Government watchdog groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Delaware this week, asking the Department of Justice to turn over records that could determine whether Hunter Biden should be further investigated under a 1910 law regarding “prostitution or debauchery.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project filed a petition in the Wilmington court where Biden was convicted this month on firearms-related charges, arguing there is a large amount of evidence showing that his eldest son was being investigated under the Mann Act.
The law, enacted at a time when prostitution was widespread in urban areas, made it a felony to “knowingly transport any woman or girl in interstate or foreign commerce for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery.”
The court brief, obtained by Fox News Digital, includes portions of a transcript of an interview with IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler that took place before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2023.
Speaking about the Justice Department’s efforts to evaluate possible violations of the Mann Act, Ziegler said of Biden’s “West Coast assistant,” “we knew that that assistant was also in, or believed to be in, the prostitution industry, and he deducted expenses related to her.”
An anonymous lawmaker then asked about Biden “paying for personal travel to fly to California or wherever,” to which Ziegler replied, “Or to Boston or wherever he was.” [Washington, D.C.] I think one of them flew someone out overnight.”
Ziegler said he understood the Justice Department was “putting together” the potential violations that had been referred to it, but he didn’t know the final outcome.
Kyle Brosnan, an attorney with the Oversight Project, said in an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday that he believes the Justice Department has the information and should make it public.
Brosnan said the oversight project is seeking records relating to Ziegler’s testimony, communications with the probation office regarding the Mann Act and any “victim”-related investigations.
“When you peel back the layers of the onion, it’s absurd, because there’s already an overwhelming amount of information that shows these records exist,” he said. [They’re] “It was found on Hunter Biden’s laptop and was introduced into evidence in the Delaware criminal case,” Brosnan said.
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The Department of Justice instead issued a “Glomar Response” to inquiries for information on the subject, a legal measure that provides a legitimate exception to the rule that a party must confirm or deny the existence of information sought through a legal request.
In September, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and James Comer, R-Kentucky, wrote letter He told the Justice Department following the IRS whistleblower’s testimony that witnesses suggested the department “compiled a list of potential victims” in connection with the Mann Act investigation into his eldest son.
“These women may be victims under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act and may also be entitled to mandatory compensation under the Mandatory Victim Compensation Act,” Green and Comer wrote.
Brosnan said the Justice Department’s response to Gromer was “wholly inappropriate” given the contents of the laptop and the findings of the congressional investigation, and could lend credibility to claims that the Justice Department “went easy” in prosecuting Biden.
“While people should not transport prostitutes within states, transporting them across state lines is clearly a violation of federal law,” Mike Howell, executive director of the Oversight Project, told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“This is another crime Hunter has not been charged with, and we are trying to get the Department of Justice to acknowledge that they are not only pursuing it, but refusing to prosecute it.”
The Justice Department, the White House and the office of Biden’s lawyer, Abe Lowell, did not respond to requests for comment.
