The Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Special Counsel David Weiss on Monday after the latter refused to forfeit records related to Hunter Biden’s alleged sex-trafficking crimes.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, the suit asked the court to order the DOJ and Weiss’s office to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Heritage earlier this year that sought to obtain documents regarding authorities’ investigation into whether Hunter Biden violated the Mann Act. That law outlaws the transport of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.”
Communications between high-ranking DOJ officials, provided to the House Ways and Means Committee by IRS whistleblowers and released to the public in September, indicated nine probable cases in which the younger Biden “communicat[ed] with prostitutes and coordinat[ed] their travel across state lines,” actions that would violate the Mann Act. Two alleged incidents flagged by Justice Department Tax Division prosecutor Jack Morgan in an email to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, for example, involved two “likely” escorts who “traveled from Los Angeles and New York to meet with Hunter in Boston.”
Weiss announced various tax-related charges against Hunter Biden last week. While these charges confirmed the younger Biden made “‘payments to various women’ including at least one to an exotic dancer and another $11,500 to an escort instructed to stick around for two nights,” Weiss’s filing did not include charges alleging Hunter violated the Mann Act.
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In an effort to uncover information about Hunter’s potential Mann Act violations, Heritage filed a FOIA request with Weiss’s office on July 31 requesting communications between the latter and Main Justice “regarding potential victims in the investigation of Hunter Biden.” Among other things, the request also sought to find out “which DOJ component was responsible for handling victim issues related to the investigation of” Hunter and to obtain any communication Weiss’s office had with the U.S. Probation Office regarding the Mann Act “or related offenses.”
House Republicans’ requests for similar information have also been met with silence. On July 25, for instance, the House Oversight Committee submitted a request with the National Human Trafficking coordinator and director of the Office for Victims of Crime for information on Hunter’s alleged Mann Act violations. Neither division has responded to the request.
In its suit, Heritage alleged that Weiss and the DOJ’s failure to forfeit all “non-exempt responsive records” constitutes a violation of the Justice Department’s rules and FOIA guidelines, and further requested the court “[e]nter a preliminary and permanent injunction” forcing the defendants to comply with its FOIA request “on an expedited basis.” Heritage also asked the court to bar Weiss and the DOJ from withholding the FOIA’d documents and waive fees related to its request.
Heritage FOIA Lawsuit-Weiss… by The Federalist
