IRS whistleblowers allege sweeping political interference in Hunter Biden case
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Justice Department and Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office went out of their way to hamper an IRS investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes by consistently slow walking the case, preventing enforcement actions by the IRS and tipping off actions related to the investigation to Biden’s attorneys in advance, according to new whistleblower testimony released Thursday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Following a closed executive session Thursday morning, the Republican-controlled committee led by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) exercised its unique authority to publicly release information in the five-year federal investigation into his failure to pay about $1 million in federal taxes. Tax information is generally barred from disclosure by strict taxpayer privacy laws.
The released documents include transcripts of interviews by the committee with two IRS whistleblowers, an affidavit signed by one of the whistleblowers and internal IRS correspondence. The documents shed light on the experiences of two IRS investigators who said they were deeply concerned about the unusual handling of the Hunter Biden case, their perceived marginalization from decisions made by federal prosecutors and their eventual removal from the yearslong investigation.
Hunter Biden’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the documents.
Democrats on the committee, who all voted against releasing the documents, protested that Republicans improperly used their powers for law enforcement purposes and that government watchdogs for Justice and the IRS should be allowed to separately investigate the whistleblower allegations.
Democrats had used the same authority under the tax code to publish former President Donald Trump’s taxes last year, much to the outrage of Republicans. Committee ranking member Richard Neal (D-Mass.) emphasized that, unlike Republicans, Democrats considered the bar for releasing private taxpayer information to be “exceedingly high” and published Trump’s returns only after the Supreme Court affirmed that the action had a “legislative purpose.”
“There’s no corroboration of any of what happened today,” said Neal of the whistleblower testimonies, noting that law enforcement agencies should be able to interview 50 other government employees who were named in the transcript.
Smith insisted that Americans deserved to know about Justice’s unequal enforcement of tax laws evidenced by the Hunter Biden case that he said blatantly favor the wealthy and politically well-connected.
“I think you’ll see a level of criminality that I don’t think anybody expected to see in these whistleblower transcripts,” said committee member Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a former federal prosecutor.
While Hunter Biden ultimately agreed to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors , as detailed in a Delaware court filing earlier this week, Smith said the IRS recommended that President Joe Biden’s son be charged with counts of attempting to evade or defeat tax and fraud or false statement, both of which amount to felonies.
“What plea deal did Mr. Biden just receive? A slap on the wrist for charges that have put other Americans behind bars,” Smith said.
In his interview with the committee, one of the whistleblowers, special supervisory agent Gary Shapley, describes a meeting in October 2022 between senior managers at the IRS, FBI and the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office in which David Weiss, the attorney overseeing the probe, provided the “earth-shattering” news that charges brought against Hunter Biden were denied in D.C. — and that Weiss was subsequently denied special counsel authority by Justice.
Weiss then brought the materials to the Central District of California as a last resort, which also declined to bring the charges against Hunter Biden.
Shapley said it was clear to all the investigators present at that meeting that testimony provided by Attorney General Merrick Garland to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in March that Weiss has “full authority to make those referrals” and “has been advised that he should get anything he needs” was false.
The criminal tax investigation of Hunter Biden “has been handled differently than any investigation I’ve ever been a part of for the past 14 years of my IRS service,” Shapley said.
A second unnamed IRS whistleblower said in his testimony before the committee that the conduct of prosecutors on the case “has honestly been appalling, and I do not think that they are considering the human impact of the decisions they’re making.”
According to a statement by Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House, the president has been clear that his son’s case should be handled independently by Justice.
“He has upheld that commitment,” Sams said.
In a June 7 letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Weiss wrote, “I want to make clear that, as the Attorney General has stated, I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.”
“Throughout my tenure as U.S. Attorney my decisions have been made — and with respect to the matter must be made — without reference to political considerations,” Weiss said.
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Now we know why the case was settled this week.
The texts from Hunter Biden wow......
The story of the day Sean.
Let's see where we are. Hunter Biden got the plea deal we all knew was coming on small potato crimes. Then the IRS Whistleblower says that the US Attorney's office wanted to charge Hunter Biden with felonies around March of 2022 and was denied by the DOJ. The US Attorney sought Special Counsel status later that year and was denied by the DOJ.
As your article states:
Weiss then brought the materials to the Central District of California as a last resort, which also declined to bring the charges against Hunter Biden.
Investigators had cause to search a Northern Virginia storage facility used by Hunter Biden and the FBI tipped off Hunter.
The FBI has been going after Whistleblowers and it is becoming more obvious by the day.
For our friends on the left: It has never been about Hunter. This was always about Joe.
This was always about Joe..
Between using the threat of his dad's influence (with his Dad sitting next to him) to extract money from a CCP official/business man and the shenanigans the FBI/DOJ pulled to avoid fully investigating Hunter's crimes, this is going to require a lot of unpacking and follow up.
I don't think many people noticed it but only a month or so ago Susan Rice left the Biden administration. I always wondered why. She had a good sense of what was going on, especially after the Republicans won the House. Maybe she could see the house of cards falling.
Remember how she tried to protect Obama as an afterthought with her belated memo of Obama telling Comey to do it by the book?
The Justice Department investigation, which was ongoing during former President Donald Trump’s term and is headed by a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney ,
How impartial.
Texting a corrupt Chinese businessman, Henry Zhao, who had already sent $5 million to the Bidens. and threatening to sic his father on him...
Here's a little more of Hunter's and The Big Guy's threats:
It’s like a scene from a movie. Hard to believe anyone is that corrupt in real life.
…in one breath he is a doddering old fool and in the next he is a criminal mastermind. All that is left is the gasping.
No one has called hunter Biden a doddering old fool or a criminal mastermind. He seems to be doing a bad impression of a crooked teamster official threatening someone with an enforcer on this text. It’s so blatantly heavy handed..
“I’ll get my daddy after you if you don’t favorably respond immediately”
The exposed corruption Biden Crime Syndicate has awakened many people to what they really are, and there's more to come over time. Watch how Biden supporters will continue to throw shiny objects to deflect from facts and evidence.
No one is claiming Brandon is a criminal mastermind. Otherwise he would learn to STFU.
Same with his sone Hunter.
The system protecting them is the mastermind. Try to keep up.
Yeah, the interference in the Hunter case is the failure to look at and examine the 2+billion dollars Kushner got from the Saudis as the Trumps' were walking out the door.
Keep deflecting.
Is there something about that-that is false?
So the fuck what? Prove that Kushner extorted the Saudis for the money. Also, it wasn't Kushner- it was the company that Kushner works for. A company that that actually produces something other than pay for play and leftist BS.
Think the IRS, DOJ, and FBI already haven't been, or aren't, investigating this deal? Where have you been for the last 7 damn years plus? If there was anything to it the leaks would be everywhere.
Why don't you tell Schumer to investigate it? The Democrats still control the Senate.
LOOK OVER THERE!!!!!!!
Nothing like bringing up something completely UNRELATED and off topic as a pathetic attempt to distract.
FBI leadership tipped off Biden family insiders about plans to physically confront Hunter Biden and seek an interview with criminal investigators. "This essentially tipped off a group of people very close to Biden and Hunter Biden and gave this group an opportunity to obstruct and approach other witnesses."
It is time for the House to impeach Garland.
The scale of this is massive. Evidence hid from investigators. Intentionally letting the statue of limitations run out to give Hunter a free out for 2014 and 2015.
Amazing allegations.
The whole cover-up is beginning to fall apart. Chris Wray, who cared more about protecting the reputation of the FBI than getting rid of the ideologues over there, is now in a tough sport. He is at a crossroads. Does he make an announcement that will enrage his boss over at the DOJ as well as Joe Biden or will he now follow the advice Vito Genovese and not take chances? The bureau has already put the fear of God into these whistleblowers. Garland told them that everything had to go through the DOJ before they talked to anyone. A good many have taken off. The IRS Whistleblower is still working and has maintained anonymity. Let us see if the House Oversight Committee can protect some of these people.
Hunter essentially extorted people using his father as muscle. It's impossible to defend that and what form the cover up takes on now will be interesting.
It's indefensible. He's using the threat of his dad's influence (who's sitting right there!) to extort money.
Another interesting note. The FBI confirmed the authenticity of Hunter's laptop in November 2019 and told the IRS it contained likely evidence of tax crimes. As an aside, Hunter was already being investigated for his role in an online pornography ring at the time. One year later 50 intelligence officials lied and claimed the laptop was "Russian disinformation" and Biden repeated the lie in a debate
All the FB verified is that it belonged to Hunter at one point (via its iCloud ID), not that the data were authentic. The data are still being analyzed and because of sloppy handling (no chain of custody), they're not sure of the authenticity of much of it. But, you guys have had it for almost 4 years, even if the data are not authentic, you guys would still publish all the incriminating stuff. Why is there only innuendo at this point?
Keep producing the BS.
The laptop information has been verified by Hunter's business partners that have faced federal charges for tax violations; and screwing over Native Americans in their business dealings.
Nothing is going to fix the FBI coverup.
Keep producing the BS.
This whole seed is about all this horrible stuff Hunter did, but as I've said before, why is Comer still only supplying innuendo? This investigation was started by the Trump DOJ with an FBI Director selected by Trump in November 2018. Where's the beef?
You mean Hunter selling influence that only his father can deliver upon?
This investigation was started
Where is the laptop?
This is true. The first set of results returned by google on one of my laptops were largely about corrupted versions of the data being spread by the RNC. Later, the same search on an iPad returned a completely different set of results -- the truth of your statement above. I will be more careful. I don't logon to Chrome, so google may not associate both devices with me. I had read that searches were tailored, but had not had such direct experience.
from Gary Shapley's statement:
The DOJ was shutting down lines of inquiry left and right.
You need to get Durham back to investigate these investigators too. Maybe he can get you a few more acquittals.
We now know that anyone important never got interviewed. They were all willing to take the 5th.
Not that it's relevant, but so did Trump, almost 450 times.
Look, you’re complaining that the wealthy/connected get better treatment from law enforcement. Well, Duh. Do you think that if you took hundreds of highly classified docs that the FBI/DOJ would spend a year and a half begging you to return them with a no fowl guaranty, even though they knew you were lying to and obstructing them? No, they’d break down your door day 1, take everything, cuff you and toss you in a cell.
If you’re complaining that LE is weaponized against conservatives, you should try electing fewer corrupt people. Looking at presidential administrations over the last half century, there are 40 times as many convictions for crimes in Republican administrations as Democratic. Trump is a well known career grifter. He screwed investors with his USFL, he used money from his charity to buy stuff for himself; the gov’t shut the charity down and Trump & family are no longer allowed to run a charity. He scammed money from students of his university; the gov’t shut that down and he had to pay $25 million to the scammed. You guys gave him the ability to scam money from the rubes to fight non-existent voter fraud, to reverse the 2020 election, to get various Republicans elected. He kept most of this loot for himself.
The conniptions you’re having over DOJ/FBI are just manifestations of your own puerility and poor judgement in representatives.
Just noticed my no bird guaranty. Embarrassing.
Tell me again how this is nothing.
Either this guy is lying OR the Trump picked investigator is lying.
You have a link for this correct? trump personally picked the investigator?
David Weiss is a Trump appointed US attorney in Delaware and is overseeing the Hunter Biden criminal probe. He is the one that reached the plea deal.
Jesus fucking christ, throw him in jail or dont already.
Unlike with Trump, it will actually take overwhelming real evidence for Brandon or Garland to be brought to trial.
There's your problem Ronin, it will take evidence. In two decades of Hillary 'investigations', not one indictment. Republican Kabuki Theater 'Investigations' aren't going to produce evidence to support indictments of Biden or Garland or Fauci. Investigations of Trump and people in his orbit produced a shitload of evidence, indictments and convictions. You guys need to start vetting your potential representatives.