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The Department of Justice is trying to prevent disclosure of 400 pages of sensitive documents on Hunter and Jim Biden’s dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine – by pretending they don’t exist.
Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans sued the department in March after it failed to comply with his request for records on the Bidens’ dealings under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Evans, a FOIA expert, asked for documents pertaining to ‘any relationship, communication, gift(s), and/or remuneration in any form’ between the president’s son Hunter or brother Jim, and China, Russia or Ukraine.
He said government lawyers first admitted in court to having at least 400 pages of ‘potentially relevant’ documents – but are now trying to get away with saying they can ‘neither confirm nor deny’ the existence of any records that match his request.
The DoJ is trying to prevent disclosure of 400 pages of sensitive documents on Hunter and uncle Jim Biden’s dealings with China, Russia and Ukraine, DailyMail.com can revealÂ
Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans sued the department in March after it failed to comply with his request for records on the Bidens dealings under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
A Justice Department prosecutor, David Weiss, is currently considering a criminal case against Hunter with potential allegations of money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying and tax crimes in relation to the First Son’s overseas business dealings.
The 400 pages are not the only cache of Biden records being sought from the government.
The National Archives and Records Administration is preparing to release hundreds of Obama White House internal documents containing information about Hunter’s relationship with controversial Ukrainian gas company Burisma, Business Insider reported this month.
Joe Biden was vice president at the time, with responsibility for relations with Ukraine. His son was serving on the board of Burisma, getting paid $83,000 per month.
Biden’s administration is able to veto the release, but must decide by February whether to invoke executive privilege to keep them hidden until 2029.
The records date back to 2014 and include 69 images and 260 email messages mentioning Burisma.
Evans’ case has its next hearing in January.
The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based lawyer said he filed his FOIA request in November 2020 after reading about the Bidens’ overseas business dealings, and the Justice Department strung him along for almost two years before he eventually sued them.
‘They eventually produced about 60 pages of documents, but they’re all letters from senators and congressmen asking about Hunter, and letters from DoJ back,’ 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 suit, and before Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty they made the same representation: they’ve done a thorough search, they’ve uncovered 400 potentially responsive documents.’
Evans said in his suit that he filed his FOIA request in November 2020 after reading about the Bidens’ overseas business dealings, and the Justice Department strung him along for almost two years before he eventually sued them
Evans said the government dithered for a few more months, then made a confusing new argument: that they could ‘neither confirm nor deny’ the existence of any records.
Government agencies have a legal precedent to make such claims to avoid disclosures that could harm national security.
The precedent dates back to a 1975 Los Angeles Times story about a salvage ship secretly built by the CIA to recover a sunken Soviet submarine.
The paper filed a FOIA request about it and the agency responded that it could ‘neither confirm nor deny’ it had records about the ship, USNS Hughes Glomar Explorer. The response, upheld by courts, became known as a ‘Glomar response’.
‘I don’t know how the heck they now can take the take the position that Glomar is applicable,’ Evans said. ‘To me, it seems the cat’s out of the bag here after having disclosed the documents exist.’
But the attorney thinks the government will try to avoid disclosure of the papers even so.Â
While Biden was vice president, Hunter was serving on the board of controversial Ukrainian gas company Burisma, getting paid $83,000 per month
Justice Department prosecutor, David Weiss, is considering a criminal case against Hunter with potential allegations of money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying and tax crimes
‘I’m quite confident that they will move for summary judgment on the privacy exemptions under FOIA in an effort to avoid having to produce these documents,’ he said.
‘But I don’t think they should in this instance, particularly when they’ve disclosed and put on the record that potentially responsive documents exist.
‘The problem is, FOIA has become a toothless vehicle. Courts do not comply with the spirit of the law, they’re more inclined to bend over backwards to accept the government’s position rather than force disclosure.’
Emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop obtained by DailyMail.com, and testimony from whistleblowers, shows he was involved in a multi-million-dollar deal with a Chinese oil giant closely linked to the Chinese government.
Bank records show Hunter’s Chinese business partners transferred $10million to their joint venture.
And emails, texts, and accounts from whistleblowers suggest Joe was aware of the deal, and may have even been involved.
The most infamous example is a 2017 email from one of Hunter’s business partners, James Gilliar, who suggests that Hunter would hold 10% of the equity in the deal on behalf of ‘the big guy’ – reference to his father.
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