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Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Hunter Biden, the president's son who is facing federal gun charges, asked his judge on Wednesday for permission to subpoena former President Donald Trump and former Attorney General William Barr in his defense. Republicans long have argued that the dragnet investigation into Biden has been influenced by political pressure to go lenient on him after it was started under the Trump administration.
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The filing appears to turn the table on the question of political influence back to the former Republican president and his ex-attorney general. The younger Biden saw his plea deal on three federal weapons charges fall apart in July.
The move is a continued counteroffensive by Biden's legal team since the president's son entered not-guilty pleas to the charges after the plea deal ended.
Last month, Biden sued Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani over the release of private materials found on his laptop, the Internal Revenue Service for allegedly releasing his confidential information, and former White House aide Garrett Ziegler in the matter.
"Mr. Biden seeks specific information from three former DOJ officials and the former President that goes to the heart of his defense that this is, possibly, a vindictive or selective prosecution arising from an unrelenting pressure campaign beginning in the last administration, in violation of Mr. Biden's Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution," Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote to U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Hunter Biden's attorney also wants subpoenas for former acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue, Rosen's deputy attorney general.
"Public reporting reveals certain instances that appear to suggest incessant, improper, and partisan pressure applied by then President Trump to Messrs. Rosen, Donoghue, and Barr in relation to an investigation of Mr. Biden," the court documents said.
