Hunter Biden The Focus Of Federal Investigation In Pittsburgh Involving U.S. Attorney Scott Brady And FBI

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- President Donald Trump wants to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the business dealings of President-elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter.

But for the past 12 months, Hunter has been the focus of a federal investigation in Pittsburgh.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady won't comment, but CBS Pittsburgh has confirmed that his office and local FBI agents have investigated Hunter for the past year, much to the dismay of some career prosecutors.

How did the Hunter investigation find its way to Pittsburgh?

It appears to have started last December when President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, returned from a trip to Ukraine, where he went in search of information on the Bidens -- specifically Hunter's relationship with the Ukraine natural gas company Burisma.

The New York Times first reported last week that Giuliani came to Pittsburgh in January and discussed the evidence in a four-hour meeting with Brady, who sources say is a strong supporter of the president and an active participant in Republican politics who was eager to be involved.

A letter from the Justice Department to the House Judiciary Committee in February confirmed Brady was assigned to the case "to assist the receipt, processing and preliminary analysis of new information provided by the public that may be relevant to matters relating to Ukraine."

Though Brady has declined all comment, KDKA has confirmed the on-going investigation involved his office and the local FBI.

Sources tell KDKA's Andy Sheehan that some career prosecutors in the office, who have worked under both Democrat and Republican administrations, are rankled by the investigation, which they believe is political in nature and has little do with western Pennsylvania.

The investigation has not resulted in an indictment and its present status is unclear. But in the past year, damaging information has surfaced in the form of emails involving payments to Biden family members recovered from a laptop abandoned in a Delaware store. The authenticity of those emails has been questioned.

Hunter recently revealed that his tax payments are currently under investigation by the U.S. Attorney in Delaware.

Brady is a Republican appointed by President Trump. President-elect Biden will likely replace him with a Democrat. But if a special prosecutor is appointed, Brady would turn his evidence over and the investigation would continue.