A government watchdog group filed suit in a federal court in Delaware this week, seeking to compel the U.S. Justice Department to produce records to determine if the president’s son, Hunter Biden, should be investigated further under a 1910 law relating to “prostitution or debauchery.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project petitioned the same Wilmington bench where the younger Biden was found guilty this month on gun charges, contending there is a significant amount of evidence the first son was being investigated on Mann Act grounds.
The legislation, stemming from a time when prostitution was more common in urban areas, states it’s a felony to “knowingly transport…in interstate or foreign commerce…any woman or girl for prostitution or debauchery.”
The legal brief, obtained by Fox News Digital, includes a portion of a 2023 interview transcript from Joseph Ziegler, an IRS whistleblower, in front of the House Ways & Means Committee.
Ziegler recounted efforts by the DOJ to assess possible Mann Act violations, speaking of a “West Coast assistant” of Joe Biden’s, whom “we knew… to also be in the prostitution would or believed to be in the prostitution world — and he deducted expenses related to her.”
An anonymous legislator then asks about Biden “paying for the travel of an individual to fly out to California or wherever.”
“Or Boston or wherever he was at. [Washington, D.C.] I think one of them — he flew someone for the night,” responded Ziegler.
Ziegler stated he understood the Justice Department to be “compiling” possible violation allegations that had been referred to them but did not know the outcome.
Attorney: DOJ has the information that should be made publicly available
In a Thursday interview with Fox News Digital, Kyle Brosnan, Oversight Project attorney, said he believes the Justice Department has the information and should make it available to the public.
Brosnan said the Oversight Project seeks records of Ziegler’s testimony, any “victim”-related inquiries, and any communications with the probation office regarding the Mann Act.
“If you sort of peel back the layers of the onion, it’s absurd because there is an overwhelming amount of information that already shows these records exist. [They’re found on the Hunter Biden laptop, which was entered into evidence in his criminal case in Delaware,” said Brosnan.
Instead, the DOJ issued a “Glomar response” to inquiries for information regarding the matter — a legal maneuver that parties must deny or confirm the existence of information sought through legal requests, a justified exception to the rule.
In September, GOP Representatives James Comer of Kentucky and Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote a letter to the DOJ after IRS whistleblowers’ testimony, saying the witnesses indicated the agency “compiled a list of potential victims” about a probe of the Mann Act into the first son.
“These women may be victims under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and may also be afforded mandatory restitution pursuant to the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act,” wrote Comer and Greene.
In light of the contents of the laptop and findings by Congress, Brosnan said, the DOJ’s Glomar response was “completely inappropriate” and that it could give credence to claims the department “pulled punches” in the prosecution of Biden.
Executive director of the Oversight Project, Mike Howell, told Fox News Digital in a statement that while “you shouldn’t transport prostitutes within state lines, it is clearly a federal offense to transport them across state lines.”
“This is another criminal offense that Hunter has not been charged for — one that we are forcing the Department of Justice to admit that they are tracking as well as refusing to prosecute.”
