Rainy weather has made its way up the East Coast Sunday, bringing flooding and killing power in New Jersey after Tropical Storm Ophelia battered North Carolina.  

In the Tri-State area, people will face the brunt of lingering, miserable weather for much of Sunday as the post-tropical storm moves past. There is still a risk of coastal flooding and heavy, persistent rain – from DC to NYC on Sunday. 

Yesterday, the National Hurricane Center reported just after 6:20am, the storm had made landfall near Emerald Isle, North Carolina. The storm had maximum winds reaching 70mph, with sustained winds of 61mph.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Fenwick Island, Delaware. A hurricane watch was also in effect in North Carolina for the area north of Surf City to Ocracoke Inlet.

In New Jersey today, winds and the deluge have been causing disruption, and waves near the shore have been recorded as reaching up to 10 feet high. 

At the Cleveland Park Metro Station in Washington, DC, officials are anticipating flooding and have sandbagged the vicinity, as well as other flood-prone stations. 

New York City locals woke up to torrential rain and strong winds Sunday, with drizzly weather expected to continue into the beginning of the new week as the city reels from the final effects of Ophelia. 

Global Citizen Festival, held in Central Park, continued on despite the wet weather on Saturday evening – as festivalgoers in the Big Apple braved the torrent to watch big names like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lauryn Hill.  

Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center Philippe Papin said on Sunday: ‘There have been tropical-storm-force winds observed, but those are starting to gradually subside as the system moves further inland.

‘However, there is a significant flooding rainfall threat for a large portion of eastern North Carolina into southern Virginia over the next 12 to 24 hours.’

NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said: ‘New Yorkers should take precautions regarding the forecast for high winds and rain during our first fall weekend.

‘This weekend’s weather is also a reminder that we are still in the middle of Atlantic Hurricane season and it is a great time to review your preparedness plan for your home or business, especially if you live in flood-prone areas.’ 

Footage showed the destruction caused in Greenville and Washington, North Carolina, Sunday morning after the storm brought heavy rain and major flooding.

Roads and streets were submerged, with cars unable to pass through the floodwater. 

Rescue teams with small boats made their way through the water to bring people trapped in cars and houses to safety.    

On Sunday morning, 2,600 people were without power in North Carolina, and 5,800 were blacked out in New Jersey.

During the intense deluge on Saturday, there were over 52,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia without power – but the majority have now been restored.  

The National Hurricane Center said in a morning update there will be a gradual weakening during the next 48 hours as the low center moves slowly offshore.

Water levels remain elevated within portions of Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers – but should gradually recede through today, experts said.

Throughout Sunday, portions of the Mid-Atlantic to southern New England will experience up to three inches of rainfall. 

According to the NHC: ‘This rainfall may produce localized flash, urban, and small stream flooding impacts across portions of the Mid-Atlantic region into southern New England. 

‘Isolated river flooding is possible in areas of heavier rainfall.

‘Swells generated by Ophelia will continue to affect much of the east coast of the United States through today. 

‘These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.’

On Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued his state’s emergency declaration, aiming to expedite preparations and help provide a swift response.

‘The storm’s path has been difficult to predict and we want to ensure that farmers, first responders and utility crews have the tools necessary to prepare for severe weather,’ the governor said. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order sought to ease response and recovery efforts.

‘We want to ensure that all communities, particularly those with the greatest anticipated impact, have the resources they need to respond and recover from the effects of this storm,’ Youngkin noted. 

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement on Friday evening that the state expected an extended period of strong winds, heavy rainfall and elevated tides.

In Annapolis, Maryland’s capital, water taxi driver Scott Bierman said service would be closed Saturday.

‘We don’t operate when it´s going to endanger passengers and or damage vessels,’ Bierman said.

In Washington, the Nationals baseball team postponed its Saturday game until Sunday.

It is not uncommon for one or two tropical storms, or even hurricanes, to form off the East Coast each year, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said.

‘We’re right at the peak of hurricane season, we can basically have storms form anywhere across much of the Atlantic basin,’ Brennan said.

President Joe Biden wished House Republicans ‘lots of luck’ on their impeachment inquiry, taunting his political opposition as he returned to the White House Sunday. 

The president spent the weekend away in Wilmington, Delaware, where he continued to ignore questions on son Hunter’s indictment – and attracted an armed protester near his residence. 

Biden ignored a shouted question on whether he would pardon Hunter as he departed church Saturday evening. 

The president didn’t answer the same question when asked it Friday after he addressed the ongoing United Auto Workers strike. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said later Friday that the president would not pardon his son. 

‘I’ve answered this question before and I was very clear. I said no,’ she said at the briefing. 

Hunter Biden is facing three federal charges, with up to 25 years in prison, related to his purchase of a gun – allegedly lying on the form to purchase the weapon while he was addicted to drugs. 

But it’s the first son’s foreign business dealings that prompted the announcement Tuesday that the House Republicans would be opening an impeachment inquiry.

While President Biden has denied being involved in Hunter’s business deals in Ukraine and China, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stated otherwise. 

‘House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,’ he said Tuesday from the Capitol. ‘Taken together these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.’   

‘These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. And they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives. That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,’ McCarthy noted.

‘This logical next step will give our committees, the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That’s exactly what we want to know the answers,’ the House speaker added. 

Republicans have charged Biden and his family made millions off shell companies Hunter Biden formed when his father was vice president. 

Hunter had business deals with an energy company in the Ukraine, received a discounted stake in a private-equity firm in China, and did consulting for a Romanian real-estate magnate.

The president has denied any involvement in his son’s business dealings. But Republicans claim at least a dozen Biden family members could be involved in a scheme to benefit financially from Biden’s public office. 

House investigators are expected to issue subpoenas for the bank records of the president and his family. 

GOP  lawmakers also claim Biden sat in on at least 24 calls with Hunter’s business partners and was referred to as ‘the big guy’ by Hunter’s business associates. 

And they say Joe Biden used pseudonyms to discuss his activities related to Ukraine with his son Hunter during his time as vice president.

An inquiry is the first step in the impeachment process. 

It is when evidence is gathered for the articles, or charges, of impeachment against an official. 

It is a massive step with many pitfalls, including infuriating Republican moderates and many GOP senators, who are skeptical of the issue and causing friction with the White House as budget negotiations are underway. 

Congress faces a September 30th deadline to fund the government or it will shutdown.

McCarthy, however, is under intense pressure from the conservative wing of his party to make such a move, including threats from some of his own GOP lawmakers to remove him from the speakership.

The White House has repeatedly denied Biden has conducted any wrongdoing. The president himself has said he was not involved with any of Hunter’s business deals. 

Some of Hunter’s former associates, however, have testified that Joe Biden spoke to Hunter’s business associates but the president’s defenders say it was quick conversation and merely cordial, not related to any dealmaking. 

Joe Biden also used various private email addresses from which he would sometimes send, receive and forward government correspondence according to emails found on Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop.

‘Robin Ware,’ ‘Robert L. Peters’ and ‘JRB ware’ were three pseudonyms used on emails that were about both official and family business.

The White House argues it’s common for public figures to use false names. 

McCarthy charged Biden was involved.

‘Eye witnesses have testified that the President joined on multiple phone calls, and had multiple interactions, dinners, resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his son’s and his son’s business partners,’ he said. 

It’s estimated Hunter raked in $40 million through 20 shell companies and fake accounts created while Joe Biden was vice president, at the same time the elder Biden was joining Hunter’s business calls and stopping by at lavish dinners.

The White House called McCarthy’s move ‘extreme politics.’

‘House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they’ve turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own Republican members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn’t have support. This is extreme politics at its worst,’ White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams said in a statement. 

President Joe Biden attended church services solo on Saturday amid son Hunter’s fresh legal woes. 

The president walked into St. Joseph on the Brandywine near his Wilmington, Delaware home shortly after 5 p.m., putting on his navy blue jacket as he strolled toward the door. 

Biden has yet to comment publicly on Hunter Biden facing three federal charges, with up to 25 years in prison, related to his purchase of a gun – allegedly lying on the form to purchase the weapon while he was addicted to drugs. 

The president didn’t take questions when he left the White House Friday for a weekend at home. 

When Biden attends church, the pool of reporters who follow him each day is kept outside the building and across the graveyard from the president. 

The president didn’t even look toward the journalists when a reporter shouted, ‘Mr. President, will you pardon your son?’ as he left church after services. 

At Friday afternoon’s briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted the president would not pardon Hunter, after Biden ignored a question on the matter, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him. 

‘I’ve answered this question before and I was very clear. I said no,’ she said in her daily press briefing, echoing a reply she gave in July on the matter. 

The president, after making remarks at the White House on the United Auto Workers strike, kept walking out of the Roosevelt Room and out the door as reporters asked him if he would use his presidential powers to help his son.

‘That’s all I’m going to say,’ the president said as he finished his remarks on the strike.

 He ignored a shouted question on ‘will Hunter get a pardon,’ walking straight out of the room. 

Jean-Pierre on Friday wouldn’t answer a question on if the president has talked to his son since the charges were announced.

‘I’m not going to get into the conversation that the president has with his family,’ she said. 

Hunter Biden, meanwhile, is preparing to go to trial. 

His lawyer on Friday argued that the case against Hunter won’t make it to trial – but refused to say whether or not Hunter was on drugs when he purchased the gun that led to federal charges.

Attorney Abbe Lowell told ABC’s Good Morning America that the Justice Department bended to ‘political pressure’ from Republicans in Congress when it charged Hunter Biden on three felony charges for lying about his crack cocaine addiction when buying a gun in 2018.

The president’s son is now facing a maximum of 25 years in prison, but his attorney has insisted the case will be ‘dismissed’ before Hunter has to stand trial.

‘The U.S. Attorneys office has known about this for years. No charges,’ Lowell said. ‘What changed? Not the facts, not the law, but all the politics that have now come into play.’

‘The only thing that’s changed has been the political pressure put on by the Republicans in Congress and the media that supports them,’ he argued.

In the charges, two counts accuse Hunter Biden of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. 

Lowell said Hunter was not on drugs at the time he purchased the revolver. 

‘If you’re going to be specific, then be specific. If the form asks if you are a drug user on the day you buy a gun that is an issue. If it says have you ever used drugs that’s an issue. That will be played out in court,’ he said. 

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked him if the defense is going to argue Hunter ‘was not a drug user on the day he signed the form?’

‘No, our defense has multiple parts to it,’ Lowell responded. He also argued ‘I think the case will be dismissed before trial.’

Hunter Biden, in his memoir, detailed his drug use, including smoking crack cocaine. The first son talked about how he relapsed into his addiction after his brother Beau died of brain cancer in 2015. 

Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop computer shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, allegedly five days after buying the gun. 

But when asked if Hunter Biden was on drugs the day he purchased the gun, Lowell said: ‘I think that’s something that, if it ever gets that far, you and everybody else will see the evidence.’

He declined to be more specific. 

But he went on to rage against the Justice Department for the backing out an earlier plea bargin agreement, accusing the feds of caving to political pressure from Republicans in Congress, who have been investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and the Biden family finances.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by Donald Trump, is overseeing the prosecution and has been given special counsel status. 

Weiss and Hunter’s lawyers reached a plea deal in July that called for the president’s son to plead guilty in Delaware federal court to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes in return for prosecutors’ recommending probation.

A separate felony gun charge of illegally owning the Colt Cobra .38 special handgun would have been dropped in two years if Biden honored the terms of what is known as a diversion agreement. 

Lowell on Friday argued ‘there’s a deal in place that should have prevented’ the federal charges. He also argued that courts are now finding the statute used in the charges as unconstitutional.

‘The law changed,’ Lowell said. ‘But the law didn’t change in favor of the prosecution. The law changed against it because a couple of federal courts have found this gun charge to be unconstitutional.’

The plea deal, which Republicans blasted as a ‘sweetheart deal’ fell apart in a Delaware courtroom when the presiding judge started to question some of its details, including one that including would theoretically protect Hunter Biden from other tax-related crimes in the same period. 

Prosecutors said it would not. Hunter’s lawyers said it would. The agreement fell apart. The three federal charges were announced on Thursday.

Two of the counts carry maximum prison sentences of 10 years, while the third has a maximum of five years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000. 

Republicans are insisting that Biden’s son is guilty of even more felonies and that Weiss’ indictment on gun charges should just be the tip of the spear. 

On July 27, after the plea deal fell apart, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out President Biden issuing a pardon for Hunter. But it remains to be seen if the White House’s posture has changed now that Hunter faces the three new felony charges. 

Shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for a 1985 cocaine and drug trafficking conviction for which he had already served time.

In the last weeks of his own administration, Trump pardoned a skein of friends and associates, including daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law Charles Kushner. Both Ivanka and Jared Kushner were White House advisors at the time.

The White House is not commenting on the new felony charges for the president’s son, and Biden joked he would get in ‘trouble’ if he answered press questions at the end of an economics speech later Thursday.

Still it’s a crushing blow to the president, who is running for re-election next year. Hunter’s legal issues were thought to be resolved with the plea deal and it was shocking when the agreement fell apart. 

The charges came the same week that Republicans in the House opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged connections to Hunter’s business dealings and is likely to have a long-term impact on his political career. 

The First Son purchased a 0.38 Colt Cobra caliber pistol in Delaware, a state that makes any buyer answer a series of questions before they can lay their hands on a weapon. 

One from the 2018 application asks if the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked ‘no.’

Hunter has admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase. 

About two weeks later his lover and brother’s widow Hallie Biden found it ‘unlocked’ in his truck and threw it in a grocery store trash can. Its discovery sparked a police investigation. 

In addition, now-President Biden sounded close to tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter bought the gun and lied about being a drug addict – begging him to get help.

‘It’s Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world pal,’ Joe said in the October 15 message. ‘You gotta get some help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.’

Joe Biden will not pardon his son Hunter, the White House insisted on Friday after the president ignored a question on the matter, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre later clarified that the president would not make such a move – echoing the answer she gave in July when she was asked about it.

‘I’ve answered this question before and I was very clear. I said no,’ she said in her daily press briefing. 

Hunter Biden faces three federal charges and 25 years in prison on charges related to his purchase of a gun.

The president, after making remarks at the White House on the United Auto Workers strike, kept walking out of the Roosevelt Room and out the door as reporters asked him if he would use his presidential powers to help his son.

Biden has not addressed the charges his son is facing. 

‘That’s all I’m going to say,’ the president said as he finished his remarks on the strike. He ignored a shouted question on ‘will Hunter get a pardon,’ walking straight out of the room. 

Jean-Pierre on Friday wouldn’t answer a question on if the president has talked to his son since the charges were announced.

‘I’m not going to get into the conversation that the President has with his family,’ she said. 

Hunter Biden, meanwhile, is preparing to go to trial. 

His lawyer on Friday argued that the case against Hunter won’t make it to trial – but refused to say whether or not Hunter was on drugs when he purchased the gun that led to federal charges.

Attorney Abbe Lowell told ABC’s Good Morning America that the Justice Department bended to ‘political pressure’ from Republicans in Congress when it charged Hunter Biden on three felony charges for lying about his crack cocaine addiction when buying a gun in 2018.

The president’s son is now facing a maximum of 25 years in prison, but his attorney has insisted the case will be ‘dismissed’ before Hunter has to stand trial.

‘The U.S. Attorneys office has known about this for years. No charges,’ Lowell said. ‘What changed? Not the facts, not the law, but all the politics that have now come into play.’

‘The only thing that’s changed has been the political pressure put on by the Republicans in Congress and the media that supports them,’ he argued.

In the charges, two counts accuse Hunter Biden of having completed a form indicating he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a Colt Cobra revolver in October 2018. The third count alleges he possessed a firearm while using a narcotic. 

Lowell said Hunter was not on drugs at the time he purchased the revolver. 

‘If you’re going to be specific, then be specific. If the form asks if you are a drug user on the day you buy a gun that is an issue. If it says have you ever used drugs that’s an issue. That will be played out in court,’ he said. 

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked him if the defense is going to argue Hunter ‘was not a drug user on the day he signed the form?’

‘No, our defense has multiple parts to it,’ Lowell responded. He also argued ‘I think the case will be dismissed before trial.’

Hunter Biden, in his memoir, detailed his drug use, including smoking crack cocaine. The first son talked about how he relapsed into his addiction after his brother Beau died of brain cancer in 2015. 

Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop computer shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, allegedly five days after buying the gun. 

But when asked if Hunter Biden was on drugs the day he purchased the gun, Lowell said: ‘I think that’s something that, if it ever gets that far, you and everybody else will see the evidence.’

He declined to be more specific. 

But he went on to rage against the Justice Department for the backing out an earlier plea bargin agreement, accusing the feds of caving to political pressure from Republicans in Congress, who have been investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and the Biden family finances.

U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by Donald Trump, is overseeing the prosecution and has been given special counsel status. 

Weiss and Hunter’s lawyers reached a plea deal in July that called for the president’s son to plead guilty in Delaware federal court to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes in return for prosecutors’ recommending probation.

A separate felony gun charge of illegally owning the Colt Cobra .38 special handgun would have been dropped in two years if Biden honored the terms of what is known as a diversion agreement. 

Lowell on Friday argued ‘there’s a deal in place that should have prevented’ the federal charges. He also argued that courts are now finding the statute used in the charges as unconstitutional.

‘The law changed,’ Lowell said. ‘But the law didn’t change in favor of the prosecution. The law changed against it because a couple of federal courts have found this gun charge to be unconstitutional.’

The plea deal, which Republicans blasted as a ‘sweetheart deal’ fell apart in a Delaware courtroom when the presiding judge started to question some of its details, including one that including would theoretically protect Hunter Biden from other tax-related crimes in the same period. 

Prosecutors said it would not. Hunter’s lawyers said it would. The agreement fell apart. The three federal charges were announced on Thursday.

Two of the counts carry maximum prison sentences of 10 years, while the third has a maximum of five years. Each count also carries a maximum fine of $250,000. 

Republicans are insisting that Biden’s son is guilty of even more felonies and that Weiss’ indictment on gun charges should just be the tip of the spear. 

On July 27, after the plea deal fell apart, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out President Biden issuing a pardon for Hunter. But it remains to be seen if the White House’s posture has changed now that Hunter faces the three new felony charges. 

Shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for a 1985 cocaine and drug trafficking conviction for which he had already served time.

In the last weeks of his own administration, Trump pardoned a skein of friends and associates, including daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law Charles Kushner. Both Ivanka and Jared Kushner were White House advisors at the time.

The White House is not commenting on the new felony charges for the president’s son, and Biden joked he would get in ‘trouble’ if he answered press questions at the end of an economics speech later Thursday.

Still it’s a crushing blow to the president, who is running for re-election next year. Hunter’s legal issues were thought to be resolved with the plea deal and it was shocking when the agreement fell apart. 

The charges came the same week that Republicans in the House opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged connections to Hunter’s business dealings and is likely to have a long-term impact on his political career. 

The First Son purchased a 0.38 Colt Cobra caliber pistol in Delaware, a state that makes any buyer answer a series of questions before they can lay their hands on a weapon. 

One from the 2018 application asks if the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked ‘no.’

Hunter has admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase. 

About two weeks later his lover and brother’s widow Hallie Biden found it ‘unlocked’ in his truck and threw it in a grocery store trash can. Its discovery sparked a police investigation. 

In addition, now-President Biden sounded close to tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter bought the gun and lied about being a drug addict – begging him to get help.

‘It’s Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world pal,’ Joe said in the October 15 message. ‘You gotta get some help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.’

Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison after being indicted on three felony charges for lying about his crack cocaine addiction when buying a gun.

In a sensational development, the First Son will have to appear in court after a Delaware grand jury returned three charges against him, including two counts of false statements on his gun forms, and one of possessing a firearm while addicted to illicit drugs.

It is a shattering blow for President Joe Biden who has stood by his son and is running for reelection in 2024. The White House is not commenting on the new felony charges for the president’s son, and Biden joked he would get in ‘trouble’ if he answered press questions at the end of an economics speech later Thursday.

The move by Special Counsel Davis Weiss is a significant escalation in his investigation into the president’s son for gun and tax crimes, which is still ongoing. 

It also comes the same week that Republicans in the House opened a formal impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged connections to Hunter’s business dealings and is likely to have a long-term impact on his political career.

Republicans allege that Hunter is guilty of even more felonies and that Weiss’ indictment on just the gun charges is insufficient.

The maximum time in prison would be 25 years total if he is convicted on all of the counts, although federal sentences are usually less than the maximum. Hunter could also be slapped with a max $250,000 fine and three years probation. 

According to the indictment, Hunter lied about his drug use when he purchased a gun in 2018. 

The First Son purchased a 0.38 Colt Cobra caliber pistol in Delaware, a state that makes any buyer answer a series of questions before they can lay their hands on a weapon. 

One from the 2018 application asks if the applicant uses or is addicted to drugs. The box is clearly checked ‘no.’

Hunter has admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the gun purchase. 

Video discovered on Hunter’s laptop computer shows him naked and brandishing a handgun in a hotel room in 2018, allegedly five days after buying the gun.

About two weeks later his lover and brother’s widow Hallie Biden found it ‘unlocked’ in his truck and threw it in a grocery store trash can. Its discovery sparked a police investigation. 

In addition, now-President Biden sounded close to tears in the voicemail left on Hunter’s abandoned laptop on October 15 – three days after Hunter bought the gun and lied about being a drug addict – begging him to get help.

‘It’s Dad. I called to tell you I love you. I love you more than the whole world pal,’ Joe said in the October 15 message. ‘You gotta get some help. I know you don’t know what to do, I don’t either.’

On July 27, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out President Biden issuing a pardon for Hunter. But it remains to be seen if the White House’s posture has changed now that Hunter faces the three new felony charges. 

Republicans are insisting that Joe’s son is guilty of even more felonies and that Weiss’ indictment on gun charges should just be the tip of the spear.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who is leading an investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings, reacted to the indictment saying the charges are a ‘very small start.’

‘Unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy,’ he continued.

‘Ironically, that’s the one crime that he committed that you cannot tie Joe Biden to,’ added Comer. 

Republican firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz said in reaction: ‘Getting Hunter on the gun charge is like getting Jeffrey Dahmer on littering.’ 

The White House is referring inquiries on the new charges to the Justice Department, saying that it is an independent investigation. 

Earlier this summer, the president’s son had reached a deal after the five-year investigation that would have allowed him to avoid trial for the firearms charges if he abided by parole conditions over 24 months.

Republicans in Washington complained that the president’s son had gotten himself a ‘sweetheart deal’ designed to protect President Biden. 

However, the plea deal spectacularly fell apart in court in July, opening Hunter up to new charges. 

Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the ‘diversion agreement’ of Hunter’s plea deal – a clause that gave him blanket immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying – killing the deal.

In August, Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated Weiss to special counsel status after increased scrutiny.

Garland’s decision to promote Weiss came after IRS whistleblower allegations that Hunter received ‘special treatment’ during the criminal probe.

IRS agents Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley testified under oath to House Republicans that their investigation into the president’s son ‘supported felony and misdemeanor tax charges,’ which were ultimately not brought against Hunter due to political pressures.

Weiss tried to bring felony charges against him in Washington, D.C., they said, but was blocked by the district’s top federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee.

The ‘special treatment’ for Hunter became a pattern that kept happening, said the whistleblowers, who were told they would get in ‘hot water’ if they tried to speak with President Joe Biden’s adult children and grandchildren over the course of their investigation. 

Shapley also shared handwritten notes from a meeting from October 2022 in which he quoted Weiss saying he was ‘not the deciding person’ on charging Hunter Biden with tax crimes, raising questions about potential improper handling of the case by DOJ. 

The collapse of Hunter Biden’s original plea deal also presented more problems for his father, Joe Biden. The president is now facing more headlines and questions involving his drug-addict son’s case as he hits the 2024 campaign trail. 

The White House and the president himself have maintained that he has never been involved in Hunter’s business dealings. 

But Republicans are well into their own investigation looking into Hunter’s foreign business dealings.

As part of their probe, they spoke with Hunter’s ex-business partner Devon Archer, who testified that President Biden was in fact aware of his son’s dealings and sat in on at least 20 calls and multiple dinners with his son’s business partners. 

Additionally, they have uncovered over a dozen shell companies that Hunter and at least 12 members of the Biden family used to funnel in foreign money.

Joe Biden also used various private email addresses from which he would sometimes send, receive and forward government correspondence according to emails found on Hunter Biden’s now-infamous laptop.

‘Robin Ware,’ ‘Robert L. Peters’ and ‘JRB ware’ were three pseudonyms used on emails that were about both official and family business.

As a result, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into President Biden earlier this week over his alleged connections to Hunter’s multi-million dollar foreign ‘influence peddling scheme.’ 

‘House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,’ McCarthy said, speaking at the Capitol on Tuesday. ‘Taken together these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.

‘These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption. And they warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives. That’s why today I am directing our House committee to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden,’ he noted.

‘This logical next step will give our committees, the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public. That’s exactly what we want to know the answers.’ 

An inquiry is the first step in the impeachment process. It is when evidence is gathered for the articles, or charges, of impeachment against an official. 

Newly released notes taken by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley on the Hunter Biden probe back up his previous claims that top prosecutor David Weiss said he was not the ‘deciding person’ on the case.

The handwritten notes also directly refute a counteracting claim by an FBI agent also on Hunter’s case.

DailyMail.com obtained IRS Supervisory Agent Gary Shapley’s handwritten notes during an October 7, 2022 meeting with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss – who was appointed as the top prosecutor on the Hunter case.

He quotes Weiss saying during that meeting that he was ‘not the deciding person’ on charging Hunter Biden with tax crimes, raising questions about potential improper handling of the case by DOJ. Shapley also recorded down that ‘Main DOJ’ said ‘no’ to Weiss’ request for special counsel status in D.C. 

Shapley’s attorneys sent the House Judiciary Committee a copy of his notes from the meeting following an FBI agent’s counterclaim – that Weiss actually never admitted that he was not the deciding person on the case.

The Washington Post published the account contradicting Shapley’s claims by FBI agent Thomas Sobocinski Tuesday, based on an obtained congressional transcript. Shapley’s lawyers say Sobocinski’s claims are inaccurate.

The back-and-forth comes a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry of President Biden over his alleged connections to his son’s business dealings. As part of the inquiry, the GOP is also examining potential political interference by the Justice Department in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation. 

‘Yesterday the Washington Post published a story reportedly based on a transcript it obtained of the Committee’s interview of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski,’ the letter by Shapley’s attorneys states. 

‘Sobocinski was one of seven attendees at the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting,’ the letter continues. 

According to his attorneys, Shapley wrote an email to his chain of command using notes he compiled during the meeting almost immediately after it concluded. 

Shapley turned over his Oct. 7 email to the House Ways and Means Committee detailing the events that transpired during the meeting, including Weiss’ statements about not having the final decision on the case. 

‘However, Mr. Sobocinski apparently acknowledged that he took no notes in the meeting, nor did he document it in any contemporaneous fashion afterwards. By contrast, SSA Shapley took notes during the meeting.’

Shapley’s attorneys attached the original version of the ‘contemporaneous handwritten notes’ that redacts information that has not yet been released by the Ways and Means Committee.

The notes, dated 10/7 in the top left corner, contain a handwritten scribble about a comment Weiss made during the meeting.

Shapley wrote in the notebook: ‘Weiss stated – He is not the deciding person.’ 

That directly contradicts Sobocinski’s testimony saying that he would have remembered if Weiss had said that he was not the deciding person.

In the testimony first obtained by the Washington Post, Sobocinski said he ‘never felt that [Weiss] needed approval’ to bring charges.

In addition, his understanding was that Weiss ‘had the authority to bring whatever he needed to do.’ 

He continued: ‘I never thought that anybody was there above David Weiss to say no.’

‘I went into that meeting believing he had the authority, and I have left that meeting believing he had the authority to bring charges.’

The discrepancies in testimony comes a month after Attorney General Merrick Garland promoted Weiss to special counsel status. 

Shapley wrote in the notes: ‘Weiss requested Special Counsel status in DC + Main DOJ said ‘no.’ 

It was nearly an entire year later that Garland decided to promote Weiss to special counsel.

Garland’s decision came after mounting pressure and IRS whistleblower allegations that Hunter received ‘special treatment’ during the criminal probe.

For months, Garland had maintained that Weiss had the ‘full authority’ to bring charges against Hunter without restraint and in any district. 

But Weiss himself contradicted himself, at first telling the House Judiciary Committee he had ‘responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges’, then latter saying his charging authority ‘is geographically limited to my home district’. 

He also claimed in a July letter that he had not asked Garland for special counsel status. 

That contradicts Shapley’s notes that he was denied the elevation by ‘Main DOJ.’ 

But now that he has special counsel status, he can charge Hunter in any district around the country. 

IRS agents Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley testified under oath to House Republicans that their investigation ‘supported felony and misdemeanor tax charges,’ which were ultimately not brought against the president’s son Hunter due to political pressures.

Weiss tried to bring felony charges against him in Washington, D.C., they said, but was blocked by the district’s top federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee.

The ‘special treatment’ for Hunter became a pattern that kept happening over and over, said the whistleblowers who were told they would get in ‘hot water’ if they tried to speak with President Joe Biden’s adult children and grandchildren over the course of their investigation. 

Hunter appeared in federal court on July 26 prepared to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and walk away with just a slap on the wrist and no prison time. 

Republicans slammed as a ‘sweetheart deal’ that Biden’s DOJ put together to protect the president’s son.

However, after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the ‘diversion agreement’ of Hunter’s plea deal – a clause that gave him blanket immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying – the deal blew up spectacularly.

Noreika dismissed the charges in Delaware after requests from the prosecution last month. 

Last week, federal prosecutors indicated that they will charge Hunter with a new gun crime by the end of the month. 

But they could still be bringing additional charges down the road related to his foreign business venture. 

Federal prosecutors plan to indict Hunter Biden by end of September

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 16:49 EDT, 6 September 2023 | Updated: 16:49 EDT, 6 September 2023

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Joe Biden has been slammed for taking off his face mask while standing next to an 81-year-old war hero – despite his wife Jill testing positive for COVID the day before.

The President, who was awarding a Congressional Medal of Honor to Captain Larry Taylor, entered the White House wearing a black face mask, but removed it during the prayer portion of the ceremony.

He did not replace it when he stood beside Taylor for four minutes, and fastened the medal around his neck.

The president remains negative after being tested on Monday night and Tuesday morning and shows no symptoms.

The White House said before the event he would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevent guidelines when it comes to testing and masking.

But his extended time in close proximity to Taylor raised eyebrows.

‘I’m floored by his behavior. There’s no point walking in masked to then unmask & put everyone at risk,’ remarked one woman. 

‘I hope their families sue if they get sick,’ said another critic.

Another shared on Twitter a screenshot of an unmasked Biden standing next to an unmasked Taylor, and said: ‘Look at this.’

One commented: ‘He doesn’t seem very consistent in his mask wearing, unfortunately.’ 

The video of Biden placing the medal around Taylor’s neck was shared online, with one remarking: ‘Aaaaand he took it right off to breathe on an elderly veteran’s neck.’ 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would remove his mask indoors when ‘sufficiently’ distanced from others.

‘He will be masking while indoors and around people in alignment with CDC guidance and as as has been the practice in the past. 

‘The President will remove his mask when sufficiently distance from others indoors and while outside as well,’ she said on Tuesday, before the ceremony.

The president didn’t put his mask back on to walk out of the East Room but did give a thumbs’ up when asked how his wife was doing, saying she was ‘well.’

Meanwhile, Jill Biden missed the first day of school on Tuesday. The first lady, who teaches English at the Northern Virginia Community College, is arranging a substitute for her classes. 

‘She’s working with NOVA to ensure her classes are covered by a substitute,’ her office said.

The first lady remains at the couple’s Rehoboth Beach home, which is where she was when she tested positive. 

The Bidens spent a long holiday weekend at their vacation house and traveled to Florida together on Saturday to see damage from Hurricane Idalia.

Jill Biden ‘is experiencing mild symptoms and will remain in Delaware for the week. President Biden tested negative last night for COVID-19 and tested negative again today. He’s not experiencing any symptoms,’ Jean-Pierre noted. 

‘There are currently no updates to the White House COVID-19 protocols,’ she noted. 

COVID cases are on the rise throughout the country. 

Nationwide COVID hospitalizations increased by nearly 19% in a single week and deaths by more than 21%, according to late August data from the CDC.

There are two new variants: the Omicron variant EG.5, nicknamed Eris, has become dominant in the U.S., while BA.2.86 is starting to spread.

The first lady, 72, usually teaches classes on Tuesday and Thursday. It’s unclear when she will return to the White House and her regular schedule. 

Jill Biden also was scheduled to attend a dinner on Tuesday night for U.S. athletes competing at the Invictus Games, the games for wound warriors founded by Prince Harry.

She had to cancel that appearance. 

President Biden remains negative despite the close contact with his wife. 

The couple spent Sunday night together at their Rehoboth Beach home before Joe flew to Philadelphia Monday to mark Labor Day with a speech to union workers. 

In a statement released Monday, Jill’s spokesman Elizabeth Alexander said: ‘This evening, the First Lady tested positive for COVID-19.

‘She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware,’ Alexander said. 

Jill Biden previously had COVID last August and got stuck at the property the couple had vacationed at on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. 

She was prescribed the antiviral Paxlovid and tested positive with a rebound case of COVID several days later. 

President Biden tested positive for COVID last July. He also was treated with Paxlovid and suffered a rebound case days later.

Both the president and first lady are vaccinated and boosted. 

The president is expected to leave Thursday for the G20 summit in New Delhi, India. 

‘All travelers including the President will test before traveling to India,’ Jean-Pierre said, noting that Biden will test on a ‘regular cadence.’

She would address questions on what happens if Biden tests negative in route to the trip or how often he would test while there. 

The first lady was not expected to attend. 

While COVID cases are on the rise, neither the president nor the first lady have worn a mask in public recently. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently turned heads by conceding that data was lacking on whether masks stopped the spread of the virus. 

‘When you’re talking about the effect on the epidemic or the pandemic as a whole, the data are less strong,’ Fauci recently said on CNN. 

‘But there are other studies, that show at an individual level, for individuals, they might be protective.’ 

Jill Biden tested positive for Covid for a second time Monday, prompting multiple rounds of tests on President Joe Biden, who continues to result negative.

As a precaution, the president, 80, wore a face mask for the first time in months as he went about his duties at the White House today. 

However, he took it off during a Medal of Honor ceremony and did not put it back on – an act that encapsulated Americans’ fatigue with Covid masks.

The 72-year-old First Lady’s positive result is a reminder the virus that has been a backdrop issue for months is still disrupting people’s lives as cases are on the rise again and positivity rates have climbed as high as 20 percent in some parts of the US.

But Covid is no longer the deadly threat it once was. While hospital admissions involving the virus have been rising for weeks, they are still about 10 times lower than levels seen at the peak in January 2022 and deaths are about 40 times below the peak in late 2020.

Many doctors now compare the virus to the common cold or the flu, which while disruptive and deadly among vulnerable groups, will not cause serious illness in the vast majority of people.

The transition from deadly virus to manageable seasonal illness can be attributed to the high levels of immunity among Americans from infection or vaccination, plus an arsenal of highly-effective therapies and drugs. 

For these reasons the federal government declared the pandemic over in May this year and ended the public health emergency, scrapping legal requirements to mask, isolate, test and get vaccinated.  

But with Covid making a comeback, here’s everything you need to know about the situation in the US: 

Will mask mandates be reinstated? 

While some individual companies and universities have put mask requirements in place, there is no indication state or federal mask mandates will return. 

When asked last week, the CDC said it had no intentions to bring back compulsory masks in any setting.

Instead, a spokesperson said: ‘Anyone may choose to wear a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas, including on public transportation and in transportation hubs at any time.’

Health officials in New York went one step further in saying that it was a ‘good idea’ to wear face coverings in indoor spaces over Labor Day weekend.

Meanwhile, Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, from reinstating a mask requirement for 14 days for students and staff just days after classes began late last month. 

The college also banned parties and large student events on campus and implemented temperature checks. 

Additionally, a recent editorial by the American College of Physicians called for mask mandates to return to healthcare facilities.

A Kaiser Permanente hospital in California and several in New York state reinstated mandates for at least several weeks.

Hollywood movie studio Lionsgate also reinstated its mask requirement briefly last month, before quickly reversing its decision. 

Do I need to isolate if I test positive for Covid?

People are encouraged to but there is no legal requirement. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest guidelines, as of May 2023, people who test positive for Covid should isolate and keep separate from others for at least five days, regardless of vaccination status. 

If someone with Covid is showing no symptoms, the isolation period begins the day after they receive a test.

However, if the person develops symptoms any time within 10 days of when they tested, the isolation period restarts on the day of symptom onset. 

If a person is showing symptoms, day one of the isolation period is the first full day following the day symptoms began. 

Isolation can end after day five if symptoms are improving and a person is fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medications.

If symptoms do not approve after day five, people should continue to isolate until they are fever-free. 

However these are all recommendations, rather than rules. 

While isolation can end after five days, people who test positive should continue to wear a high-quality mask around others and in public for 10 days or until they receive two negative tests 48 hours apart. 

People with Covid should also inform anyone they recently had close contact with that they have the virus, though no one is legally obligated to report if they’ve tested positive.

Do I have to stay home from work? 

There is no legal requirement but people are encouraged to take sick days if they become sick with Covid.

Before May, some states forced employers to provide an additional amount of paid leave for reasons that applied to Covid – to help employees follow mandatory quarantine periods without using all of their sick and vacation leave.

But those rules have lapsed in several jurisdictions. 

For example, California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave expired on December 31, 2022. 

However, some jurisdictions, such as New York State, still have COVID-19 sick leave laws in effect that require employers to provide separate paid leave beyond what an employee may otherwise be entitled to under a state or local paid sick leave law or an employer’s policy for certain employee needs related to COVID-19.

Do I need to test if I am exposed to Covid? 

Current CDC guidelines recommend people who are exposed to Covid wear a mask as soon as they find out about their exposure. 

They should continue wearing a mask for 10 days and get tested for the virus five days after exposure. 

Even if the result is negative, the CDC says people should continue wearing a mask in public and around others for 10 days as symptoms can still develop.

If a person tests positive, they should isolate immediately. 

Tests for Covid-19 had long been freely available and covered by government and private health insurances. 

However, with the Biden administration ending the Covid public health emergency in May, health insurance plans no longer need to cover tests and free test kits from the government are no longer being sent out, meaning Americans may need to pay for their own Covid testing.

However, some insurers may still choose to cover testing.

What are the new variants?

Two variants driving the surge in cases, EG.5, or Eris, and BA.2.86, or Pirola, were thought to be highly mutated and transmissible and doctors believed they could be better at avoiding current vaccine immunity. 

While concerns over Pirola prompted concern from public health officials and new mask mandates, early lab results carried out in the US, Sweden and China suggest these warnings may have been overblown.

Results indicated Pirola may be another ‘scariant‘ and not the second coming of Omicron, Dr Dan Barouch, a virologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in New York who was behind one of the lab tests, told CNN.

The tests found antibodies from people vaccinated against Covid and people who had recovered from an infection in the previous six months were just as effective at protecting against a Pirola infection as they were with other variants. 

Dr Barouch said after reviewing test results, he was confident Pirola did not pose the public health risk originally thought.  

What are my chances of becoming severely ill or dying from Covid? 

While Covid cases are on the rise in the US, public health officials say the majority of people are experiencing mild symptoms comparable to a cold or flu. 

Additionally, the CDC considers the hospitalization rate of Covid patients to be low and the weekly death rate is near a historic low. 

There were more deaths during the week ending Aug. 19 from Alzheimer’s disease, which killed more than 1,649 people, diabetes, responsible for more than 1,107 deaths and cancerous tumors, which more than 8,796 people died from, according to the CDC’s Weekly Provisional Counts of Deaths by State and Select Causes.

Are cases, hospitalizations and deaths on the rise? 

In recent weeks, public health agencies have observed an increase in the number of positive Covid tests and hospitalizations. Over the past month, however, deaths from Covid have declined. 

The CDC reports there were approximately 4.5 new hospital admissions for every 100,000 people in the US in the week ending Aug. 19, the most recent data available.

The CDC considers this a low rate and it is nearly 10 times lower than at the peak of hospital admissions in January 2022. 

The Covid death rate per 100,000 people in the week ending Aug. 26, was 0.1, compared to the high of 7.8 per 100,000, which was recorded in January 2021. 

Covid is now responsible for approximately two percent of all deaths in the US, compared to the peak of 30 percent in January 2021.

While these numbers are promising, the elderly, those with comorbidities or those who are immunocompromised are still at a high risk of contracting the virus and suffering potentially dangerous complications and should take precautions amid the uptick.

Do I need another Covid vaccine? 

Doctors are advising people to hold off on getting another Covid booster until an updated one is available, which should be in mid- to late-September.

Medical experts say people who are not immunocompromised or extremely vulnerable should postpone an immediate booster until the fall to maximize the protection gained from the updated vaccine. 

Vaccine manufacturers, such as Moderna, are updating their shots in order to better protect against new strains.

Health officials say the new boosters, formulated based on subvariants of the Omicron strain, have been shown to provide significant antibodies against some of the circulating variants. 

Vaccines are currently free to most Americans with private or federal health coverage and to the uninsured. 

The US government has been paying about $26 per dose of the vaccine, but some manufacturers, such as Pfizer and Moderna, are planning to increase the price up to $130 when the shots are sold on the private market this fall. 

This price hike will be especially concerning in the fall, when the federal government plans on shifting Covid vaccine distribution to the commercial market, meaning manufacturers can sell their updated vaccines directly to healthcare providers instead of the government. 

Federal and corporate programs are planning to assist uninsured Americans in paying for the vaccine should they want to receive one and Pfizer and Moderna intend to establish patient assistance programs. 

A Delaware prosecutor who worked in the office that is now prosecuting Hunter Biden sent messages to a secret email address that Hunter’s father Joe had set up for himself, laptop records show.

Alexander Mackler, 40, is a Biden family friend and worked as a prosecutor in the Delaware US Attorney’s office from August 2016 through May 2019 – when the office’s probe into Hunter’s shady overseas dealings was already underway.

Congress is demanding records from the Biden administration on Joe’s use of personal email addresses to conduct government business, after communications on Hunter’s laptop show the president used at least four aliases, with fake names including ‘Robert L Peters’ and ‘Robin Ware’.

One of the emails shows Mackler wrote to Joe at the address robinware456@gmail.com.

Mackler, now Deputy Delaware Attorney General, worked as campaign manager for Joe’s late son Beau Biden in his successful 2010 bid for the state’s AG. In July 2015, a month after Beau’s death, Mackler wrote a heartfelt condolence email to the Biden family, including to one of Joe’s secret addresses.

He addressed the July 7 2015 email to ‘the entire inimitable, expansive Biden clan,’ including Hunter, sister Ashley, Beau’s widow and later Hunter’s lover Hallie, Joe’s wife Jill, sister Valerie Owens, niece Missy and other family members – as well as one of Joe’s secret addresses.

‘Losing Beau has been particularly difficult because no one believed in me like he did,’ Mackler wrote. ‘Beau made me a better son, husband, brother, and now father. He set me free.’

He signed off the email: ‘See you, love you.’

The email shows Mackler’s deeply close connection with the Biden family, which has raised concerns about the impartiality of his former workplace, the Delaware US Attorney’s Office currently investigating Hunter for alleged tax felonies and potential foreign lobbying and money laundering crimes.

Republicans have attacked the office for offering a ‘sweetheart deal’ to Hunter. That deal fell through when a judge questioned it. The man in charge, David Weiss, has now been appointed a special  prosecutor with powers to charge Hunter anywhere in the country.

One of the lead Delaware prosecutors in Hunter’s case, Leslie Wolf, worked closely with Mackler, even appearing as co-prosecutor in a criminal case in 2017 and 2018.

Mackler was one of a handful of prosecutors at the office when the case against Hunter was opened there in January 2019, a date provided by IRS whistleblowers in Congressional testimony about the probe of the president’s son.

He remained in the office through May that year. The Delaware office has declined to comment on what involvement, if any, he had in the Hunter investigation.

Last week Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer wrote to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requesting unredacted copies of all Joe’s vice presidential communications using pseudonyms, including ‘Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware’.

One worrying May 2016 email referenced in Comer’s letter and previously reported by DailyMail.com shows White House staffers sent Joe’s schedule, including a call with then-Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, to Joe’s secret email ‘Robert L. Peters’.

The staffer, John Flynn, also inexplicably copied Hunter, who was working for allegedly corrupt Ukrainian gas firm Burisma at the time, on the email.

White House staffers copied Hunter on a total of 10 emails to Joe’s alias addresses, records from his laptop show.

Joe and Hunter appeared to use the then-VP’s secret email to discuss government business in another incident in June 2014.

Hunter used his Rosemont Seneca consultancy email address to write to his father on June 23, 2014 about the employment of then-deputy White House counsel John McGrail.

‘Before you fill position pls talk to me — J. McGrail very much wants to serve as detail fr treasury,’ Hunter wrote.

‘Re Johnny call me right away Dad,’ Joe wrote back from the email robinware456@gmail.com.

McGrail was promoted to VP’s counsel the following year, then got his desired move to the Treasury as Senior Counsel in January 2017. He is currently Counselor to the Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the department, according to his LinkedIn account.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson have been asking for unredacted records from NARA regarding Joe’s alias emails since 2021.

In their letters they cited the Presidential Records Act which requires POTUS to provide copies of all communications involving government business, whether on personal email addresses or not, to the National Archives.

Comer has now also joined the push. In his August 17 letter to NARA, he pointed out that the emails challenge Joe’s previous claim that while VP he had ‘an absolute wall between the personal and private, and the government’.

‘Evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling,’ Comer said in a statement last week.

‘We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining, and having coffee with his son’s foreign business associates. We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest.

‘The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden family’s corruption.’

Other emails show Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote to Joe using his alias addresses while acting as National Security Advisor to then-VP Joe.

Blinken forwarded a March 26 2012 email from Ukraine ambassador John Tefft to Joe’s ‘Robin Ware’ address, describing a speech given by Beau to Ukrainian members of parliament in Kyiv on the topic of corruption.