In an odd turn of events, Independence County, Arkansas Circuit Court Judge Don McSpadden, who was presiding over the Hunter Biden/Lunden Roberts paternity case abruptly recused himself on Tuesday morning. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained the recusal document, which can be viewed here. McSpadden declined to offer an explanation for his recusal, and deferred to the “Administrative Plan of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit.” Circuit Court Judge Holly Meyer will now preside over the case.

Recently McSpadden had requested that both Biden and Lunden hand over five years of income records, ordering that these records remain under seal and be made available to Biden and Lunden’s attorneys only.

The Gazette reported that on December 23, Dominic Casey, a private investigator with a Longwood, FL based firm called D&A Investigations, and Joel Caplan of Jerusalem, filed a “Notice of Fraud and Counterfeiting and Production of Evidence” motion with the court. This document claimed “Hunter Biden “established bank and financial accounts with Morgan Stanley et al” for Burisma Holdings — where he served as a former board member — to satisfy a “money laundering scheme.””

According to Fox News:

McSpadden had the request stricken from the record, on grounds that it violated state procedural rules, which required the intervening party to raise a claim that shared a “question of law or fact in common” with the existing case. Biden’s legal team had told the court that D&A’s filing was riddled with falsehoods and clearly procedurally improper.

In another court filing from Dec. 27, D&A claimed it had provided attorneys for Lunden Alexis Roberts, the plaintiff, “access to [Hunter Biden’s] bank account records” that show proof of “fraud and counterfeiting.” D&A sought to be officially added as a party to the case, in an effort to support Roberts’ claim and provide proof of Biden’s alleged criminal activity.

McSpadden recused himself before he could rule on the second motion.

Robert’s attorney, Brent M. Langdon of Texarkana, Texas, “filed a motion Monday saying Casey’s filing was “a scheme by a non-party simply to make scandalous allegations” that have nothing to do with the pending paternity suit.”

The story gets even stranger. According to the Gazette:

On Monday, Caplan [of Jerusalem] filed a 31-page motion to intervene, saying he represents himself and hundreds of thousands of U.S. investors who were defrauded in a “systemic, formulaic and Biblically-sized multi-billion dollar stock scheme” he called “The China Hustle.”

In his argument, Caplan said he was trying to get some of the same financial information that had been sought, so far unsuccessfully, by Roberts’ attorney, Clinton Lancaster of Benton.

Lancaster has received some financial information from Biden, but not “full and complete tax returns for any of the past five years,” his 2017 and 2018 personal tax returns and other documents showing income, according to a court filing.

Caplan said Hunter Biden “received or allegedly received” $1.5 billion from “high level Chinese government officials and/or wealthy Chinese national investors.”

On Tuesday, Caplan filed 64 pages of “exhibits.”

At first glance, the Casey/Caplan filing sounds farfetched. However, given what we know to be true, such as Hunter Biden’s negotiation of a $1.5 billion deal “to create a joint-investment fund between his company, Rosemont Seneca, and a Chinese state-run bank,” and the lucrative position he held with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, it simply cannot be discounted.

Additionally, reports of wrongdoing from investigative reporters John Solomon and Peter Schweizer as well as recent accusations by Rudy Giuliani offer some credence to the filing. Considering the Democrats have justified investigations of President Trump and his associates based on “hunches,” the Casey/Caplan claims, at the very least, justify further investigation.

The allegations surrounding Hunter Biden’s business dealings do not seem to be affecting his father’s poll numbers. Former Vice President Joe Biden has maintained his frontrunner status in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination despite all the negative press surrounding his son. And the new developments in the case may delay a resolution until after the primaries which is good news for Biden. Maybe not so much for the Democratic Party who could be stuck with Joe Biden as their nominee if any of the accusations made against Hunter Biden can be proven.

The Daily Mail published an article on Tuesday about the Casey/Caplan motion which provides more detail, documents and numerous photos. Here is the link.