(Washington Examiner) Hunter Biden‘s attorneys say prosecutors need not mention “allegations of foreign wrongdoing” at his upcoming federal tax trial, arguing prosecutors are trying to insert “politically charged” details about the president’s son.
Special counsel David Weiss’s team told U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi last week they plan to call a business associate of the president’s son to the stand to testify about an arrangement with Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu, who was attempting to “influence the U.S. government” during Joe Biden‘s term as vice president.
Defense attorneys blamed Weiss’s office for raising matters that recall the “baseless and false allegations of foreign wrongdoing,” arguing such claims are “touted by House Republicans to use Mr. Biden’s proper business activities in Romania and elsewhere to attack him and his father,” according to an Aug. 11 court filing.
But prosecutors say they want to show evidence of that arrangement to rebut the defense’s claims that the first son’s illicit drug use during the years in which he’s accused of failing to pay his taxes affected his decision-making judgment.
Weiss’s team argued that the evidence does “not reflect someone with a diminished capacity, given that he agreed to attempt to influence U.S. public policy and receive millions of dollars.”
Last week, Weiss revealed in a court filing that Popoviciu hired the younger Biden because he wanted U.S. government agencies, namely the State Department, to investigate a bribery inquiry he was facing in Romania in hopes that it would help end his legal troubles.
