America First Legal, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group, has filed a complaint asking the District of Columbia Bar to investigate whether Hunter Biden should lose his law license because of his illegal drug use and gun purchases and allegations about influence-peddling.
The case presents a tricky test for the D.C. Bar, which lawyers say has been reluctant to dole out punishment to those with high-profile Democratic connections.
Reed D. Rubinstein, an America First Legal attorney licensed in Washington, said Mr. Biden has run afoul of the bar’s rules prohibiting conduct that brings disrepute to lawyers. The rules specifically mention fraud, such as failing to file income taxes and implying an ability to influence a government official.
Mr. Biden admitted to the tax offense in a since-withdrawn plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Congressional Republicans accuse him of influence-peddling based on evidence collected from his text messages and interviews with his business associates.
“The evidence is that Mr. Biden has engaged in professional misconduct, repeatedly and on a significant scale, thereby raising substantial questions as to his honesty, trustworthiness, and fitness as a lawyer,” Mr. Rubinstein wrote in his complaint.
According to records, Mr. Biden, a son of President Biden, was admitted to the D.C. Bar on April 9, 2007, under the name Robert H. Biden. He is listed as active and in good standing.
The D.C. Bar said Thursday that all disciplinary matters are confidential until charges are brought, so it couldn’t confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.
The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Biden’s attorney for this report.
Ty Clevenger, a lawyer who has pursued bar complaints against high-profile political figures with law licenses, including Hillary Clinton and others involved in her email scandal, said America First Legal’s complaint against Mr. Biden is on target, but he doubted that matters.
“It’s a rock-solid grievance, and I applaud them for filing it, but there will never be an investigation because the D.C. Bar is controlled by partisan Democrats. Look at Kevin Clinesmith. He was convicted of a felony, but the D.C. Bar gave him a slap on the wrist because he was serving the interests of the Democratic Party,” Mr. Clevenger said.
Mr. Clinesmith was an FBI attorney who fabricated evidence to justify the bureau’s use of a foreign intelligence spying tool on a Trump campaign figure. He avoided prison time and accepted a one-year suspension of his law license.
Mr. Clevenger said his efforts went nowhere against Mrs. Clinton and her legal team, which was involved in mishandling and deleting 30,000 government emails.
He noted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton admitted to violating a state securities law but the state bar refused to investigate. The bar did go after Mr. Paxton when he challenged the results of the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, bar associations are pursuing investigations against Rudolph W. Giuliani and John Eastman for their roles in representing President Trump in 2020 election matters.
“It’s just naked politics,” Mr. Clevenger said. “I really wish Congress would hold hearings on the politicization of state bar prosecutions.”
Hunter Biden has not been convicted of any charges against him, though he has admitted to some of the underlying behavior in several forums.
He reached a deal with the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware last year to plead guilty to two tax evasion charges and enter into a diversionary agreement for a gun charge. That deal collapsed, and Mr. Biden has been re-indicted on multiple gun charges and tax charges.
Prosecutors say Mr. Biden concealed his drug use when he purchased a revolver in 2018, lying on the federal background check form in the process.
He has also been indicted on charges of avoiding payment of $1.4 million in taxes owed from 2016 to 2019, though investigators say his tax problems extended several years before that.
Mr. Rubinstein said the influence-peddling allegations stem from Congress’ ongoing investigation into the Biden family’s dealings and open-records requests that America First Legal has filed. Evidence shows that Mr. Biden used his father’s name as a money-making tool and suggests he offered access to his father as part of his business.
In one message, Mr. Biden wrote to Chinese business associate Henry Zhao: “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.”
Mr. Biden’s legal team said the message was misconstrued, but Mr. Rubinstein said it was part of a pattern of behavior for Mr. Biden.
Mr. Rubinstein said Mr. Biden should have registered as a foreign agent for his work on behalf of the Ukrainian holding firm Burisma.
Mr. Rubinstein was a senior official in the Trump administration. He is joined at America First Legal by other senior Trump figures, including former White House adviser Stephen Miller and Gene Hamilton, a top attorney in the Justice and Homeland Security departments.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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