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Two whistleblowers are alleging that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Delaware US Attorney’s Office intervened in an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation of Hunter Biden, and that they provided the president’s son with “preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest.”
Among these actions were the “slow-walking” of the investigation and tipping off Hunter Biden’s attorneys prior to investigative steps, according to the transcripts of interviews with the two whistleblowers, which the House Ways and Means Committee released Thursday.
“[The] criminal tax investigation of Hunter Biden, led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, has been handled differently than any investigation I’ve ever been a part of for the past 14 years of my IRS service,” testified special supervisory agent Gary Shapley.
Shapley, who said he has been retaliated against as a result of blowing the whistle, noted that some of the decisions made in the case seem to have been influenced by politics.
“But whatever the motivations, at every stage, decisions were made that had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation,” he testified. “These decisions included slow-walking investigative steps, not allowing enforcement actions to be executed, limiting investigators’ line of questioning for witnesses, misleading investigators on charging authority, delaying any and all actions months before elections to ensure the investigation did not go overt well before policy memorandum mandated the pause.”
That last part references a standard practice of not conducting investigations that could influence the outcome of elections. According to the timeline Shapley provided, some of these DOJ actions seem to fall in that period.
It should also be noted that the behavior he mentions began while Donald Trump was president.
However, Shapley’s testimony is troubling and should be investigated further. And, just like the indictment of Trump, it would be good for Americans to read his interview transcript as well as that of the second IRS employee, who remains anonymous.
One of the takeaways is that the whistleblowers believe that Hunter Biden could have been charged with much more serious crimes than the two misdemeanors he agreed to plead guilty to in order to avoid a potential prison sentence.
Not surprisingly, Republicans and Democrats had different takes on the testimonies and the decision to release the transcripts.
“The testimony shows tactics used by the Justice Department to delay the investigation long enough to reach the statute of limitations, evidence they divulged sensitive actions by the investigative team to Biden’s attorneys, and denied requests by the US Attorney to bring charges against Biden,” said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO).
Democrats, however, argued that the committee overstepped its bounds when releasing the testimony since the case involved a private citizen. In addition, they noted that the information provided by the whistleblowers still has to be vetted.
“Let’s get the facts straight: this tax case is being handled by the Department of Justice and the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. And, the allegations of retaliation have been referred to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Department of Justice Inspector General,” said Richard Neal (D-MA), the committee’s ranking member. “We must allow these law enforcement agencies to complete their work. This includes interviewing more than 50 other government employees named in these transcripts and verifying the attached exhibits, including those produced by the Majority from unknown sources.”
