Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris has denied that he violated federal election law by loaning millions of dollars to first son Hunter Biden — claiming that his true motive was to shield Hunter from congressional inquiries stemming from then-President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
However, an inspection of the chronology reveals holes in that defense.
Morris sat for a closed-door deposition Thursday with the House committees investigating President Biden for alleged corruption — claiming afterward that Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) misrepresented his testimony.
“You stated in the press release that ‘[s]hortly after meeting Hunter Biden at a Joe Biden campaign event in 2019, Kevin Morris began paying Hunter Biden’s tax liability to insulate then‐presidential candidate Joe Biden from political liability,’” Morris attorney Bryan Sullivan wrote to Comer.
“This misstates Mr. Morris’ testimony. Rather, Mr. Morris was concerned only that people like you not drag him into things like former President Trump’s impeachment, began helping Mr. Hunter Biden for that reason, and Mr. Morris testified that he never thought about President Biden’s campaign that he was only focused on helping his client Mr. Hunter Biden.”
However, evidence indicates that Morris expressed an interest in the political angle of his aid after Trump, who was impeached by the House of Representatives in late 2019 for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family’s dealings there, was acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 5, 2020.
Two days later, on Feb. 7, 2020 — about two months after Morris met the younger Biden at a campaign fundraiser for his father — the lawyer warned a team of accountants that they should expedite their work on Hunter’s tax papers to avoid “considerable risk personally and politically.”
That email was provided to Congress by IRS case agent Joseph Ziegler, a self-identified Democrat who joined his supervisor Gary Shapley last year in alleging a Justice Department cover-up to shield Joe and Hunter Biden from scrutiny in a probe focused on tax fraud, money laundering and unregistered foreign lobbying.
Morris has provided Hunter with at least $5 million in loans since becoming his fast friend, and Comer noted Thursday that Morris acknowledged visiting the White House three times during the current administration.
Sullivan countered that Morris only briefly engaged with Joe Biden during those visits.
Republicans note that if Morris was motivated by electoral politics, his aid to Hunter Biden could have violated the $3,300-per-election limit on federal donations to candidates.
