The Justice Department and Congress are taking a close look at a longtime aide to President Joe Biden for her additional ties to son Hunter Biden as part of their probes into classified documents.
According to reports, Kathy Chung, now Defense Department official, has become a primary figure as she was in charge of transporting materials to the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., after Joe Biden left the vice presidency in 2017. Several reports say that she’s been interviewed by federal investigators as part of the Department of Justice’s probe into the scandal. Also, the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee over the weekend sent her a letter seeking documentation and other information as part of an inquiry that is being led by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the panel’s chairman.
The Daily Wire notes:
In early November, Biden’s attorneys found about 10 documents marked classified while clearing out Biden’s office at the center, according to his legal team, after which the FBI searched the think tank’s offices, per CBS News. Classified documents dating back to Biden’s time as vice president or even as a U.S. Senator were also discovered at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, leading Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to examine whether “any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter.”
While Chung does not appear to have any involvement with the documents found at Biden’s residence, she reportedly did lead a small team at the end of the Obama administration who placed folders into boxes in the vice president’s White House office that made their way to a transition office, and then to another temporary location in Chinatown leased by the Penn Biden Center before they finally arrived at the think tank.
Federal agents reportedly interviewed Chung on Jan. 4, according to The Washington Post, which quoted a “person familiar with her account.” The outlet said that she told investigators she was surprised that any classified documents were left in the vice-presidential office because it is standard procedure to return all of those materials to a safe after being briefed by intelligence or national security officials and aides. One source familiar with the situation told the Post that Chung, who at the time possessed a top-secret clearance, did not examine the folders as she packed them up.
Chung appears to have gotten her job as then-VP Biden’s executive assistant thanks to Hunter Biden, the Post said, adding that she crossed paths with Hunter while she worked at the Commerce Department in the 1990s. When she was serving as a scheduling director for Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) in the spring of 2012, the reportedly got a phone call from Hunter about a new job opportunity. Emails discovered on his abandoned laptop described the situation.
“Thanks for calling and thinking of me,” she said in an email addressed to Hunter on May 14 of that year, according to Fox News. “After the initial shock of taking in what you said … how could I pass up an opportunity to work for the Vice President of the United State [sic]!!!!”
On June 13 of that year, Chung sent another email to tell Hunter that his father offered her the executive assistant job. “I cannot thank you enough for thinking about me and walking me thru this,” Chung wrote. “What an incredible opportunity! Thanks, Hunter!!”
The first son remains under federal investigation for a number of things, including alleged tax avoidance, violations of federal statutes requiring registration as a foreign agent, and a gun background check violation.
