We’re starting to get more inside baseball stories about the Hunter Biden investigation. The last one was in the New York Times. This one is in the Wall Street Journal. Pieces providing insight into what’s going inside appearing in prestigious papers is not, as I warned previously, a good thing.

The ground is being seeded for something. And it’s likely to be a deal in which Hunter Biden pays significant penalties (that will covertly likely to be taken on by his father’s campaign donors) and agrees to some sort of restrictions on his future business activities.

How will such a move be justified?

In recent weeks, prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware have sought information and grand-jury testimony about the money Mr. Biden received several years ago from Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings Ltd., and how he used that money to pay some obligations, one of those people said.

Last month, prosecutors also extensively questioned at least one other associate of Hunter Biden about Mr. Biden’s drug and alcohol use, spending habits and state of mind in 2018, another person said, suggesting prosecutors are exploring whether such activity would present a defense against a potential criminal tax case.

While such a move is a natural part of prepping a case, it’s also a good way to provide grounds for not prosecuting Hunter Biden. And it’s interesting that we’re hearing more details about the excuses for not going after him than we are about the core case.

Prosecutors have also asked about paperwork the younger Mr. Biden used to purchase a car through funds from Rosemont Seneca, according to people familiar with the matter. In April 2014, a business associate of Mr. Biden from Kazakhstan wired $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca, according to bank statements reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and highlighted in a September 2020 report from Senate Republicans.

The money came from a Singapore company controlled by Kazakhstan banker Kenges Rakishev, the documents show, and the Senate Republican report said they were earmarked in a bank record as “For a Car.” Mr. Rakishev, who was close to Kazakhstan’s leadership, had sought business opportunities with Hunter Biden in the U.S. and elsewhere, said a former associate of Hunter Biden who has been questioned by prosecutors. Mr. Rakishev didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A day after the money was received by Rosemont Seneca, the entity’s banking statements show, it wired the same amount to a New Jersey car dealer. The money purchased a Fisker sports car for use by Hunter Biden to be owned in the name of Rosemont Seneca, said the former associate and another person. Hunter Biden later traded the Fisker for a silver Porsche, the ex-associate added.

We know all this already, and a lot of ordinary people would be in big trouble over this, but it’s a good pathway to a slap on the wrist building a narrative of a drug-addicted Hunter Biden acting irresponsibly to get a sports car while avoiding the much deeper underlying issues of corruption here.