On Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who claim the IRS, FBI, and Justice Department interfered with the investigation of the tax evasion case against Hunter Biden.
According to Republican Committee Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri, testimony “outlines misconduct and government and government abuse at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the investigation of Hunter Biden.”
“The allegations point to a steady campaign of unequal treatment of enforcing tax law: Department of Justice interference in the form of delays, divulgences, and denials, into the investigation of tax crimes that may have been committed by the President’s son; and finally retaliation against IRS employees who blew the whistle on the misconduct,” said the committee on Thursday.
“Whistleblowers describe how the Biden Justice Department intervened and overstepped in a campaign to protect the son of Joe Biden by delaying, divulging, and denying an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes,” said Smith.
“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 U.S. Attorney to bring charges against Biden,” said Smith.
The news comes only days after the Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden plans to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay income tax as a part of a plea deal expected to keep him from prison. The younger Biden also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possessing a firearm by an individual who is addicted to or is an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
In response to the release by the committee, the Justice Department said in a statement on Biden’s case:
“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. Questions about his investigation should be directed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware.”
GOP Senator Rick Scott demands Attorney General Garland explain why the plea deal was struck
Republican GOP Senator Rick Scott of Florida demands that Attorney General Merrick Garland explain fully to the American people why a plea deal was struck between the U.S. Delaware attorney and Hunter Biden to spare him from serving any prison time.
“The reported plea agreement extended to President Biden’s son is a farcical example of precisely that two-tiered approach to criminal justice by the DOJ under your leadership,” wrote Scott to Garland. “What is the American public to take away from the outcome of this five-year investigation and leniency shown to Hunter Biden on both the federal tax violations and firearms offenses he committed?”
Senator Scott noted that in a recent Virginia case, a mother faced a 24-month prison sentence because she was using controlled substances while she owned a firearm. In contrast, actor Wesley Snipes received three one-year sentences on tax charges in another case.
However, Scott said Hunter Biden would avoid prison time for the firearms and tax charges he faced thanks to a plea agreement that the Justice Department agreed to.
“It is time for you to explain these decisions clearly to the American people. Under your leadership, the Department of Justice is facing a crisis of trustworthiness in the eyes of the American people,” wrote Scott. “You alone can do the hard but necessary work to fix that problem and restore integrity to this department and the American justice system.”
“I expect a prompt response to the concerns I have outlined here and look forward to seeing you clearly communicate your actions to the American people,” Scott added.
The plea deal Hunter Biden agreed to still needs to be approved by a judge. However, Scott said it already shows that Democrats are given preferential treatment compared to Republicans.
“Under your leadership, the DOJ appears to engage in disparate treatment toward political and personal allies of President Biden accused of criminal wrongdoing, compared with those perceived as his opponents,” Scott wrote. “The reported plea agreement extended to President Biden’s son is a farcical example of precisely that two-tiered approach to criminal justice by the DOJ under your leadership.”
On Tuesday, it was announced that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor tax charges and one felony firearm count. When asked about the plea deal during a San Francisco speech, the president responded he was “proud” of his son.
Garland deferred on explaining the plea agreement when asked about it during a press conference Wednesday in Sweden. The Attorney General advised that questions should be directed to the U.S. attorney in Delaware, an appointee of Trump.
“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, and assigned to this matter by the previous administration, that he would be given full authority to decide the matter as he decided was appropriate,” said Garland. “That’s what he’s done.”
