Hunter Biden attorney: No idea if the laptop played into federal tax investigation
Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark claims to have no idea if his client's infamous laptop had anything to do with the federal tax charges to which his client is pleading guilty.
An attorney for Hunter Biden said his client was "happy to move on" after his plea agreement with the Department of Justice on Tuesday, adding he didn't know if the contents of his infamous laptop had anything to do with the probe.
"I think Hunter feels happy to move on with his life and his recovery and keep doing – the one thing nobody talks about is how long Hunter has been sober. Moving forward with his life. Being a good person. No one talks about that. That’s what he’s going to continue to do," attorney Chris Clark said on MSNBC.
Fox News has confirmed that the president's son will plead guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax. Hunter Biden also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
"A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors," U.S. Attorney David Weiss' office said. "The investigation is ongoing."
Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, appears on MSNBC on June 20, 2023.
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Clark said, however, he believed the matter was concluded.
"My understanding is that we're done," Clark said.
"Do you have any idea if Hunter Biden's laptop had anything to do with this investigation?" MSNBC's Katy Tur asked.
"I don’t," he said. "I can't recall being asked about it, to be honest with you, but there’s nothing about the situation that’s been filed that has a thing to do with the laptop… You'd have to ask the prosecutors."
The laptop, which many media outlets initially cast as a Russian disinformation operation, has been at the center of Republican allegations that Biden improperly traded on his famous name in his overseas business dealings and even embroiled his father in illicit activity. In addition to what Republicans call incriminating emails, the abandoned laptop that came to light in 2020 contains salacious videos and photos involving sex and drug use.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
"I’ve seen people wave various random e-mails around. I’ve never seen it. Obviously whatever that stuff [is] has been available to everyone in the United States for many years, sadly. I don’t know how you’d feel if everyone was disseminating the contents of your stolen phone. I wouldn’t be happy about it," Clark said.
"I might sue," Tur said.
Asked if Biden might pursue defamation charges or pursue a case against people for disseminating the laptop, Clark demurred.
"There are people who've treated him very poorly. I understand he’s the son of the president of the United States, but all of us have family members that have struggled with addiction and other issues, and I know it’s hard to have empathy for that, but a lot of people showed no empathy," he said. "We just finished a five-year DOJ investigation. That’s not a legal issue I’m ready to take on today."
Clark said he expected Biden to be released without conditions by the judge, as the prosecutors in the case aren't asking for jail time in the plea agreement.
"I think the judge is going to do what’s fair, and I think what’s fair is my client gets on with his life," Clark said.
He declined to comment on his conversations with prosecutors in the case but called them "very diligent" and felt they strived to be fair.
Commenting on Speaker Kevin McCarthy's, R-Calif., remarks that the deal showed the justice system was two-tiered and Biden was getting a sweetheart deal, Clark said "he's not right."
Hunter Biden disembarks from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, U.S., February 4, 2023. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
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Asked if Biden was treated fairly, he replied, "That’s a really complicated question. This is a resolution that we took under all the circumstances… I think that Mr. Biden had a period in his life that was troubled where it’s very clear he didn’t timely pay the taxes he was supposed to pay at the time. He subsequently has paid them, but he didn’t timely pay them. I think it’s a very hard question whether I would have been prosecuted for that or not."
"Do you think because his name is Hunter Biden, because he’s been the focus of so much of the Republican line of attack against the current president, that maybe this investigation was bigger and broader and more intensive than it would have been if this was Chris Clark facing these allegations?" Tur asked.
"I spent many years interfacing with the prosecutors who brought this investigation," Clark said. "I think they really tried to be fair. I think that they tried to be thorough, tried to look into everything possible."
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Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.