Blocking Hunter probe path to big guy
IRS whistleblower: It could have led to prez
The IRS whistleblower accusing the Justice Department of interfering in the Hunter Biden tax-fraud probe argued in an interview that aired Tuesday that his team was prevented from taking investigative measures that “could have led us to President Biden.”
“There were certain investigative steps we weren’t allowed to take that could have led us to President Biden,” IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley told the “CBS Evening News.”
Shapley, who delivered bombshell testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee in May related to the five-year investigation into illegal tax deductions made by First Son Hunter Biden, emphasized that the investigative steps his team was prevented from taking by the Justice Department were a necessary part of the probe.
“We needed to take them,” Shapley told CBS reporter Jim Axelrod.
The IRS agent noted that his team found evidence of several illegal business expenses during the course of the investigation and suggested the evidence of alleged crimes perpetrated by Hunter likely would’ve quickly landed “any other person” in prison.
“If this was any other person, they likely would have already served their sentence,” Shapely said.
“There were personal expenses that were taken as business expenses, prostitutes, sexclub memberships, hotel rooms for purported drug dealers,” he added.
At odds with AG
Shapley, who is still working for the IRS, indicated that from 2014 to 2019, Hunter was found to have owed $2.2 million in taxes to the federal government.
The whistleblower further suggested that recent comments by Attorney General Merrick Garland about the “complete authority” Delaware US Attorney David Weiss had in investigating and charging Hunter don’t line up with what he witnessed as a member of the team probing the president’s 53-year-old son.
The attorney general also testified under oath to Congress earlier this year that Weiss was empowered to bring charges outside of Delaware.
“I documented exactly what happened. And it doesn’t seem to match what the attorney general or the US attorney are saying today,” Shapley said.
Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee that Weiss sought to bring federal charges against Hunter in the Central District of California and in Washington, DC, last year and was denied both times by Biden-appointed US attorneys Martin Estrada and Matthew Graves.
“That was just shocking to me,” Shapley told CBS about Weiss allegedly saying he wasn’t the decider on filing charges.
He also told the panel that Weiss sought to be appointed special counsel in the case at least twice — including as recently as spring 2022 — but was turned down by the Biden Justice Department.
Last week, Garland claimed that Weiss “never made that request to me.”
The Delaware US attorney’s office announced last week that Hunter has agreed to plead guilty to federal tax and firearms charges in a deal that’s expected to carry no prison time and leave his record free of felony convictions.