WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Republicans released testimony Monday from special counsel David Weiss, revealing that federal prosecutors investigating Hunter Biden considered, but ultimately declined, charging him under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) due to insufficient evidence.
In his June 6 interview with the House Judiciary Committee, Weiss — who previously served as U.S. Attorney for Delaware — said he personally weighed bringing FARA charges against President Biden’s son, but the team could not make the case.
“We didn’t have enough evidence to prove that Hunter Biden had acted as an agent of a foreign principal and had engaged in political activity in that regard,” Weiss said in the transcript. “We just couldn’t put together a sufficient case.”
Weiss explained that while the law applies to individuals working for both foreign governments and private foreign entities, he viewed acting on behalf of a foreign government as more serious. Nevertheless, the legal threshold wasn’t met for prosecution.
The testimony comes amid the House GOP’s ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Investigators have accused Hunter Biden of using his father’s political connections to secure business deals with foreign interests — including firms in Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and Russia — while his father was vice president.
Weiss had previously hinted at potential FARA violations, particularly relating to Hunter’s lobbying efforts on behalf of Romanian businessman Gabriel Popoviciu and his dealings with the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. From 2015 to 2017, more than $3 million flowed through an LLC tied to Hunter’s business partner, with roughly a third of that money reaching Hunter’s accounts.
In one example, State Department emails revealed that Hunter sought help from U.S. Embassy officials in Rome for a Burisma-related venture while his father was overseeing Ukraine policy.
Emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop also pointed to multimillion-dollar dealings with a Chinese state-backed investment fund, where Hunter allegedly held a 10% stake “for the big guy” — a reference some witnesses interpreted as Joe Biden.
House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) previously claimed that financial records showed Hunter and his uncle James Biden routed payments through shell companies, with 10% eventually reaching Joe Biden. The White House has denied wrongdoing, calling the transfer a legitimate loan repayment.
Weiss’s investigation faced delays and difficulties, including challenges in recruiting staff and navigating legal limits. He noted that Hunter Biden’s defense rejected an early plea deal in July 2023 because it did not grant immunity from FARA-related charges.
In a rare move, President Biden granted his son a pardon in December 2024 after Hunter pleaded guilty to failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes and was convicted of illegally owning a firearm while using crack cocaine. The pardon covered alleged criminal conduct between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.
Weiss said the pardon effectively closed the door on further charges related to that time period, which is why his January 2025 final report did not address potential FARA violations or other unresolved issues.
“Even if those matters had been investigated,” Weiss said, “I was uncomfortable with the notion… of discussing what any of those investigations may have meant for third parties that I wasn’t going to charge.”
