Who is Louis Freeh? FBI ex-chief gave $100K to Joe Biden trust and sought ‘future work’, reveal Hunter emails
The laptop that allegedly belongs to Hunter Biden continues to spill secrets, the latest involving former FBI boss Louis Freeh. According to the latest leaks, Freeh donated $100,000 to a private trust for Joe Biden's grandchildren and met with the then-Vice President in 2016 "to explore with him some future work options".
According to the emails, Freeh wanted to work with Biden through Hunter, on various private ventures. As he was attempting to woo the Bidens into business, Freeh also donated cash to a trust for Hallie Biden's children. Hallie is the widow of the President's late son Beau and she allegedly had an affair with Hunter.
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The shocking revelations are yet to be addressed by the White House and could pose a significant challenge for Biden if he was found to be engaged in business while in office. Here's everything we know about Freehand the relationship he had with the Bidens.
Who is Louis Freeh?
The former attorney and judge served as the Director of the FBI under Bill Clinton and Geroge W Bush. An archived biography notes that Freeh was born in New Jersey, and received a JD degree from Rutgers Law School in 1974. In 1984, he received an LLM degree in criminal law from New York University Law School. In 1985, he signed up to serve as a First Lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve - Judge Advocate General's Corps.
Freeh served as a law clerk to Senator Clifford Case and also ran his own private practice for a while. In 1975, he joined the FBI in the New York office. From there, he quickly rose through the ranks until he changed track in the 1980s. In 1981, he was the Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. By 1989, he was Associate Attorney. Between 1990 and 1991 he served as a Special Prosecutor at the US Department of Justice, before returning to the FBI. In 1993, he was appointed as the director and served in that role till 2001.
Prior to his appointment as director, Freeh was famously involved in the 'Pizza Connection' case and the Special Prosecutor for the case against notorious bomber Walter Moody. His time as FBI Director wasn't without controversy. In the late 1990s, the Department of Justice inquiry recommended that Freeh be censured for managerial failures during the siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
He also played crucial roles in the 1993 ATF investigation in Waco, Texas, and the infamous crash of TWA Flight 800. Other scandals followed, leading Freeh to resign in 2001 as a result of mounting public pressure. After that, he spent some years serving in an advisory capacity in the private sector. In 2004, he began to teach at Widener University School of Law. He also conducted multiple investigations independently, including into the Penn State child sex abuse scandal in 2011.
Links to the Biden family
Details of Freeh's links to the Bidens were first exposed by the Daily Mail. According to the Mail, Freeh has been courting Biden since 2016, when he was serving as the Vice-President. In July 2016, Freeh emailed Hunter and said, "I also spoke to Dad a few weeks ago and would like to explore with him some future work options. I believe that working together on these (and other legal) matters would be of value, fun and rewarding."
"I'm very flexible and we could set it up as an equity-share or whatever works best. It would certainly be an honor to work with you both," he said a month later. In April 2017, Freeh emailed Hunter saying "our family foundation made a $100K contribution to Hallie's children's trust last year. My accountants (PWC) now advise that since the grant did not go to a 501(c) organization, it was not a proper foundation gift." He said he would correct that error by sending another $100,000 to the trust, after speaking to the IRS.
Earlier, Freeh also asked Hunter for Biden's personal contact details. "If you have his cell and a personal email, I'd like to have his contacts (will protect). I would still like to persuade him to associate with me," Freeh wrote. To that, Hunter replied, "He rarely ever uses email. (Chung's email address) is also the best way to make sure he gets the message. That's Kathy whom you have met." Kathy Chung was a staffer at Biden's office when he was VP, and continued serving Biden after he left.
Even before these emails, Freeh was reportedly close to the Bidens. The Mail noted that he served on the Beau Biden Foundation. He also called Beau and Hunter "close friends" in the past. It is unclear if Hunter or President Biden ever worked with Freeh at any time. There doesn't appear to be any proof of that happening, while Freeh has reportedly been caught in the past working with controversial figures like Romanian real estate tycoon Gabriel Popoviciu, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and even Rudy Guiliani.
The White House has so far kept mum and not addressed the leaks. Unless Biden directly worked with Freeh while he was VP, there seem to be no major concerns of impropriety. But given Freeh's controversial past and associates, it could prove to be problematic for the President.