Is Biden’s IRS Meddling In The IG Investigation Of Hunter Biden Whistleblowers?
For the IRS chief counsel to communicate with Special Counsel Weiss about a potential ongoing investigation into the whistleblowers is particularly concerning
The IRS needs to get into gear immediately and provide answers about the scope and status of the alleged investigatory process” into the Hunter Biden whistleblowers, Sen. Chuck Grassley told The Federalist. Grassley’s comment comes after he received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service commissioner stating that the IRS is not investigating the whistleblowers and that any investigation would be handled by the inspector general’s office to ensure independence.
The IRS commissioner’s claim is far from comforting, however, given that a recent court filing indicates the chief counsel office of the IRS is kept apprised of the IG’s apparent probe of the whistleblowers.
Last month, Special Counsel David Weiss responded to a motion Hunter Biden filed seeking dismissal of the criminal tax charges pending against the president’s son in California. In his motion, Hunter argued the IRS’s supposed “outrageous conduct” violated his due process rights and justified dismissal of the indictment. That “outrageous conduct,” according to Hunter’s motion, consisted of the government “not taking action to curtail the misconduct or prevent the unauthorized disclosure of confidential grand jury and taxpayer return information,” by IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
In response, the special counsel attached a declaration, filed under seal, that Weiss said shows “the IRS has taken responsible steps to address Shapley and Ziegler’s conduct.” The government’s accompanying motion to seal the exhibits strongly suggested Shapley and Ziegler were under investigation. Specifically, the special counsel’s office said:
The justification for the redaction and the sealed exhibits is that the redacted information contained in the filing and the sealed exhibits relates to a potential ongoing investigation(s) and the investigating agency(cies) specifically requested that the government request that the court seal the exhibits, as well as any accompanying reference in the pleading, in order to protect the integrity of the potential ongoing investigation(s).
Significantly, the special counsel clarified that “the aforementioned potential ongoing investigations are not references to any investigation of the defendant conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice.” In other words, the potential ongoing investigations did not concern Hunter Biden. The clear import from these filings, then, was that either one or both Shapley and Ziegler were under investigation.
