The "sugar brother" of President Biden’s son, Hunter, is threatening legal action against criminal defense attorney and Fox News contributor Johnathan Truly, accusing him of defamation.
Kevin Morris, a Hollywood attorney and personal confidant to the younger Biden sat for a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee as part of House Republicans' sweeping probe into President Biden's family and its past foreign business dealings.
In a 2022 column, Turley commented on Morris' position as a central figure in planning a "scorched Earth campaign" against "any investigation into the Bidens’ alleged multimillion-dollar influence-peddling schemes."
That plan, Turley noted, included "hitting critics…with possible defamation lawsuits."
Fast-forward just over a year later — following his House committee interview in which he revealed he gave "massive' financial support to Hunter Biden" — Morris may be following through on his plan.
"On Wednesday, I received a letter from Bryan M. Sullivan, a partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, who is the lawyer of Kevin Morris (who is the lawyer for Hunter Biden). The letter warns that I could face a defamation action if I do not retract (or if I repeat) my criticism of Morris’s representational relationship with Hunter," Jonathan Turley wrote in his Friday column.
"In his letter, Sullivan attacks my reference to ethics rules as unworthy of a professor as well as 'blatantly misleading and just bad lawyering,'" said Turley.
"That tirade about my lack of knowledge and principles is followed by a demand for an immediate retraction and adds ‘if you repeat your baseless charges, you understand that accusing someone of violating the law is defamation per se,’" he continued.
Turley stated that he "will not issue a retraction despite the threats of Morris and Sullivan."
Instead, he published another column in the New York Post, repeating his "objections to Morris’s blurry representational claims."
"The effort in such threats is to silence or chill critics in their criticism of a wealthy, powerful public figure like Mr. Morris," Turley stated.
In the Post column, Turley said that following his House testimony, the "question that lingered then, and now, is who is Kevin Morris."
"The Hollywood lawyer, producer and Democratic donor has emerged as a major figure in the corruption scandal surrounding Hunter Biden. For years, some of us have complained that we are not sure what Morris was at any given moment," Turley stated.
"What became clear in the deposition is that Morris does not appear certain himself," he added.
"He’s Hunter’s confidant, sugar brother, business partner, pitbull and his lawyer."
"That could prove his undoing … both for himself and his client," said Turley.
