Judicial Watch recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Secret Service, seeking all records related to a gun owned by Hunter Biden that was thrown into a Delaware dumpster in 2018.
Explaining the lawsuit, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “The Secret Service and the Biden administration apparently are in cover-up mode for Hunter Biden. Whether its Hunter Biden’s laptop, his business practices and travel, or these documents related to the careless disposal of a gun in a dumpster near a high school, this administration continues to put up unlawful roadblocks to any effort to investigate the activities of the Biden family, particularly Hunter.”
As reported by Politico in March 2021, Hunter Biden was dating his brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, and on Oct. 23, 2018, she had unspecified “suspicions” and searched Hunter’s truck. There she found a .38 revolver. “Hallie took the gun to Janssen’s Market, a nearby high-end grocery store where the Bidens are longtime regular customers,” said Politico. “There, she tossed the gun, wrapped in a black shopping bag, into a trash bin outside of the store.”
Shortly thereafter, two Secret Service agents went to the store where Hunter had purchased the gun and “asked to take possession of the Firearms Transaction Record that Hunter had filled out to buy the gun,” reported Politico. The store owner refused to turn the document over because the ATF is responsible for such papers. Later, the Secret Service claimed it “had no involvement in this alleged incident,” said Politico.
In its FOIA lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sept. 19, Judicial Watch stated: “On March 25, 2021, Plaintiff submitted a FOIA request to the U.S. Secret Service, a component of Defendant [DHS], seeking access to the following records:
“A. All records, including but not limited to reports, telephone logs, witness statements, and memoranda, related to the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of a firearm owned by Hunter Biden found in a Delaware dumpster circa October 2018.
“B. All records of communications sent to and from USSS officials internally and with outside parties regarding the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of a firearm owned by Hunter Biden found in a Delaware dumpster circa October 2018 referenced in Bullet [A].”
On April 2, 2021, the Secret Service informed Judicial Watch that it was doing a search for any records and that they would be mailed to them “upon completion of the processing.” However, by the time the lawsuit was filed nearly 5 months later, Judicial Watch reported that “the Secret Service has failed to produce the requested records or demonstrate that the requested records are lawfully exempt from production… Defendant is in violation of FOIA.”
The FOIA lawsuit is calling on the court to order the DHS and Secret Service to produce the records requested in the original FOIA letter of April 2021.
Through other FOIA requests and lawsuits, Judicial Watch has obtained records on Hunter Biden’s Burisma Holdings’ lobbying operation “to an influence-peddling operation involving the Clinton campaign during the 2016 election,” as well as Hunter Biden’s travels with Secret Service protection during the Obama administration – “411 separate domestic and international flights, including to 29 different foreign countries. He visited China five times.”
Reporting from MRC.
