News of another scandal surrounding Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, broke Thursday morning when a report from Politico revealed they had obtained records detailing how the Secret Service intervened during a firearm-related incident in 2018.
The incident involved Hunter Biden and Joe Biden’s daughter-in-law Hallie Biden. It occurred after Hunter Biden had undergone an administrative discharge from the Naval Reserves for testing positive for cocaine use, and then a subsequent divorce from his first wife, Kathleen. At the time of the incident, Hunter Biden was in a romantic relationship with his deceased brother’s wife, Hallie Biden.
“On Oct. 23, 2018, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and daughter in law Hallie were involved in a bizarre incident in which Hallie took Hunter’s gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone,” Politico reported. “Delaware police began investigating, concerned that the trash can was across from a high school and that the missing gun could be used in a crime, according to law enforcement officials and a copy of the police report obtained by POLITICO.”
“But a curious thing happened at the time: Secret Service agents approached the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork involving the sale, according to two people, one of whom has firsthand knowledge of the episode and the other was briefed by a Secret Service agent after the fact,” Politico continued. “The gun store owner refused to supply the paperwork, suspecting that the Secret Service officers wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the missing gun in case it were to be involved in a crime, the two people said. The owner, Ron Palmieri, later turned over the papers to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, which oversees federal gun laws.”
Politico obtained copies of the Firearm Transaction Record and a receipt for the firearm dated Oct. 12, 2018. Hunter Biden allegedly committed a felony by lying on the purchase form. According to Politico, “Hunter responded ‘no’ to a question on the transaction record that asks, ‘Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?’ Five years earlier, he had been discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine, and he and family members have spoken about his history of drug use.”
“The incident began when Hallie searched Hunter’s pickup, which was parked at her home in Wilmington, because of unspecified ‘suspicions she had,’ according to the Delaware State Police report,” Politico reported. “Inside the truck, she found a .38 revolver.”
Hallie took the gun to a nearby grocery store, wrapped it in a plastic bag, then threw it away in a trash bin outside the store.
She told Hunter later that day what she had done, and he told her to retrieve the gun. Hallie returned to the grocery store and discovered the gun was missing, so she reported the issue to the store. The grocery store was next to a high school, causing heightened concerns among the police.
Politico reported, “Arriving on the scene, Delaware State Police retrieved security camera footage from the store and interviewed Paula Janssen, the store manager. We complied with the police and gave them whatever security footage we could,” Janssen told POLITICO.”
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation also responded to the scene, according to people familiar with the situation. At the time, the FBI was monitoring Hunter Biden as part of an investigation that remains ongoing and that currently focuses on his taxes. The FBI declined to comment,” Politico continued. “In addition to questioning Hallie, police called Hunter to the scene, where he was questioned outside the store’s loading dock area and explained he used the gun for target practice, according to the report.”
“At one point, two of Janssen’s employees, described by the police report as ‘Mexican males,’ walked past the loading dock area, and Hunter told a police officer that the store had some suspicious people working for it. Asked if he was referring to those two staffers, Hunter responded, ‘Yea, prolly illegal,’ according to the report,” Politico added.
“When a police officer asked Hunter whether the gun had been used in a crime, the officer reported that Hunter ‘became very agitated with me and asked me if I was intentionally trying to make him mad,’” Politico added. “When the officer asked Hunter whether he had been doing drugs or drinking heavily, he responded, ‘Listen, it isn’t like that. I think she believes I was gonna kill myself,’ according to the report.”
At the time Hunter and Hallie were being questioned, two Secret Service agents arrived at the store where Hunter had purchased the firearm. The agents showed their badges and identification cards and requested the Firearm Transaction Record that Hunter had lied while filling out to purchase the gun earlier that month.
The store owner refused to hand over the form because such items fall under the purview of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The ATF arrived later that day to inspect the form, and the store owner declined to comment on what occurred.
The Secret Service claims to have no record of the incident, and the spokesman for the ATF referred questions to the Delaware State Police. According to Politico, “Jason Hatchell, a spokesman for the Delaware State Police, said any questions about the incident would have to be filed through a Freedom of Information Act Request. The Delaware State Police previously rejected POLITICO’s FOIA request for records related to the incident last November.”
