Secret Service agents allegedly involved themselves in an incident in which Joe Biden’s daughter-in-law Hallie threw a gun belonging to her husband Hunter Biden in the trash outside a grocery store, Politico reported Thursday.
The alleged involvement of the Secret Service in the incident would be inappropriate given that the incident was investigated by Delaware police and the FBI, and because Joe Biden was not under Secret Service protection at the time, law enforcement officials told Politico.
“U.S. Secret Service records confirm that the agency did not provide protection to any member of the Biden family in 2018, and that the Secret Service had no involvement in this alleged incident,” the agency said in a statement.
On October 23, 2018, Hallie Biden took a .38 revolver belonging to Hunter and placed it in the trash outside Janssen’s Market in Wilmington, Del. After informing Hunter the same day, he told her to go back and retrieve the gun, however the gun was missing from the trash can when Hallie returned to get it.
Hallie told the store manager, who passed the information along to Delaware police. According to the police report, which was obtained by Politico, the incident caused heightened concerns because the store was across the street from a high school, and officers worried the gun could be used in a crime. The FBI, which was investigating Hunter’s taxes at the time, also reportedly responded to the incident.
At the same time that Delaware police were questioning Hallie and Hunter, two Secret Service agents arrived at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, the gun shop where Hunter bought the revolver, two people familiar with the incident said. The agents asked owner Ron Palmieri to turn over the Firearms Transaction Record Hunter filled out in order to purchase the gun.
Palmieri refused, however, reportedly because he suspected that the agents wanted to hide Hunter’s ownership of the gun. The ownership records fall under the purview of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Palmieri handed the records to the ATF a day after the incident. Palmieri declined to comment to Politico.
The news comes after Joe Biden’s presidential campaign dealt with questions regarding a number of Hunter’s foreign business dealings. Hunter admitted in December 2020 that the FBI and IRS were investigating his “tax affairs,” referencing the probe open at the time of the alleged incident involving his revolver.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” Hunter said on December 9.
Joe Biden has issued multiple statements in support of his son, who has struggled with drug addiction throughout his adult life.
“President-elect Biden is deeply proud of his son, who has fought through difficult challenges, including the vicious personal attacks of recent months, only to emerge stronger,” the Biden transition team said in December.
