.