Posted on 06/23/2023 7:58:23 PM PDT by grundle
Two IRS whistleblowers allege sweeping misconduct, including interference in the Hunter Biden tax investigation, according to the GOP House Ways and Means Committee chairman and newly released transcripts of congressional interviews with the whistleblowers.
Earlier this week, Biden agreed to enter guilty pleas for two misdemeanor tax charges that related to his failure to pay tax on more than $3 million in income. As part of the deal with Delaware U.S Attorney David Weiss — who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump and was kept in the position by the current administration to continue the probe — Biden will avoid full prosecution on a separate gun possession charge. A Delaware judge must approve the agreement at a hearing currently set for July 26.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who recently spoke exclusively with CBS News' Jim Axelrod, told congressional investigators the IRS findings supported more severe penalties.
"This recommended felony tax evasion charges, that's 7201, is tax evasion, and 7206(1) is a false tax return, also a felony, for the tax years 2014, 2018, and 2019. And for Title 26 7203, which is a failure to file or pay, that is a misdemeanor charge for '15, '16, '17, '18, and '19," Shapley said.
"The testimony we have just released details a lack of U.S. attorney independence, recurring unjustified delays, unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation," Chairman Jason Smith told reporters.
Politics Two IRS whistleblowers alleged sweeping misconduct in the Hunter Biden tax investigation, new transcripts show
By Catherine Herridge, Robert Legare
June 22, 2023 / 10:07 PM / CBS News
Two IRS whistleblowers allege sweeping misconduct, including interference in the Hunter Biden tax investigation, according to the GOP House Ways and Means Committee chairman and newly released transcripts of congressional interviews with the whistleblowers.
Whistleblower #1 transcript Whistleblower #2 transcript
Earlier this week, Biden agreed to enter guilty pleas for two misdemeanor tax charges that related to his failure to pay tax on more than $3 million in income. As part of the deal with Delaware U.S Attorney David Weiss — who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump and was kept in the position by the current administration to continue the probe — Biden will avoid full prosecution on a separate gun possession charge. A Delaware judge must approve the agreement at a hearing currently set for July 26.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who recently spoke exclusively with CBS News' Jim Axelrod, told congressional investigators the IRS findings supported more severe penalties.
"This recommended felony tax evasion charges, that's 7201, is tax evasion, and 7206(1) is a false tax return, also a felony, for the tax years 2014, 2018, and 2019. And for Title 26 7203, which is a failure to file or pay, that is a misdemeanor charge for '15, '16, '17, '18, and '19," Shapley said.
"The testimony we have just released details a lack of U.S. attorney independence, recurring unjustified delays, unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation," Chairman Jason Smith told reporters.
"Testimony shows that U.S. Attorney of Delaware David Weiss tried to bring charges in the District of Columbia around March of 2022 and was denied," Smith asserted. "Weiss sought special counsel status from the [Justice Department] in the spring of 2022 and was once again denied. Weiss sought to bring charges in the Central District of California in the fall of 2022 and had that request denied in January of 2023."
A spokesperson for Weiss declined to comment, but earlier this month, in a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan, the GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Weiss wrote, "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.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Justice Department said, "As both the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney David Weiss have said, U.S. Attorney Weiss has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate. He needs no further approval to do so."
"Two interviews do not make an investigation when more than 50 employees were named, especially when you consider that one recanted key elements of his testimony earlier this week," House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Democrat Richard Neal wrote after the release of the interview transcripts, "It's all premature, and the rush shows how pretextual this is in this stunning abuse of power."
This week, after Biden's plea deal was announced, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Justice Department leadership had no role in the charging decision. "As I said from the moment of my appointment as attorney general, I would leave this matter in the hands of the United States attorney who was appointed by the previous president," referring to Weiss.
Since gaining the majority in the House, Republican members of Congress have focused their investigatory powers on Hunter Biden's business deals, in some cases as far back as when his father was vice president.
During the presidential campaign, Joe Biden consistently maintained that he was not involved in any of his son's business dealings and the White House has continued to deny any connection exists.
Congressional Republicans have alleged that Hunter Biden and the president's brother James Biden were involved in a deal with Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy in August 2017. And in particular, GOP lawmakers are interested in an email that became public in 2020, when Republicans obtained information from a laptop alleged to have belonged to Hunter Biden.
The message, which bore the subject line "Expectations," outlines a "provisional agreement" for "equity" in a deal with a Chinese energy company.
Two of Hunter Biden's former business partners who received the message, including Tony Bobulinski, told CBS News that a line in the email, "10 held by H for the big guy?" is shorthand for 10% held by Hunter Biden for his father.
According to the now-public transcripts of the interview with the committee, Shapley told congressional investigators that interest in references to "dad" and "the big guy" was blocked by a senior prosecutor working for Weiss.
When the email became public in 2020, the author, James Gilliar, told the Wall Street Journal that Joe Biden was not involved. Gilliar did not respond to CBS News' questions.
Hunter Biden's team did not respond to a request for comment from CBS News. One of his lawyers, Christopher Clark, has in the past denied that Biden ever gave his consent "to access his computer data or share it with others," alleging "there have been multiple attempts to hack, infect, distort, and peddle misinformation regarding Mr. Biden's devices and data."
In his congressional interview, Shapley also alleged that there was a recovered WhatsAPP message from Hunter Biden dated July 30, 2017, that was addressed to a Chinese businessman with whom he was involved at the time about an outstanding payment.
"I am sitting here with my father..we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Hunter Biden allegedly wrote, according to the transcript. He added, "I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand" and "now means tonight."
In a statement, Shapley said of the now public transcript, "I believe Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate should come together to examine these facts by interviewing other witnesses and reviewing documents to fully understand what happened during this five-year long investigation. I fulfilled my oath of office by participating in this process, following the rules, and telling the truth to the best of my ability — despite the risks."
The White House referred CBS News to an earlier statement to reiterate only that the president has not been involved in the investigation into his son. "President Biden has made clear that this matter would be handled independently by the Justice Department, under the leadership of a U.S. Attorney appointed by former President Trump, free from any political interference by the White House," the statement said. "He has upheld that commitment."
CBS News asked Hunter Biden's legal team for comment and there was no immediate response.
Oops! Sorry about the duplicate parts. My fault.
Thanks for the link to that awesome post!
People are in jail a long time for the crimes Joe and Hunter Biden did.
“As part of the deal with Delaware U.S Attorney David Weiss — who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump”
Another screw up appointment by Trump. Maybe not intentional but a screw up just the same. Since the democrats kept him and used him for such an occasion then it is obvious that he is an infiltrator.
🤣👍
Meanwhile that evil pos Garland is saying “the attack on the DOJ is threatening Democracy”. I remember MSM tried to say Obongo did the right and picked a reasoned centrist to replace Scalia. Now we know this guy is a vindictive nation killing leftist radical
Ultimately the dems have to get rid of Biden,this seems to be the perfect opportunity. The only reason I see why they’re not is Kamala.
I don’t think they will have any choice. I know we are all “numb” to scandals and malfeasance, but this is blatant and obvious with lots of corroboration against Joe Biden, not just “Hunter”.
They have dismissed evidence repeatedly, but how do you dismiss this? It shows outright bribery by Joe Biden and his family AND DOJ malfeasance to cover it up.
I don’t know if you heard, but the female prosecutor told the IRS agents who wanted a search warrant on Hunter’s room at Biden’s residence that there was (paraphrased) “no way in hell the agents would be given a warrant for an ex-Vice Presidents residence”!
Are you serious? Compare that with the librarian case against Trump and his residence.
I know many things have passed under a bridge that anger us all, but this is too much for even them.
He has plenty of company. I just re-watced Atlas Shrugged and it seems more on point now than ever. Disgusting!
It is clear to anyone with half a brain that one of the branches of the Government of the United States the Executive branch is basically an oligarchy working in conjunction with an out-of-control bureaucracy.
By the headline you wouldn’t know it was clinton and obidend interfering. Quite vague.
Catherine Herridge is the only bright light in the See-BS newsroom.
Perhaps this is the moment when the Fake News dike springs the first inevitable crack.
I have questions about the Lunden Roberts child support case. Was this income also concealed from the court in that case? What can that court do if that is the case? Or if the income is not relevant to the child support can the court decide this shows a pattern of concealing income and deny Hunter’s request for reduced payments? And wouldn’t it be ironic if the scorned granddaughter was Joe’s downfall?
How is this not 1 million times worse than Watergate? It seems like the public doesn’t even give a crap. Even here on free republic you could look at this thread until that people are just tired of this. But Joe gets to keep his job and America is burning.
A large percentage of the American public is morally corrupted. The ones who aren't (or in my case maybe not AS corrupt) have been so buried by a constant onslaught of lies, deceptions, and every kind of vice paraded in front of their faces that we've become numb to it all. Turned a back to popular society. Walked away from the hellhound hoard. Turned to God.
It's not quite the same thing as surrendering. See tagline.
Glad to see catherine herridge by line on buyen corruption
It is astonishing.
I thought the whole effort to spy on Trump and his staff during the election was the most egregious political scandal in the history of this country by far. During the investigations, 27 cell phones were erased because they all “forgot their passwords” at the same time. People lied repeatedly under oath. The organs of government were leveraged to persecute private citizens.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
An election was stolen. Right in the open. As if they don’t even care, using massive election fraud.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
We have Americans, exercising their 1st Amendment rights to protest peacefully the said stolen election languishing in jail, many without trials or even charges for years.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
We had two farcical Impeachments against a President, totally made up from whole cloth.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
Now, we have a President who has been accepting what amounts to bribes from foreign powers, China and Russia, who are our enemies. The evidence for for this is irrefutable. The evidence is there.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
We had a pandemic, caused by a foreign power, aided by money spent by entities in our country to do the research in circumvention of American laws, resulting in a destroyed economy, intellectually and emotionally damaged people, and hundreds of billions of dollars disappearing into a giant slush fund where nobody knows where any of it went.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
Now we have this. It is irrefutable fact that Hunter Biden lied on his firearm application. That he evaded paying taxes on millions of dollars. Things that people are in jail for, or have gone to jail for, for far, far, less.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
Any single one of these things could have been the worst political scandal in American history. Yet nothing has happened. The DOJ, FBI, IRS, CIA, NSA, NIH, CDC, NARA, ATF, ICE, BLM, The State Department, The Military are all corrupted and have been weaponized and turned against the American people.
And nothing was done. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars spent investigating and talking about it. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was punished.
It isn’t that people don’t care. Many do. It is that it is clear that we no longer live in a Constitutional Republic, the rule of law, and are instead living in what is going to develop into a full evil tyranny right here in our lifetimes, and it has been clearly shown that it is rigged and is a done deal.
The Domestic Enemies in our government who are wholly represented in the Democrats and are a wide majority in the Republican Party are fully aware now that they can rig elections openly, weaponize government openly, persecute their political enemies openly, steal money and take bribes openly, lie under oath openly, and there are no repercussions for doing so.
They are rubbing it in our faces and even getting entertainment value out of doing so.
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