The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is attempting to conceal 400 pages of documents related to the business dealings of Hunter and Jim Biden in China, Russia, and Ukraine, according to an in-depth report from The Daily Mail .
Colorado lawyer Kevin Evans filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in November 2020 for records of any “relationship, communication, gift(s), and/or remuneration in any form” between the two brothers and the aforementioned countries.
After the DOJ initially admitted to possessing at least 400 pages of “potentially relevant” documents, it has now resorted to the “Glomar response,” refusing to either confirm or deny the existence of records that match Evans’ request.
In March 2021, Evans sued the DOJ for failing to comply with his FOIA request.
The case is set to have a hearing in January.
In the past, the “Glomar response” has been used by government agencies to protect national security by avoiding disclosures that could potentially harm it. The response was first utilized by the CIA in the 1970s in response to a request for information about a secretly built salvage ship.
In addition to the 400 pages sought by Evans, the National Archives and Records Administration is preparing to release hundreds of internal White House documents from the Obama administration related to Hunter Biden’s connection to Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
Joe Biden, who was Vice President at the time, had responsibility for relations with Ukraine, while his son served on the board of Burisma and received a monthly salary of $83,000.
The records, which include 69 images and 260 emails mentioning Burisma, date back to 2014 and the Biden administration has the power to veto their release. It must decide by February whether to invoke executive privilege to keep the documents hidden until 2029.
Evans, who claims that the DOJ “strung him along” for almost two years before he filed the lawsuit, said that the agency “produced about 60 pages of documents, but they’re all letters from senators and congressmen asking about Hunter, and letters from DoJ back.”
He added, “Towards the end of last year they said, ‘well we have these 400 pages of potentially responsive documents, we need to review them.'”
“I don’t know how the heck they now can take the take the position that Glomar is applicable,” said Evans. “To me, it seems the cat’s out of the bag here after having disclosed the documents exist.”
The Colorado lawyer believes that the DOJ will try to avoid disclosing the documents by seeking summary judgment based on privacy exemptions under the FOIA. “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 accommodate the government,” he said.
A DOJ prosecutor, David Weiss, is reportedly considering a criminal case against Hunter Biden with potential allegations of money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying, and tax crimes in relation to his overseas business dealings.
