A contingent of House Republicans on Monday asked President Biden’s nominee for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to investigate if Hunter Biden, the president’s son, lied during a background check in order to obtain a firearm.
The request comes after Politico reported last month that Hunter Biden responded “no” to a question about drug use on the Firearms Transaction Record in obtaining a gun in 2018, even though he had been discharged from the Navy Reserve five years early after testing positive for cocaine.
President Biden and his family have publicly acknowledged Hunter Biden’s struggle with substance abuse in the past.
In a letter sent to ATF nominee David Chipman, Republican lawmakers, led by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), asked Chipman to “publicly commit to investigate” the allegations involving Biden’s background check, if Chipman is confirmed to his post.
The lawmakers wrote that “since lying on a background check form is a felony, this allegation merits investigation.”
“Allegations of this crime are no less serious when leveled at Hunter Biden,” they wrote.
The lawmakers also noted that the act of lying on a background check form, commonly referred to as “lying and trying,” is rarely prosecuted. The letter cited 2017 data from the Government Accountability Office, which found that of the 112,000 lie-and-try crimes committed that year, only 12 were prosecuted.
Politico’s report also revealed that Hunter Biden’s alleged falsification of his background check involved an intervention by Secret Service agents after Hallie Biden, the widow of Hunter Biden’s brother Beau and who Hunter Biden was dating at the time, disposed of his .38 revolver in a trash can behind a grocery store.
The White House and Secret Service, however, both pushed back on the reporting.
Biden is under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware over his taxes.
In an interview earlier this month for his new memoir, Biden said he is “100 percent” certain that he will be “cleared of any wrongdoing.”