Dear Reader,

News broke this week that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware is investigating Hunter Biden, son of the President-elect. Whether or not Hunter Biden broke any law is an open question, but the revelation about an ongoing investigation is not speculative or leak-driven. It is conceded in a pithy statement from Hunter himself:

“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.”

Fairly deep reporting by CNN’s Evan Perez, not yet confirmed by the authorities, paints a picture of a broad investigation, well underway, and involving both the FBI and the IRS’s criminal investigation section. According to Perez’s sources, the “investigation began as early as 2018,” and is focused on “multiple financial issues, including whether Hunter Biden and his associates violated tax and money laundering laws in business dealings in foreign countries, principally China, according to two people briefed on the probe.” Also according to Perez, Joe Biden is not implicated in any wrongdoing.