House GOP Teaming Up to Probe Hunter Biden – Three House Republican chairmen have opened a joint investigation into the Biden family’s finances – and that means a big focus on Hunter Biden.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., plan to join forces to go after the Bidens in the wake of the Justice Department’s plea deal with Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden Under Investigation
The deal lets Hunter Biden skate away by pleading guilty to three misdemeanors for failing to file his taxes in 2017 and 2018. It lets him escape a felony gun charge for a false declaration on the ATF form he signed in October 2018.
They plan to investigate whistleblower claims that the Justice Department improperly interfered with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances. They want a special counsel appointed to investigate retaliation that has been alleged against the whistleblowers who came forward with the claims.
IRS Supervisory Agent Gary Shapely alleged in the transcript of his deposition before the House Ways and Means Committee in which he alleged that Hunter Biden received “preferential treatment” and claimed the Justice Department “slow-walked” his prosecution.
Shapely accused Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Donoghue of issuing a “cease and desist” against obtaining any sort of search warrant against Hunter Biden even though enough probable cause existed. Donoghue allegedly did not want any investigative operations underway at the time of the 2020 election.
Shapely told the committee that Weiss helped block his promotion after he reached out to congressional investigators.
A second whistleblower who has kept his identity secret to protect himself claims that he has faced retaliation from the IRS for having come forward. He worked for Shapely and noted that he believes that the Justice Department had him removed from the Hunter Biden case.
Jordan wrote Weiss in a Jun. 22, 2023 letter asking for more information about the retaliation against Shapely.
“Because your stated reason for refusing to cooperate with the Committee’s requests is unpersuasive, we write to reiterate our request for material about the Department’s retaliation against this whistleblower,” Jordan said. “From your response, two critical points stand out. First, you did not dispute that the Department retaliated against the IRS whistleblower and his investigative team for making protected disclosures to Congress.”
Justice Department Disputes Whistleblower Allegations
The Justice Department denied Shapely’s claims.
“He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. “I don’t know how it would be possible for anybody to block him for bringing a prosecution given that he has that authority.
Garland continued: “Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department … by claiming we do not treat like cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the American people … Nothing could be further from the truth.”
The whistleblowers claim that Weiss requested special jurisdiction in March 2022 under the special counsel statute to bring tax charges against Hunter Biden outside of Delaware. The suggested jurisdictions included Washington, D.C. where his business operated and in California where he lives.
Weiss also confuted Shapely’s testimony in a June 30 letter. He acknowledged being offered special counsel status if the Justice Department decided to charge Hunter Biden outside of Delaware.
“… [T]he Department of Justice did not retaliate against “an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent and whistleblower, as well as his entire investigative team… for making protected disclosures to Congress,” Weiss said in his letter responding to Jordan. “As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district.”
John Rossomando was a senior analyst for Defense Policy and served as Senior Analyst for Counterterrorism at The Investigative Project on Terrorism for eight years. His work has been featured in numerous publications such as The American Thinker, The National Interest, National Review Online, Daily Wire, Red Alert Politics, CNSNews.com, The Daily Caller, Human Events, Newsmax, The American Spectator, TownHall.com, and Crisis Magazine. He also served as senior managing editor of The Bulletin, a 100,000-circulation daily newspaper in Philadelphia, and received the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors first-place award for his reporting.
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