Hunter Biden said he does not believe that the Secret Service got involved in a search for his handgun after his sister-in-law and then-girlfriend threw it in a trash can in October 2018.
Biden’s comments in a “CBS This Morning” interview on Monday would appear to conflict with text messages he reportedly sent several months after the incident in which he referred to Secret Service involvement in the search for his gun.
“I don’t know whether the Secret Service were, or why they would be. I don’t think that’s true, to my knowledge,” Biden said in an interview with CBS News regarding reports that the Secret Service intervened in the Oct. 23, 2018, incident.
Politico reported last month that Hallie Biden, the sister-in-law to Hunter, reported his gun missing to police in Wilmington, Delaware.
Hallie, who was also in a romantic relationship with Hunter at the time, said she threw his gun in a trash can behind a supermarket after taking it from his vehicle, according to Politico. She reported the firearm missing after she went back to the store to try to retrieve it.
Delaware state police, the FBI, and Secret Service took part in the search for the gun, according to Politico.
Politico also reported that the owner of a gun store in Delaware said Secret Service agents requested paperwork regarding the sale of the firearm to Hunter Biden.
The store owner said he refused to provide documents to the Secret Service, fearing that the agency would try to cover up the incident, according to Politico. He later sent paperwork to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Secret Service and the White House said last week that there were no records showing that Secret Service personnel were involved in the investigation, Politico reported. Senate Republicans noted in a letter to the Secret Service last week that the agency was not providing protection to the Biden family at the time of the incident.
But Biden referred to the Secret Service in a text message he reportedly sent several months after the incident.
“She stole the gun out of my trunk lock box and threw it in a garbage can full to the top at Jansens [sic]. Then told me it was my problem to deal with,” Biden wrote in the text message, according to The New York Post, which obtained a trove of Biden’s communications before the 2020 election.
“Then when the police the FBI the secret service came on the scene she said she took it from me because she was scared I would harm myself due to my drug and alcohol problem and our volatile relationship and that she was afraid for the kids,” according to the Post.
Biden was not asked in the CBS interview about his text messages. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden said that Hallie took the gun out of “concern that I would hurt myself or do something.”
“In the moment we knew that the gun was lost, that Hallie had thrown it into a trashcan and I told her that she can’t do that,” he said.
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