Gunsmoke: Dept. Of Justice Doubles Down On Bid To Keep Hunter Biden's Illegal Gun Purchase Top Secret, Court Documents Show

The U.S. Department of Justice is apparently doubling down on its attempt to keep records about the handgun Hunter Biden purchased and then illegally discarded in 2018 top secret, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.

Last month, the watchdog group Judicial Watch slapped the DOJ with a federal lawsuit for refusing to hand over FBI documents related to the controversial incident, which involved the U.S. Secret Service and the Delaware State Police.

In a response to the lawsuit, the DOJ admitted to receiving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Judicial Watch — but acknowledged the documents about the First Son’s gun fiasco would remain classified, court documents show.

“Defendant’s action did not violate FOIA or any other statutory or regulatory provisions,” the DOJ stated in its lawsuit reply. “(Judicial Watch) is not entitled to compel production of records protected from disclosure by one or exemptions to FOIA.”

The gun, which Hunter obtained by allegedly lying about his drug addiction on a federal gun form, purportedly disappeared after his sister-in-law-turned-lover, Hallie Biden, recklessly tossed the firearm in a Delaware supermarket garbage can, located across the street from a school.

For years, federal law enforcement agencies have dodged allegations that they allegedly conspired to whitewash the incident to save President Joe Biden’s drug-addled son from prison.

“The FBI and Secret Service have both been implicated in a corrupt clean-up operation to protect Hunter Biden from the criminal consequences of his gun scandal,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said when the lawsuit was filed last month.

Judicial Watch targeted the DOJ after records obtained from the Secret Service, through FOIA, implicated “the FBI in the unusual actions to help Hunter Biden.”

In addition, explosive text messages found in Hunter’s now-infamous laptop also mentioned the FBI's involvement in the chaotic October 23, 2018, gun caper that erupted when the panic-stricken Hallie found the .38-caliber handgun.

“She stole the gun out of my trunk lock box and threw it in a garbage can full to the top at (the Delaware supermarket) Jansens [sic]. Then told me it was my problem to deal with,” Hunter wrote in text messages first obtained by the news site Politico.

“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.”

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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Hunter allegedly lied to the staff at the StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply gun shop to obtain the weapon. Hunter answered "no" to a firearm transaction report that required him to answer if he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance."

Hunter, who was discharged from the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2014 after he tested positive for cocaine, faces up to five years in prison if charged with lying on the federal background check.