On Tuesday morning, a bombshell dropped with the revelation that a former top aide and legal counsel to Joe Biden was working in the U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ office during the Hunter Biden probe.

Alexander Mackler reportedly worked for years under Weiss, with the timeframe overlapping the criminal investigation into the president’s son. Eventually, Hunter Biden would be given a sweetheart deal by that very same office, having to only plead to two misdemeanors while receiving pre-trial diversion for a gun crime that DOJ protocol requires the seeking of prison time for.

A close associate of the Biden family appears to have spent years working in the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office, including during the months when whistleblowers said the office took up an investigation of Hunter Biden.

Alexander Mackler served as press secretary in Joe Biden’s Senate office and, later, as legal counsel in his vice presidential office. Mackler managed the late Beau Biden’s successful campaign for Delaware attorney general in 2010.

And Mackler served on the Biden-Harris transition team in 2020, helping the Biden administration create the blueprint for its Justice Department.

Mackler has a long history of working intimately with the Bidens. He served as a press secretary for then-Sen. Joe Biden and also as legal counsel for him once he became vice president. Mackler also ran Beau Biden’s campaign for Attorney General of Delaware while later serving on the Biden-Harris transition team following the 2020 election.

Even more nefarious is that Mackler had a close relationship with Hunter Biden himself.

Mackler also appeared to have a close personal relationship with Hunter Biden. In emails found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, Mackler corresponded frequently with Hunter Biden and his business associates and even referred to Hunter Biden fondly as a “brother” in October 2018. Mackler was working under U.S. Attorney David Weiss in the office at that time, according to his LinkedIn page, which lists him as having worked in the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office from August 2016 to May 2019.

As noted, Mackler once described Hunter Biden as a “brother.” He also had contacts with various Hunter Biden business associates. Further, as his LinkedIn page reveals, Mackler didn’t leave Weiss’ office until May 2019. That means that he was there for a significant period of the investigation during a time when whistleblowers claimed they were being stifled.

Did Mackler sabotage the investigation early on? That hasn’t been proven, but there was no doubt a serious conflict of interest in him working for the U.S. Attorney of Delaware during a period when his close friend was under criminal investigation by the same office (the Hunter Biden probe began in Weiss’ office as early as January of 2019 according to whistleblower testimony).

Also mentioned in the report is that Lesley Wolf, who was mentioned numerous times by the whistleblowers as stopping investigative steps into the Bidens, worked closely with Mackler. That’s a lot of smoke for there to be no fire.

But while there’s plenty of concern over how Mackler may have protected the Bidens during the Hunter Biden probe, his cozy relationship appeared to be a problem long before. According to an email, Mackler actually spoke to Hunter Biden and his business partner about making money after a high-profile figure leaves office. The assumption at the time seemed to be that Joe Biden would not run for president.

In late August 2016 — after, it would seem, Mackler began his job at the U.S. attorney’s office — Mackler fired off an email to Hunter Biden and Schwerin opining on the public perception of Hillary Clinton’s lucrative work with the Clinton Foundation. He argued that there should be a distinction between powerful people who make money once out of office and those who appear to be monetizing their current or future access to government power.

“When someone leaves public life and they or their spouse no longer hold prominent government positions … they can do almost whatever they want and take money from almost anyone they can personally stomach and who passes their personal barometer,” Mackler wrote. “That’s the point (and the good news for us).”

“That’s the point (and the good news for us),” Mackler states in the email, which raises all sorts of questions. Was Mackler protecting the Bidens throughout his time at the DOJ? That seems like a very real possibility given his continued correspondence and the nature of that correspondence.

House Republicans will no doubt take this information and dig deeper. There needs to be a serious investigation into whether the DOJ was compromised by people will close ties to the Bidens themselves, and Mackler’s employment is the first logical thread to pull on.