Lawyers for Hunter Biden have claimed that a picture government prosecutors are using to support a tax fraud case against him shows neatly arranged lines of sawdust from a carpentry shop – and not cocaine as the government contends.

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The potential mix-up “sounds more like a storyline from one of the 1980’s Police Academy comedies than what should be expected in a high-profile prosecution”, Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a court filing.

Lowell said that the government was “flat-out wrong” to claim that Biden took the photograph or that it showed cocaine.

Instead, Lowell said, “this is actually a photo of sawdust from an expert carpenter and it was sent to Mr Biden, not vice versa”. The photo was from a master carpenter and “coke addict” that Biden’s psychiatrist had sent to his patient to “convey that Mr Biden, too, could overcome any addiction”.

The apparent sawdust image is one of hundreds of photographs from the same laptop that Biden had left in a repair shop. Its contents were made public shortly before the 2020 election, flooding the public realm with images of Biden taking crack cocaine and playing with guns and in compromising situations with sex workers.

man responsible for widely circulated allegations of bribe money originating with leadership at the Ukrainian energy company Burisma for both Joe and Hunter Biden was recently indicted for allegedly lying to federal authorities. And adding rhetorical insult to injury, the defendant was allegedly also in contact with Russian intelligence.


Though it’s not been the exclusive focus, Republicans have run with the bribery allegation amid what’s become an impeachment inquiry targeting President Joe Biden. On Wednesday, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, demanded that impeachment probe leader Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) resign. Comer presently chairs the House Oversight Committee.

“James Comer must resign from Congress. For the last two years he has done the work of Russia’s intelligence services to falsely attack President Biden. There must be accountability,” Swalwell asserted.(snip)

Members of the Oversight panel eventually got federal authorities to allow a viewing of the official document outlining the claims from the now indicted informant, allegations that Oversight member Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) clearly took very seriously, publicly sharing a recounting of the then-private document’s contents. The materials were eventually released amid cooperation in the push between Republicans in the House and Senate. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has helped steer his legislative chamber’s Republican involvement.