“I’m Not Some Hooker.”
The Mann Act Texts
the Biden DOJ
Buried for Five Years.
On May 11, 2026, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) released roughly 150 pages of Hunter Biden text messages — handed over by President Trump’s DOJ, possessed by the Biden Justice Department for years, and never produced to Congress or charged. The texts, dated December 2018 through January 2019, depict Hunter Biden arranging payments and interstate travel for women in a pattern that on its face implicates the federal Mann Act — 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421–2422.
The Biden DOJ — under Attorney General Merrick Garland (D), Special Counsel David Weiss, and AUSA Lesley Wolf — prosecuted Hunter Biden only on tax and gun charges. Never the trafficking-adjacent conduct. Then President Joseph R. Biden (D)issued a December 1, 2024 full and unconditional pardon covering “any offenses” from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024 — broad enough to absorb whatever the texts now suggest.
The story is selective prosecution by a Democratic DOJ followed by a presidential pardon that buried the evidence in plain sight. Grassley and Johnson formally demanded these records from Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Weiss in 2022. The request went unanswered for the remainder of the Biden administration. AG Pam Bondi’s (R) DOJ produced them within months of inauguration.
- ~150 pagesof texts releasedDecember 2018–January 2019; produced by Trump DOJ to Senate Judiciary and PSI; hosted on grassley.senate.gov.
- $3,600Cash App payment threadJanuary 2019 — Hunter Biden negotiating a payment plus Uber costs in an interstate arrangement, per the released texts.
- 10 years/countMann Act statutory exposure18 U.S.C. § 2421 — interstate transport for prostitution. Never charged by Weiss.
- Dec 1, 2024scope of Biden pardonFull and unconditional, covering any federal offense from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024. Absorbs the 2018–2019 conduct.
- Tax + gun onlywhat Weiss chargedThree federal gun counts (convicted June 11, 2024) plus nine tax counts (guilty plea Sept 5, 2024). No trafficking, prostitution, or Mann Act counts.
December 26, 2018 — woman to Hunter Biden:“I’m not some hooker or escort.” The exchange concerned travel arrangements and payment that the Senate release identifies as part of the Mann Act–implicated pattern.
January 2019 — Hunter Biden:“Ok Tomorrow coming new girl.”
January 2019 — Hunter Biden: “I can only pay through cash app.” The thread negotiates a "3600" payment plus Uber costs for the new arrangement.
January 2019 — Hunter Biden, to an intermediary:“anyone in the Boston area” — soliciting an arrangement in another state.
The legal hook: Cash App payment + arranged Uber/airline travel between states + payment-for-encounter pattern. That is what the Mann Act covers. Whether the Biden Justice Department considered or declined to charge it is a question the released records make impossible to dodge.
“My oversight has repeatedly shown the Biden administration maintained a double standard of justice that shielded Hunter Biden from full accountability, whether it be for federal tax evasion or alleged human trafficking violations.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) · Senate Judiciary Chairman · May 11, 2026
What Weiss charged: Three federal firearms counts in Delaware (conviction June 11, 2024). Nine federal tax counts in C.D. Cal. (guilty plea September 5, 2024).
What Weiss never charged: Any Mann Act count. Any prostitution-related count. Any trafficking-adjacent count.
Lesley Wolf — the AUSA in the room:IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler told Congress that AUSA Wolf limited their ability to question Hunter Biden about “the big guy” (Joe Biden) and about a storage-unit search. Wolf has since exited the Department of Justice.
The 2022 Grassley/Johnson demand: The senators formally requested these records from AG Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Weiss in 2022. The request was not answered. DOJ possessed the texts no later than October 2020. Congress did not see them until May 2026.
On December 1, 2024 — six weeks after losing the election — President Joseph R. Biden (D) issued a full and unconditional pardon of his son. The legal text is broad. It covers any federal offense Hunter Biden “committed or may have committed or taken part in” from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024. The 2018–2019 conduct captured in the texts is inside that window. Whatever Mann Act exposure those records describe is federally absorbed.
“DOJ and FBI possessed evidence of potential crimes, yet it's unclear what steps they, as well as Special Counsel [David] Weiss, took to fully investigate this shocking evidence. This is an affront to blind justice, and it's especially sickening considering Hunter Biden's actions appear to have put vulnerable women at risk.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) · May 11, 2026
President Joseph R. Biden (D) — issued the December 1, 2024 pardon covering 2014–2024.
Attorney General Merrick Garland (D) — possessed the records during the conduct period and afterward; elevated Weiss to Special Counsel August 11, 2023; did not produce the records to Senate Judiciary or PSI in response to the 2022 demand letter.
Special Counsel David C. Weiss— ran the tax + gun prosecutions; never charged Mann Act conduct; January 2025 final report defended the prosecution as “impartial.”
AUSA Lesley Wolf (former)— accused by IRS whistleblowers of limiting questions about the “big guy” and tipping defense counsel about a storage-unit search; has since exited DOJ.
FBI Director Christopher Wray (former) — co-addressee of the 2022 Grassley/Johnson demand; did not produce the records.
AG Pam Bondi (R) — current Attorney General; her DOJ produced the records to the Senate within months of inauguration.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) & Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) — Senate Judiciary Chair and PSI Chair; released the records and the on-record statements.
“It should shock no one that the Biden administration stonewalled my and Senator Grassley's efforts to determine whether the FBI investigated Hunter Biden for using escorts linked to human trafficking rings. President Biden's cronies at DOJ looked the other way and let Hunter Biden off the hook, despite all the evidence pointing toward criminal violations.”
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) · Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman · May 11, 2026
The accountability question is not whether Hunter Biden faced federal charges. He did — and he was convicted on one set and pleaded guilty to another. The accountability question is whether the federal government, in possession of a separate evidentiary record that potentially supported a separate set of charges with vulnerable women on the wrong end of them, declined to act on that evidence — and then handed the file to a pardon that closed off the prosecution forever.
The Senate did not produce a new accusation. The Senate produced documents the Justice Department already had, that Congress had been asking for since 2022, and that the Biden DOJ never delivered. The Trump DOJ delivered them inside the first months of the new administration. Whatever else can be said about the pardon, the underlying record now lives on grassley.senate.gov.
The Biden DOJ possessed Mann Act-implicated evidence about the son of the sitting President for at least four years and never charged it. Then President Biden (D) pardoned every federal offense his son may have committed from 2014 to 2024. The texts are now public. Federal accountability is gone. The question that remains is what the public record itself is worth.