WASHINGTON — President Biden gave his emphatic endorsement to an aggressive legal strategy adopted by his son Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell shortly before House Republicans launched their investigation into the elder Biden’s role in foreign business dealings, according to a new book.
“Let me talk to Abbe,” the president told his son in December 2022, according to the forthcoming tome “War” by Bob Woodward.
“I love what you are doing. Keep doing it. Keep doing it,” Joe Biden reportedly told Lowell, the high-priced attorney hired the same month by the disgraced first son.
Lowell was in the process of launching an attack on Republicans who disseminated files from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop that linked Joe Biden to business relationships in China and Ukraine — as the new House GOP majority prepared to investigate further.
At the time, federal officials had not yet publicly confirmed the authenticity of the laptop, casting doubt on the veracity of the files, which Joe Biden claimed in 2020 were Russian disinformation, and the importance of their contents — giving an opening to Lowell to further sow doubt.
About a month after the presidential phone call, Lowell on Feb. 1 wrote letters to the Justice Department and Delaware’s attorney general asking for criminal investigations of computer repairman John Paul Mac Isaac, who gave files from Hunter’s laptop to the FBI.
Lowell carefully refrained from confirming the authenticity of the damning files by alluding to possible “manipulation” of those records — while seeking criminal inquiries into whether laws were broken that protect certain personal information and that forbid the distribution of stolen property.
The same day, Lowell sought criminal investigations of former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, Giuliani’s attorney Robert Costello and former Trump White House adviser Stephen Bannon for their roles in disseminating the files — and attempted to challenge the nonprofit status of former Trump aide Garrett Ziegler’s group Marco Polo, which published the laptop files online.
Roughly three months after Joe Biden and Lowell spoke, the lawyer sued Mac Isaac for invasion of privacy.
Woodward did not describe his sourcing for the anecdote about the December 2022 phone call, but the Watergate journalist wrote it was one of multiple instances of Joe Biden speaking with Lowell.
White House officials, including in-house lawyers, reportedly opposed the more aggressive strategy by Hunter Biden — which ultimately antagonized congressional Republicans, resulting in the House of Representatives approving an impeachment inquiry into the president last December within hours of Hunter flouting a subpoena for his testimony.
The congressional investigation ultimately uncovered many additional links between Joe Biden and foreign associates of Hunter and first brother James Biden — confirming and more fully fleshing out information revealed in laptop files.
House Republicans produced evidence that the president interacted with his relatives’ associates from two Chinese government-linked business ventures and their patrons from Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine, in addition to many of their domestic associates.
The criminal investigation into Hunter Biden reignited in April 2023 after a pair of IRS investigators came forward to allege a far-reaching cover-up to shield Hunter and head off any lines of questioning into Joe Biden’s role.
Hunter accepted a probation-only plea deal that June, but walked away from the bargain in July over demands for immunity for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could have implicated his father.
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss was elevated to the rank of special counsel to refile charges. Hunter was convicted of gun charges this June and last month pleaded guilty to tax fraud.
The first son is awaiting sentencing in both cases.
Joe Biden has consistently claimed he “never” discussed business with either his son or brother and said in December and again in March that he “did not” interact with their partners — despite photos, emails and witness statements indicating otherwise.
Hunter financed his legal defense through loans from wealthy Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris, who provided the first son with roughly $6.5 million to pay off back taxes, finance his lifestyle and retain legal counsel — beginning shortly after Hunter Biden and Morris met for the first time in late 2019 at a political fundraiser for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
Lowell joined Hunter’s legal team at an inflection point when the criminal investigation had stalled but the congressional inquiry was just beginning.
At the time, a long-running criminal investigation of the first son for tax fraud, gun crimes and potentially illegal foreign lobbying had hit a brick wall — with the US attorneys for Los Angeles and Washington declining to partner with Weiss.
The White House and Lowell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“War” hits bookstores Oct. 15.
