Top officials at the Justice Department meddled in the criminal probe into Hunter Biden and showed favoritism to the president’s son, lawyers for the essential IRS whistleblower claim.
Attorneys for Gary Shapley, senior IRS investigator, revealed a top Justice official approached them in April and said he wanted to investigate Shapley’s claims of obstruction and slow-rolling of Hunter’s case.
Bradley Weinsheimer, Associate Deputy Attorney General, immediately met with Hunter’s lawyers and his Delaware prosecutor, who struck a “sweetheart” deal with the president’s son for no jail and blanket immunity only days later. At the same time, Shapley and his team were pulled off the case.
Lawyers said Weinsheimer first appeared eager to get to the bottom of Shapley’s allegations that Delaware prosecutor David Weiss’s team shut down inquiry lines involving Joe Biden, leaked information to Hunter Biden’s lawyers, and let the statute of limitations deliberately run out for Hunter’s alleged felony tax crimes over their five-year investigation.
“In just two short weeks, Weinsheimer went from expressing an interest in the claims of wrongdoing by the IRS whistleblower to dismissing the claims of retaliation when the IRS agents were pulled off the case,” said attorney Mark Lytle.
Lytle said after getting information from him, Weinsheimer had a secret meeting the next day with Hunter’s then-lead attorney, Chris Clark, and Weiss, then “changed his tune” with Lytle telling him everything would be handled by Weiss. Shapley’s team felt DOJ leaders were going behind their backs after the string of events, with IRS Supervisory Special Agent’s sensitive information and showing favoritism to the president’s son.
In April, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that senior IRS agent Gary Shapley was planning to come forward to Congress, alleging the five-year probe into Hunter Biden was slow-rolled and ultimately obstructed by Trump-appointed prosecutor from Delaware David Weiss and his team.
Emails show Justice Department leaders were concerned then dropped their inquiry quickly
Emails and interviews with Shapley’s legal team reveal how leaders at the Justice Department first appeared concerned and eager to investigate the worrying allegations — then dropped their inquiry quickly.
Instead, Shapley and his team were removed from the criminal case, with prosecutors striking a “sweetheart” deal with Hunter’s attorneys.
In an April 24 email, an aide for Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco contacted Lytle asking for a call, after the Wall Street Journal article.
Lytle says he talked the next day with Weinsheimer, and gave him a general brief on Shapley’s allegations about the suppression of the criminal investigation into Hunter — although he was prevented from going into detail by tax privacy laws.
Lytle said Weinsheimer seemed keen to investigate and concerned, and promised he would get Shapley’s team legal permission to share all allegation details, which include the slow-rolling of the Hunter probe and ignoring of Joe Biden’s potential crimes.
However, the next day, Weinsheimer went straight to Hunter’s then-lead attorney, Chris Clark, and Weiss — who is the subject of many of Shapley’s allegations.
According to emails, Weinsheimer had a meeting with Weiss and Clark on April 26, during which Clark asked for the department to reconsider the imminent charges of tax crimes against Hunter.
A month earlier Attorney General Merrick Garland had sworn to Congress that Weiss had significant authority needed to conduct his investigation, and that all decisions in the case were his.
