While President Joe Biden insists that his son Hunter "has done nothing wrong," former Attorney General Bill Barr doesn't share that assessment.
During an interview this past weekend, Barr suggested that the president's son is likely to face "serious charges."
According to Newsweek, Barr made the claim while speaking with CBS News anchor Catherine Herridge on Saturday.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr tells @CBS_Herridge he suspects the Justice Department is "nearing a charging decision" in the Hunter Biden investigation, which launched during his time as attorney general. pic.twitter.com/9akL0dkyal
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 27, 2023
He pointed to a years-long Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation looking into alleged tax offenses and a 2018 gun purchase.
Federal law prohibits "an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance" from acquiring a firearm. Meanwhile, Biden has a well-publicized history of using crack cocaine and other illegal drugs.
"There's probably been a lot of hand-wringing in many different places, but I assume that the defense went in there to try to see what they think would be a way to resolve this without serious charges against Hunter Biden," Barr said before adding, "I suspect that they're going to be unsuccessful."
However, the former attorney general sounded far more skeptical about whether or not information uncovered by the House Oversight Committee would lead to a criminal conviction.
House Oversight Committee James Comer announced earlier this month that bank records show millions of dollars in foreign cash was filtered through multiple companies to members of the Biden family.
"From a historical standpoint, we've never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world," Comer said during a press conference broadcast on C-SPAN.
While Barr expressed concern over "abuses of power" by the president's son, he is nevertheless unconvinced that proof of criminal wrongdoing will emerge.
"There's a difference between abuses of power, shameful behavior when you're in power and so forth—and something that can actually be proven as a crime," Barr explained.
"I joined the conclusion that there was a lot of shameful self dealing and influence peddling and so forth. I think the American people should take note," he continued.
"That should be explained and shown to the American people. The question of whether you can prove a crime is a different matter," the former attorney general added.
