© AFP 2023 / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
Fantine Gardinier
The House Ways and Means Committee released transcripts from the testimonies of two employees of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who claimed the agency was just one of several that worked to stonewall an investigation of Hunter Biden, the prodigal businessman son of US President Joe Biden.
Earlier this week, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Hunter Biden had entered a plea deal on charges that could have put him in jail for up to 15 years, including tax evasion and unlawful possession of a firearm. He is expected to avoid prison time because of the deal.
The Ways and Means Committee published the transcripts of the two interviews on Thursday, along with a news release about the contents of the interviews.
“The American people deserve to know that when it comes to criminal enforcement, they are not on the same playing field as the wealthy and politically connected class. The preferential treatment Hunter Biden received would never have been granted to ordinary Americans,” said committee chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) in a release.
“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,” the statement continues. “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 US Attorney to bring charges against Biden.”
Regarding delays, Smith said investigators were told by US Attorney Lesley Wolf that “there is no way” a search warrant for a guest house of Joe Biden when he was US vice president would be approved. Regarding divulgences, he said Hunter Biden’s attorneys were repeatedly “tipped off” about searches before they happened. Regarding denials, Smith wrote US Attorney of Delaware David Weiss attempted to bring charges against Biden in March of 2022 and again in January 2023, as well as special counsel status from the DOJ, and was denied in all cases.
Smith added that IRS employees “who blew the whistle on this abuse were retaliated against,” despite a pledge to the committee by IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel not to do so because they had brought their concerns to the proper superior authorities.
“If the federal government is not treating all taxpayers equally, or if it is changing the rules to engineer a preferred outcome, Congress has a duty to ask why and to hold agencies accountable and consider appropriate legislative action,” he said. “The scales of justice must not be skewed in favor of the wealthy and the politically connected.”
In response to the committee statement, the DOJ said 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.”
Despite the charges brought against Hunter Biden, critics have noted they have almost no connection to the much wider scope of wrongdoing of which he has been accused in the media, including corruption, bribery, and drug use, some of which Biden admitted to in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230622/delaying-divulging-denying-whistleblower-alleges-feds-protected-hunter-biden-from-probe-1111409231.html
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