Special counsel David Weiss has charged an FBI confidential source who provided derogatory information about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden to the bureau with felony false statement and obstruction charges.
Weiss charged Alexander Smirnov, 43, with one count of making a false statement and one count of creating a false and fictitious record related to statements he made to the FBI on a document known as an FBI Form 1023.
Charging documents show Smirnov was a confidential source for the FBI and provided “false derogatory information about [President Biden] and [Hunter Biden] … in 2020, after [Biden] became a presidential candidate.”
Smirnov allegedly reported to an FBI agent in March 2017 that he had a phone call with the owner of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, and noted Hunter Biden was at the time a member of Burisma’s board.
Three years later, Smirnov allegedly made false statements in recounting two meetings in 2015 or 2016 in which executives associated with Burisma told him they had hired Hunter Biden to “protect us, through his dad, from all kinds of problems.” He further said the executives paid $5 million each to Hunter Biden and President Biden while Biden was in office as vice president, so that Hunter “will take care of all those issues through his dad,” referring to the then-criminal investigation being conducted by the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general into Burisma.
Those events were fabrications, Weiss alleged in his new indictment. Instead, Smirnov had only contacted the Burisma executives in 2017 after the end of Biden’s time as vice president and after the Ukrainian prosecutor general had already been fired, according to the indictment.
“The indictment alleges that the [Smirnov] transformed his routine and unextraordinary business contacts with Burisma in 2017 and later into bribery allegations against [President Biden] after expressing bias against [Biden] and his presidential candidacy,” Weiss’ office said in their statement announcing the charges.
Smirnov was again interviewed by FBI agents in September 2023, the indictment says, and he repeated earlier false claims and also changed his story to promote “a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials.”
Smirnov was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Wednesday after arriving to the U.S. from overseas, the Department of Justice said. He was schedule to make his initial appearance Thursday.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was indicted Thursday in Los Angeles on several federal tax charges, marking the start of a second criminal case that will proceed during his father’s reelection campaign.
Biden, who resides in Malibu, was accused of failing to pay his taxes on time from 2016 to 2019, filing false and fraudulent tax returns in 2018, and tax evasion, according to the 56-page indictment.
The charges in the nine-count indictment span a period when Biden was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine, which he documented in graphic detail in a memoir that dwells on the death of his brother, Beau, along with the grief and depression that consumed him and his family.
Biden has since become sober, paid his taxes, along with penalties and interest, and his lawyers are expected to point to his well-publicized addiction to explain his chaotic financial affairs.
But prosecutors contend that he “willfully” failed to file and pay his taxes on time, and that rather than pay the IRS, he plunked down cash for a bacchanalia across L.A. featuring “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature.”
Further, prosecutors allege that when preparing tax returns in 2020, in the early months of his sobriety, Biden misclassified a litany of personal expenses from 2018 as business expenses to reduce his tax burden. Those expenses include tuition for his daughter and a Venmo payment to an exotic dancer, according to the indictment.
If convicted of all charges — six misdemeanors and three felonies — Biden would face a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison, although federal guidelines would call for a far lower sentence.
The case was unsealed on the eve of President Biden’s arrival in Southern California for his first in-person fundraising trip here since Hollywood strikes put a pause on campaign events.
The charges come months after Hunter Biden was set to enter a plea deal for tax and firearms violations. The deal would have avoided time behind bars and included immunity from additional federal charges, but it collapsed under questioning by a federal judge in Delaware. Shortly after, Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware, as special counsel.
Weiss has since brought a fresh indictment in Delaware against Biden for the firearms violations, accusing him of lying about his drug use in 2018 when purchasing a gun that he briefly owned. Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which are rarely filed as a standalone case.
The special counsel also brought the tax charges against Biden in California, asserting in a statement that the president’s son “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills.”
Biden’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, emphasized that his client had long ago paid his tax debts and accused Weiss of bowing to Republican pressure by filing “unprecedented and unconstitutional gun charges.”
“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought,” Lowell said, an apparent nod to millions of people who annually fail to pay their taxes on time.
“Now, after five years of investigating with no new evidence — and two years after Hunter paid his taxes in full — the U.S. attorney has piled on nine new charges when he had agreed just months ago to resolve this matter with a pair of misdemeanors.”
Lowell noted that he had written to the special counsel’s office this week, seeking a “customary meeting” to discuss the tax inquiry. “The response was media leaks today that these charges were being filed,” Lowell said.
The indictment offers the most detailed window into the Department of Justice’s long-running inquiry into Biden.
In his memoir and in several interviews, Biden has been open about the depths of his addiction and unsavory lifestyle in L.A., when he lived out of the Chateau Marmont, Hollywood Roosevelt and other luxury hotels in a haze of sex and crack-induced euphoria. “I never slept. There was no clock. Day bled into night and night into day,” Biden wrote in “Beautiful Things,” in which he recounts his journey to sobriety.
Still, the grand jury indictment outlines how such sordid travails were fiscally carried out — with $7 million in income from 2016 to 2020 from various business dealings — and uses Biden’s own words to claim discrepancies in his tax returns.
The most serious charges stem from 2018, the height of Biden’s addiction. Prosecutors allege the filing of that year’s tax returns for both Biden and his business, Owasco PC, was fraudulent and evasive.
Those returns were prepared in early 2020 by an accounting team in L.A. Prosecutors describe a three-hour meeting that Biden had with the accountants that year where he reviewed records to confirm their accuracy and used a yellow highlighter to indicate outlays that should not be deducted as business expenses.
According to the indictment, Biden failed to identify several personal expenses, including the Venmo payment to an exotic dancer; $2,312.50 to a test prep service for one of his daughters; and a $30,000 law school tuition payment for his daughter.
The indictment makes no mention of Biden’s father, nor does it specify the amount that Biden allegedly under-reported his taxes or how that would ultimately impact his tax bill.
Although prosecutors claim that Biden in 2020 “never told” his accountants about his extensive drug and alcohol use, “which might have prompted greater scrutiny of his claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars in business expenses,” he had already begun discussing his alcohol and drug addiction in public.
Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.
Special Counsel David Weiss leaves a closed-door meeting with lawmakers surrounding the investigation into Hunter Biden during a break at the O’Neill House Office Building on November 7, 2023, in Washington, DC.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Washington — Special Counsel David Weiss — the man charged with leading the federal probe into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter — told congressional investigators Tuesday that Justice Department officials assured him he would have the necessary authorities to pursue criminal charges against the president’s son in any district he saw necessary, but he ultimately did not seek or receive final authorization, according to a transcript of Weiss’ testimony reviewed by CBS News.
Weiss voluntarily agreed to appear before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee before the submission of his special counsel report — an unusual move during an ongoing investigation— to “address misunderstandings about the scope of my authority” in the Hunter Biden probe.
Throughout his testimony, which occurred behind closed doors and was the product of negotiations between congressional and Justice Department officials, Weiss said he could not answer numerous questions about decisions made over the course of the years-long probe into the president’s son, citing federal norms that prevent prosecutors from speaking about investigations before they are completed.
Congressional investigators from both sides of the aisle, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, focused on whether Weiss was granted special attorney authority under 28 U.S. Code § 515 in the spring of 2022. That authority would have allowed Weiss to pursue criminal charges in a federal district outside of his jurisdiction.
According to the transcript of his testimony, Weiss — a Trump appointee who was kept on the job to continue the Biden probe — told Congress he first raised the possibility of being granted that authority from Justice Department officials in 2022 as he explored bringing charges against Hunter Biden in either Washington, D.C., or California. Those officials did not immediately grant Weiss the authority and instead instructed him to first follow what he described as a conventional process of asking to partner with prosecutors in those districts. If those prosecutors refused him, Weiss said the officials assured him he would then be granted the requested authority.
“Look, if you decide to proceed in D.C., you have the authority to do so, and you have the authority to–under 515, to bring whatever charges you deem appropriate,” Weiss recalled a former Justice Department official telling him in 2022. He was referring to Section 515, the federal statute that authorizes federal prosecutors specially appointed by the attorney general to bring charges in districts other than their own. The special counsel said he later took that to mean he could pursue charges in California, too, if he chose.
The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, and the U.S. attorney for the central district of California, E. Martin Estrada, told lawmakers in closed-door interviews of their own that they declined to partner with Weiss to pursue criminal charges against Hunter Biden, but did offer to provide administrative and logistical support for his investigation in their respective districts. Weiss told lawmakers his investigation was not “blocked” by their offices, although they did not agree to pursue charges with him.
“They never said no. I asked for it. They said, Let’s follow the process. Go talk–let’s talk to Mr. Graves, see if they’re going to join. We’re going to take it step by step. No one ever said no,” Weiss recalled.
“If the decision was made to proceed, I knew I had the authority to do so,” Weiss said of bringing charges in another district.
“You had already asked Matthew Graves to partner, you had asked Martin Estrada to partner, and both had said no. And so, at that point in time, it’s hard for us to understand, as we sit here today, how didn’t it prove necessary? I mean, this is before you were afforded, you know, Special Counsel status in August of 2023. You write, you know, ‘if it proved necessary,’” asked congressional investigators.
“The question speaks to deliberations…charging decisions,” the special counsel responded in part, according to the transcript. “Those are things I just can’t get into.”
Weiss stressed throughout his interview that he was not “denied” the charging authority, but rather did not officially seek to file the charges that would have required the approval, according to the transcript.
“I had the authority, but still, I had to proceed consistent with departmental processes,” Weiss said at one point. “Nobody blocked me. Nobody prevented me. I still had the authority, and I had the ability to make the decision.”
“It wasn’t a question of my authority. It was just a question of deciding to move forward,” he answered when he was asked about his communications with officials in California.
What remained unclear from his testimony were the reasons behind his initial decisions not to pursue charges in the other districts and why – over a year later – Weiss ultimately decided he needed to be elevated to special counsel to continue his investigation into the president’s son.
“I’m not going to discuss that. That’s a matter — those are privileged communications between myself and the executives at the Department,” he said. Weiss asked for and was granted special counsel status by Attorney General Merrick Garland earlier this year, and he revealed in his testimony that the two have never spoken directly.
Weiss’ testimony comes as Republican-led congressional investigations into Hunter Biden’s finances and business ventures probe whether senior officials, including Weiss, took any steps to obstruct or disrupt criminal investigations into Hunter Biden.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, case agents previously assigned to the Hunter Biden investigation, told lawmakers they recommended federal charges be brought against the president’s son for tax violations but testified that Weiss said he had been denied special counsel status and was “not the deciding person” to bring charges in the case. They alleged intentional slow-walking and “an undeniable pattern of preferential treatment” in the federal investigation.
“There were really earth-shaking statements made by David Weiss,” Shapley said in an exclusive interview with CBS News earlier this year. “And the first one was that he is not the deciding person on whether or not charges are filed,” the whistleblower added. “It was just shocking to me.”
Weiss has repeatedly refuted Shapley’s claims and said he did not request special counsel status until August, when the request was “promptly granted” by Garland.
Responding to Shapely’s contention that Weiss said he was “not the deciding person” on bringing charges against Hunter Biden, the special counsel told congressional investigators, “It’s not what I said, nor is it what I believed, as I’ve told you guys repeatedly today.” He later conceded it was possible his comments were misinterpreted.
Shapley’s notes from an October 2022 meeting with participants from the FBI and IRS also included the contention that Weiss told investigators the Justice Department’s Tax Division was to be part of any charging approval process.
“Under the Justice Manual, DOJ Tax has to approve felony charges, right,” Weiss was asked Tuesday.
He responded, “DOJ Tax has approval — is required to approve Title 26 charges. Yes, we have discussed that. And I welcomed DOJ Tax’s input in this case. Never felt that I had an issue in that regard.”
“I’m not challenging the DOJ Tax. And I believe I would’ve said, as I’ve said here today, I’m not operating in a vacuum. There are processes here. And others need to be involved,” he added later, “DOJ Tax was performing its due diligence. And I welcomed that.”
Earlier in his deposition, Weiss testified he could not recall any situation in which the Tax Division and he were ever at an “impasse” and the division was “comfortable” with him making decisions, although he said officials there likely need to sign off on any future decisions.
The special counsel’s office is still considering bringing tax charges in California against the president’s son and in September, Weiss charged Hunter Biden with three felony gun charges in Delaware. Biden pleaded not guilty and has denied wrongdoing.
The charges followed a breakdown in negotiations between Weiss’ team and Biden’s defense after a plea and diversion agreement abruptly fell apart in July. The special counsel refused to answer questions about the failed plea agreement and the next steps in the probe when pressed by House investigators, according to the transcript.
The former IRS agents also alleged Weiss’ office allowed the statute of limitations to expire on charges related to Hunter Biden’s alleged failure to pay taxes in 2014 and 2015 in Washington, D.C.
The special counsel confirmed the statute of limitations has expired, but did not say more. “But even though the statute of limitations has lapsed and even though charges won’t be filed, if there were to be an outstanding tax prosecution, there is no reason to believe that evidence pertaining to prior years, or witnesses involved in prior years, wouldn’t be part of that litigation,” he said.
Weiss said more information about his team’s decision-making processes would be revealed at the end of his investigation in the form of a report, as federal statute dictates.
His testimony largely mirrored letters Weiss wrote to Congressional investigators over the summer. In a July letter to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Weiss explained that he discussed a possible appointment under Section 515 with federal officials that “would have allowed me to file charges in a district outside my own without the partnership of the local U.S. Attorney.” He said he was “assured” he’d be granted the authority if needed, “months before the October 7, 2022, meeting referenced throughout the whistleblowers’ allegations.”
House Democrats largely dismissed the closed-door testimony as a “farce” and a “complete nothingburger.”
“He (Weiss) stated multiple times that he made all the charging decisions on his own, that no one gave him any instructions or suggestions as to charging decisions,” said House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler. “And the Republicans just keep going over and over the same material and getting the same answers.”
Meanwhile, Republican members of the committee said Weiss was unable to answer many of the questions posed to him.
“Mr. Weiss was here incarnate, but not particularly in spirit,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, said.
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has been indicted by special counsel David Weiss on felony gun charges, with two counts related to false statements in purchasing the firearm and a third count on illegally obtaining a firearm while addicted to drugs. What do you think?
“Maybe there’s one exception to my Second Amendment absolutism.”
Dennis Meier, Unemployed
Biden Announces Nation Can Stay Up Till 9:30 Tonight
“It’s shocking there were any gun laws left to charge him with.”
Lawrence Cassidy, Tantric Masseuse
“We never hear embarrassing stories like this about Beau.”
Last week, Attorney General Merrick Garland named David Weiss as special counsel to oversee the Hunter Biden investigation. Catherine Herridge and Robert Costa discuss the reaction from Democrats and Republicans.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
After a plea deal for Hunter Biden fell apart, Attorney General Merrick Garland last week announced David Weiss would be appointed special counsel to oversee the investigation into President Biden’s son. Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, tells “Face the Nation,” that Hunter Biden’s legal team and prosecutors were trying to avoid a trial “all along.”
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
This week on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawaii will discuss the devastating Maui wildfires, plus Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
“It’s not inevitable,” Abbe Lowell told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “We were trying to avoid [a trial] all along and so were the prosecutors, who came forward to us and were the ones to say, ‘Can there be a resolution short of a prosecution?’ So they wanted it and maybe they still do want it.”
Hunter Biden faces charges for failing to file or pay his 2017 and 2018 income taxes and for owning a handgun while he was a drug user in 2018, which is prohibited by federal law.
He had reached an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware in June to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and enter a diversion program in lieu of pleading guilty to felony gun possession. But at a court hearing in July in which Hunter Biden was set to plead guilty, a federal judge refused to sign off on the agreement after his attorneys and prosecutors disagreed on the scope of an immunity provision in the diversion agreement.
Abbe Lowell on “Face the Nation,” August 13, 2023.
CBS News
As part of the diversion agreement, Hunter Biden would have avoided prison time if he remained drug-free for two years and didn’t break any other laws. But the prosecution and defense team disagreed on whether the Justice Department’s commitment in the diversion agreement to not prosecute Hunter Biden for other alleged crimes related to the tax plea deal granted him immunity from all future charges.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to charges after the deal collapsed.
Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, appeared on Sunday to question the competency of the prosecutors in explaining why the two sides were at an impasse.
“The possibilities are only, one, they wrote something and weren’t clear what they meant,” he said, noting that prosecutors “wrote the language” and “insisted on that language.”
“Two, they knew what they meant and misstated it to counsel. Or third, they changed their view as they were standing in court in Delaware,” he said.
Lowell said though the plea agreement fell through, the diversion agreement was filed in court and “has the signatures necessary for it to be binding.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that David Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden, had been appointed special counsel. Justice Department lawyers then moved to withdraw the case against Biden in Delaware so that it could be refiled in Washington, D.C., and California.
“If the now special counsel decides not to go by the deal, then it will mean that he or they decided that something other than the facts and the law are coming into play,” Lowell said.
Lowell said it would be surprising if Weiss brings additional charges against Hunter Biden given a five-year investigation, which is still ongoing, had already resulted in charges.
“If anything changes from his conclusion, which was two tax misdemeanors and a diverted gun charge, the question should be asked, what infected the process that was not the facts and the law?” Lowell said, dismissing that there could be new evidence uncovered. “The only thing that will change is the scrutiny on some of the charges.”
On “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Republican Rep. Mike Turner expressed concern over Weiss’s appointment, saying that as U.S. Attorney in Delaware, Weiss allowed the statute of limitations to expire on felony charges for the tax offenses.
“Why did this occur? The IRS whistleblowers said that it was interference from the Department of Justice that allowed them to expire,” Turner said.
Missed the second half of the show? The latest on…Mike Turner, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, tells “Face the Nation” that he has “concerns” with the appointment of David Weiss as special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation, Neda Sharghi, the sister of Emad Shargi, one of the four Americans held in Iran who was transferred last week from prison to house arrest, tells “Face the Nation” that her family is “incredibly nervous about what happens next”, and Robert Pape tells “Face the Nation” that his survey found that political violence is “moving into the mainstream,” particularly in the last three months.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
A special counsel has been appointed to investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden. The appointment, by Attorney General Merrick Garland, comes just weeks after a plea deal concerning the younger Biden appeared to fall apart. Catherine Herridge has more.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden. Weiss was already overseeing the case. Catherine Herridge has details.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden, has been appointed special counsel. CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson, CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge and CBS News congressional correspondent Nikole Killion have more.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers said in a court filing Sunday that they believe their deal with the Justice Department to resolve a felony gun charge is still “valid and binding,” though it’s unclear if the newly appointed special counsel agrees with their interpretation.
The filing comes two days after David Weiss, the Trump-appointed US attorney investigating the president’s son, was granted special counsel status following a breakdown in plea talks to resolve tax and gun charges. By naming Weiss as a special counsel, Attorney General Merrick Garland gave him more powers than a typical US attorney and further independence from the Justice Department as he embarks on an unprecedented potential trial against the son of the sitting president, and as Republicans claim the department is politicized.
The parties had previously struck two deals amid a sprawling Justice Department investigation: A “plea agreement” where Biden would plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors, and a “diversion agreement” where prosecutors would drop a felony gun charge in two years if he passed drug tests and stayed out of legal trouble.
The probe had appeared to reach its conclusion when a plea deal was announced in June. But the deal dramatically unraveled in court last month under scrutiny from the federal judge overseeing the case, and the resumed negotiations collapsed last week.
Lawyers for Biden argued in the filing Sunday that Weiss decided “on Friday to renege on the previously agreed-upon Plea Agreement,” referring to the tax deal, after negotiations fell apart earlier in the week.
But in their view, the gun deal was fully “executed” when it was signed by both parties and presented to a federal judge at a court hearing last month in Delaware. A copy of the deal that was previously posted to the docket was signed by Biden, his attorney Chris Clark and federal prosecutor Leo Wise – but the line for a signature from a probation officer is blank.
“The parties have a valid and binding bilateral Diversion Agreement,” Hunter Biden’s lawyers wrote to the judge, referring to the gun deal, and adding that their client “intends to abide by the terms of the Diversion Agreement.”
They also said that it was the prosecutors – not them – who crafted the two intertwining agreements that District Judge Maryellen Noreika balked at last month’s court hearing, which ended after she said she wasn’t ready to accept the deals.
Earlier Sunday, a lawyer for Biden said a trial is “not inevitable,” days after the Trump-appointed US attorney investigating the president’s son was granted special counsel status following a breakdown in plea talks to resolve tax and gun charges.
“We were trying to avoid one all along and so were the prosecutors who came forward to us and we’re the ones to say: ‘Can there be a resolution short of a prosecution?’ So they wanted it and maybe they still do want it,” Abbe Lowell, Biden’s attorney, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Lowell defended Hunter Biden’s defense attorneys, placing the blame on federal prosecutors for the deal falling through. “What group of experienced defense lawyers would allow their client to plead guilty to a misdemeanor on a Monday, keeping in mind that they knew that there could be a felony charge on a Wednesday? That wouldn’t happen,” he said.
Lowell described President Joe Biden as “nothing other than a loving father,” and said the evidence to indict the president in his son’s potential crimes “doesn’t exist.”
The gun charge revolves around a firearm that Hunter Biden purchased in 2018 – he lied on a federal form when he swore that he was not using, and was not addicted to, illegal drugs. The tax offenses stem from Hunter Biden repeatedly missing IRS deadlines to pay his taxes on time, though he eventually paid roughly $2 million to settle his debts, along with penalties and interest.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and top Republicans on Capitol Hill were swift to criticize Garland’s decision to grant Weiss special counsel status and vowed to continue their own investigations.
New York Rep. Dan Goldman, a member of the Democratic Oversight Committee, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday that “if Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I’m a Democrat saying that.”
“You don’t hear any currently elected Republican saying that, if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged with them and held accountable. And that’s a critical distinction that the public needs to understand,” he added.
“And this is just another reflection of the true independence of this Department of Justice. A Trump-appointed U.S. attorney is investigating the president’s son. That is pretty remarkable. And you don’t hear from the other side a respect for the fact that Joe Biden has stayed out of this investigation,” Goldman said.
Republican presidential candidate Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman, told Tapper in a separate interview on “State of the Union” that “the immediate family of a president should not be allowed to be lobbyists or consultants when their father or their husband is the president of the United States.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
The probe into Hunter Biden is now one of two special counsel investigations – the other being an inquiry into his father’s handling of classified documents after leaving the Senate and the vice president’s office – that both appear poised to extend for months to come.
Even some of Biden’s allies acknowledge they threaten to complicate or erode the moral high ground the president asserts as he seeks reelection. Hunter Biden, of course, is not himself running for president and the White House has taken pains to avoid interference in the case – all points of contrast with the president’s most likely Republican rival.
The cases and consequences are entirely separate for both investigations. Although President Biden is so far not a part of special counsel David Weiss’s investigation into his son, his aides expect that he may be interviewed as part of special counsel Robert Hur’s documents probe.
Still, both investigations take away the fundamental element of control for a White House heading into an election cycle. As multiple Biden advisers conceded privately this week, special counsels have a history of uncovering information they hadn’t set out initially to discover. The fact that it’s also a delicate family matter, people close to Biden say, is creating a level of personal angst unlike any other challenge for the president.
‘This is just a debacle’: Ex-federal prosecutor on length of Hunter Biden investigation
How and whether those factors play into Biden’s reelection chances remains to be determined. Next to a likely rival who has now been indicted four times, Biden’s predicament is vastly different. Democratic strategists believe swing voters see Hunter Biden as a private citizen and are more concerned about the economy.
Given the facts currently known, strategists say, these voters don’t believe President Biden has been implicated in any wrongdoing. Yet Biden’s advisers also concede the topic is mostly verboten with the president, raising the prospect of a critical blind spot heading into a bruising campaign where nothing will be off limits with their Republican rivals.
“Hunter Biden is not a topic of discussion in campaign meetings,” a senior aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the subject. “It’s just not addressed.”
It was a surprise to the West Wing last week when Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he was giving special counsel status to Weiss – originally a Trump appointee – a fact that further underscores the separation between the White House and the Justice Department on the case. The decision was met with a range of responses by Biden’s allies last week, from resignation to frustration.
Garland appoints special counsel to Hunter Biden case
For the president himself, the decision to name a special counsel amounted to another page in a chapter he would like to close. Even as the president and first lady try to move on from a dark period surrounding their son’s addiction, Republicans and now the Justice Department are extending the scrutiny into an indeterminable future.
Just two weeks ago, the couple had hoped Hunter Biden’s expected plea deal would be a moment to admit mistakes and move on, one person familiar with the president’s thinking had said.
But that plea deal fell apart and the special counsel appointment moves the legal issues into a new phase, including potentially a trial.
From the beginning, the Bidens have tried to approach Hunter Biden’s issues through a personal lens, expressing their love and support for their son but otherwise declining to comment on the investigation. They have kept him close amid the legal proceedings with Hunter Biden appearing at family events and White House functions including a lavish state dinner days after his initial plea agreement was announced.
For some close to the president, however, there are now questions over how the matter has continued to persist, despite work toward a plea deal on tax and gun related charges, the resolution of a child support battle and no evidence yet that President Biden himself was implicated in any wrongdoing.
They pin the blame mainly on Republicans, whom the White House blasted this week for waging years-long investigations into the president that haven’t produced evidence showing President Biden engaged in wrongdoing.
“If you think about what Republicans in Congress have tried to do for years, they have been making claims and allegations about the president on this front over and over again. And month after month, year after year, they have been investigating every single angle of this and looking for any evidence to back their allegations,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week. “And what’s been the result of that, if you ask yourself what we have seen from that? They keep turning up documents and witnesses showing that the president wasn’t involved.”
Beneath the surface, however, private questions are now brewing among some Democrats about the abilities of Hunter Biden’s legal team and the wisdom of his visible presence around his father.
On Tuesday, Hunter Biden’s lead criminal defense attorney asked a federal judge on Tuesday for permission to withdraw from the case because he could now be called as a witness in future proceedings. To some Biden advisers, the surprise collapse of a plea deal only exacerbated existing concerns about Hunter’s legal team.
“I’m sure this didn’t land all that well over in the White House because I think they’d love this Hunter Biden case to be behind them. The Republicans are sort of pointing to it for purposes of what-about-ism,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser in the Obama White House and CNN senior political commentator, who said Republicans were eager to make false comparisons – essentially saying, “what about” Hunter’s legal issues?
“They need to have a countervailing argument and their countervailing argument is, ‘Oh two standards of justice, they’re not indicting Hunter Biden,’” he said. “And they’re beating that horse to death, even though they’ve failed to make the connection between Hunter Biden and Joe Biden in the way that they allege. So I think that anything that extends the Hunter Biden case into the election year is not welcome news for Joe Biden.”
CNN reporter details why Hunter Biden’s top lawyer asked to withdraw from case
Indeed, the actions of Hunter Biden are now becoming a central discussion point for Republicans in Congress and presidential candidates, who frequently point to the president’s son in their argument of a false equivalency in the Justice Department.
Republicans have criticized the now defunct plea agreement between Hunter Biden and federal prosecutors as a “sweetheart deal,” and they scoffed when Weiss was appointed as special counsel, despite many previously supporting the appointment of a special counsel.
Some of the president’s potential Republican rivals also blasted the special counsel decision. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued Hunter Biden would receive “soft glove treatment.” A spokesperson for former President Donald Trump argued the Biden family has “been protected by the Justice Department for decades” – even though Trump appointed Weiss to his position and Biden kept him in the post upon taking office.
The matter is likely to arise at the first Republican presidential debate next week in Milwaukee. The Democratic National Committee is not preparing specific responses to any criticism leveled against Hunter Biden at the Republican presidential debate but will be ready to respond as needed, a party official says.
In 2020, plans were similarly laid ahead of general election debates with Trump, who seized on Hunter Biden as an attack line. Biden’s defense of his son and his pride in his sobriety proved one of the most memorable moments of that year’s debate circuit.
First lady Dr. Jill Biden had previously told CNN that the investigations into their son Hunter did not impact the president’s decision to seek reelection this year.
Some Democrats view the development as an opportunity to demonstrate the party’s view of a fair judicial system – a contrast to many Republicans who have cried foul at the multiple indictments of Trump.
“If Hunter has done something beyond the tax issue and beyond the gun issue that deserves to be investigated, then that should happen. No one is above the law,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat. “That’s why you’re not hearing Democrats say that, you know, this is the weaponization of the Justice Department. No. We’re being consistent. When we say no one’s above the law when it comes to Donald Trump, we mean it even if it’s one of our own.”
This story has been updated to clarify that the DNC may respond to criticism leveled against Hunter Biden but has not prepared any specific responses.
President Joe Biden on Friday said he had no comment and deferred to the Department of Justice when asked for his reaction to the special counsel appointment in the case of his son, Hunter Biden.
“I have no comment on any investigation that’s going on,” the president said during a trilateral news conference with the leaders of Japan and South Korea at Camp David. “That’s up to the Justice Department, and that’s all I have to say.”
The answer to a reporter’s question was the first time the president had spoken publicly about the appointment of a special counsel since David Weiss was elevated to the role last week. Biden had previously ignored reporter questions on the matter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced last week that Weiss – a Trump-appointed US attorney who has been leading an investigation into Hunter Biden for years – had been given special counsel status after plea talks between the Justice Department and the president’s son fell apart. Weiss asked for the new authority after plea talks to resolve tax and gun charges fell apart.
The probe appeared to reach its conclusion when a plea deal was announced in June. In a two-pronged agreement, Hunter Biden planned to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and prosecutors would drop a separate felony gun charge in two years if he stayed out of legal trouble and passed drug tests.
Federal prosecutors also agreed to recommend probation, and no jail time, for the president’s son. The GOP had criticized the plea deal, accusing Weiss of giving Hunter Biden preferential treatment.
But at a stunning three-hour court hearing last month, the deal nearly collapsed under scrutiny from the federal judge overseeing the case. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said the intertwined deals to resolve the tax and gun charges were “confusing,” “not straightforward,” “atypical” and “unprecedented.” At the end of that hearing, she ordered the Justice Department and Hunter Biden’s lawyers to file additional legal briefs defending the constitutionality of the agreement. Weiss said last week that the talks had failed.
By naming Weiss as a special counsel, Garland gave him further independence from the Justice Department as he embarks on an unprecedented trial against the son of the sitting president, and as Republicans claim the department is politicized.
The probe into Hunter Biden is now one of two special counsel investigations – the other being an inquiry into his father’s handling of classified documents after leaving the Senate and the vice president’s office – that both appear poised to extend for months to come. But the probe into Hunter Biden is among the most sensitive subjects inside the West Wing.
Multiple Biden advisers conceded privately this week that special counsels have a history of uncovering information they hadn’t set out initially to discover. The fact that the probe into Hunter Biden is also a delicate family matter, people close to Biden say, is creating a level of personal angst unlike any other challenge for the president.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
The FBI agent managing the team on the Hunter Biden criminal case testified to the House Judiciary Committee that US Attorney David Weiss had ultimate authority over the case, contesting testimony brought forward by whistleblowers.
Thomas Sobocinski, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, told committee investigators in a closed-door interview last week that from his perspective, Weiss had the authority to bring forward whatever charges he wanted in whatever venue he preferred.
“It was my understanding that David Weiss had the authority, and at no point did I ever differ from that,” Sobociniski said, according to a copy of his interview transcript obtained by CNN. “There’s never been anything in my view that changed that.”
Sobocinski’s transcript, which was first reported by The Washington Post, comes as House Republicans continue to investigate allegations that the criminal case of President Joe Biden’s son was mishandled. It’s all part of the House GOP impeachment inquiry into the president, even though Republicans have yet to find evidence that the president did anything illegal.
Sobocinski’s testimony disputes a number of claims from an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower about a key October 2022 meeting including FBI and IRS agents, Weiss, and other Justice Department prosecutors that occurred at a critical point in the criminal probe. IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who was in the meeting and worked on this case, said Weiss revealed in that meeting that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed. Shapley provided his notes on that meeting and email exchanges about it to Congress to support his claim. The notes say, “Weiss stated – He is not the deciding person.”
But Sobocinski was also in that October 2022 meeting and said Weiss never said that.
“I went into that meeting believing he had the authority, and I have left that meeting believing he had the authority to bring charges,” Sobocinski testified.
Reflecting on Shapley’s accusation of Weiss, Sobocinski said, “In my recollection, if he would have said that, I would have remembered it.”
In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee responding to Sobocinski’s testimony, Shapley’s legal team contested Sobocinski’s testimony, noting that Shapley took notes of the October 2022 meeting while Sobocinski did not.
“Mr. Sobocinski apparently acknowledged that he took no notes in the meeting, nor did he document it in any contemporaneous fashion afterwards,” wrote Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt and attorney Mark Lytle, according to the letter obtained by CNN. “By contrast, SSA Shapley took notes during the meeting. These notes, combined with his fresh memory of the meeting, formed the basis for the email he sent later that day and corroborate his current recollection.”
House Republicans responded to the comments saying that the whistleblowers, Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year IRS special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division, were “wholly consistent.”
“Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have been wholly consistent throughout their disclosures to Congress, and the only people who haven’t are people like David Weiss, Merrick Garland, and their liberal cronies,” said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican.
Sobocinski also disputed Shapley’s claim that Weiss said in the October 2022 meeting he was denied special counsel status and denied venues to bring forward charges.
Sobocinski told the House Judiciary panel he was informed of Weiss’ special counsel status the day Attorney General Merrick Garland announced it last month, and that Weiss was not previously denied special counsel status as Shapley has claimed.
“I don’t have a recollection with him saying that there or at any point in my communication with Mr. Weiss,” Sobocinski said. “That would have been a total 180 from all our previous conversations about authorities.”
When asked if anybody at FBI headquarters ever prevented Weiss from taking any steps or accessing any necessary resources, Sobocinski replied, “Not that I’m aware of.”
Sobocinski told congressional investigators that he did raise concerns repeatedly about the pace of the investigation into Hunter Biden.
“I would have liked for it to move faster,” he said.
Republicans on the committee raised the question of why Weiss was eventually given special counsel status if Weiss had the ultimate authority as Sobocinski has argued. Sobocinski acknowledged that Weiss would be the best person to answer these questions, and more specifics about how special counsel status was granted.
On whether Weiss was denied venues to bring forward charges against the president’s son, Sobocinski said he only had “high-level conversations” about the specific charges, but from his understanding “there was a process” within the Justice Department for US attorneys to bring forward charges outside of their district that involved a lot of “bureaucracy” but was “not a permission issue.”
“Without going into specifics, there were discussion about taxes and venue,” Sobocinski said. “And, once again, Mr. Weiss had the authority to bring it.”
Shapley’s notes on the October 2022 meeting included that an FBI agent asked the group if they were concerned about the investigation being politicized. Sobocinski noted that part of why the meeting was called was in response to a media leak about the status of the criminal investigation. He told congressional investigators that he wanted to ask anyone in the room if they felt the investigation into the president’s son had been politicized, and he said no one in the room, not even Shapley, raised any concerns.
“I wanted to go on record in the room of the leaders who were involved in this investigation,” Sobocinski said. “Thought that it was no, and nobody in that room raised their voice to say anything other.”
Sobocinski also addressed broader claims made about how the Hunter Biden criminal investigation has been handled. To discredit GOP claims that prosecutors colluded with Hunter Biden’s Secret Service by informing them they wanted to interview Hunter, Sobocinski said that as a former Secret Service agent, he said it was “expected” for an investigative entity to speak with him ahead of interviewing a protectee of his. Sobocinski also said he is not aware of any evidence that the Department of Justice has retaliated against the IRS whistleblowers who have come forward.
The Department of Justice sent Sobocinski a letter the day before his interview giving him permission to discuss the details of the October 7, 2022, meeting and Weiss’ authority on the case. But Sobocinski was not permitted to discuss the ongoing criminal investigation.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Attorney General Merrick Garland did not provide a robust explanation on Friday for why he needed to give US attorney David Weiss special counsel status for the Hunter Biden probe, or why it was necessary five years after the investigation began.
In a televised statement, Garland only said that Weiss informed him on Tuesday that “his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel.” Garland said he reviewed Weiss’ request, “as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter” and “concluded it is in the public interest” to make him a special counsel.
But the attorney general did not say what those “extraordinary circumstances” were. And Weiss didn’t make any statements on Friday.
The simplest explanation is that the plea talks between Weiss and Hunter Biden over tax and gun charges have collapsed, and the case now appears to be headed to trial. Indeed, it is “extraordinary” for the Justice Department, which is part of the executive branch, to go to trial against the son of a siting president. Instead of a speedy resolution with a plea, a trial guarantees there will be months or even years of future litigation.
But no one at the Justice Department has publicly offered this explanation. Friday, Garland never mentioned this major change in the trajectory of the case – from a misdemeanor plea deal to an unprecedented trial with potentially several felony charges.
It’s not clear what else may have changed to trigger the special counsel appointment.
IRS whistleblowers who worked on the case and congressional Republicans have claimed that Weiss needed special counsel powers because, as the US attorney in Delaware, he couldn’t pursue charges in other jurisdictions. The whistleblowers testified that Justice Department officials blocked Weiss from filing felony tax evasion charges in California and Washington, DC.
But as these questions mounted, Weiss and Garland have repeatedly insisted that Weiss always had the powers he needed, even as a US attorney. Weiss said he retained “ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges.” As recently as July 10, he said he never asked to be appointed as special counsel.
So why elevate him to special counsel now?
This is the third time Garland has appointed a special counsel. In the two past instances, he specifically mentioned that the ongoing investigations involved a presidential candidate and therefore the independence of a special counsel was warranted, for the public interest. (Those probes are separately scrutinizing President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.)
That raises the question of whether the ongoing Hunter Biden probe has moved closer to the president, though there is no public indication that this is the case.
Indeed, the IRS whistleblowers told Congress they wanted to interview Biden family members, after finding financial improprieties in Hunter Biden’s tax records, but were blocked by Justice Department officials. Also, an unverified tip from an FBI informant about supposed bribes paid to Joe and Hunter Biden was passed onto Weiss’ prosecutors, potentially for further inquiry. (Joe Biden says these claims are false.)
Politics is also hanging over the investigation, especially emanating from Capitol Hill.
House Republicans are investigating the claims from the IRS whistleblower and are asking questions about how Hunter Biden nearly walked away with what they call a “sweetheart deal.”
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, is seeking interviews with nearly a dozen Justice Department officials who were involved in the investigation. He also has sought testimony from Weiss, who previously committed to appearing at a public hearing this fall.
But Weiss’ new role as special counsel, and the implosion of the plea talks, could put all of that on ice. It will be much easier now for the Justice Department to do what it often does – swat away oversight requests because of an ongoing investigation, especially with a trial looming.
Justice Department officials stressed Friday that Weiss will issue a public report as part of his special counsel responsibilities. But that could be years away: Past special counsels, like Robert Mueller and John Durham, only testified on the Hill after their reports were released.
Washington — David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware who recently brought criminal charges against Hunter Biden, has spoken out for the first time since reaching a plea deal with the president’s son. In a letter sent Friday to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, Weiss pushed back against claims that the investigation was impeded.
Weiss’ letter was written in response to a June 22 correspondence from House Republicans in which they asked for material related to accusations made by IRS agents on the Hunter Biden case who alleged in Congressional testimony that there were irregularities in the investigation and certain retaliatory measures were taken against them.
“As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district. If venue for a case lies elsewhere, common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case. If not, I may request Special Attorney status from the Attorney General,” Weiss wrote, “Here, I have been assured that, if necessary after the above process, I would be granted § 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.”
Court filings unsealed earlier this month showed Weiss’ office charged Biden with two misdemeanor tax counts — to which the president’s son agreed to plead guilty — and a felony gun charge for which Biden agreed to enter into a diversion program. The deal with prosecutors will have to be approved by a judge at a hearing which is currently set for July 26.
An IRS Agent who worked on the case, Gary Shapely, told Congressional investigators and CBS News that the evidence he saw warranted more severe charges. He also alleged in testimony that Weiss told him that prosecutors in Delaware were prevented from bringing charges in other jurisdictions — including California and Washington, D.C. — and that Weiss was denied special counsel status by the Justice Department.
In his letter on Friday — his first since charging Hunter Biden — Weiss reiterated his defense of the investigation that he made weeks ago, in which he wrote at the time, “I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution, consistent with federal law, the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and Departmental regulations.”
“I stand by what I wrote,” Weiss told Jordan Friday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland — who kept the Trump-appointed Weiss on the job to complete the Biden probe — previously said in response to the allegations that Weiss was “permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to.”
“The only person with authority to make somebody a special counsel or refuse to make somebody a special counsel is the attorney general. Mr. Weiss never made that request to me,” Garland said earlier this month, “He had and has complete authority … to bring a case anywhere he wants, in his discretion.”
“I documented what I saw, and ultimately that’s the evidence. If they want to explain how that’s wrong, they can,” Shapley told CBS News earlier this week defending his allegations. “All of the things that I’ve testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee is from my perspective, but it’s based on the experience I’ve gained over 14 years.”
Weiss’ letter on Friday also pushed back on claims of retaliation, writing, “the 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’.”
The letter comes after Jordan and his counterparts on the House Oversight and Ways and Means Committees asked the Justice Department to make Weiss and other investigators available for closed-door interviews with Congress. Weiss made no immediate commitment prior to the July 26 hearing where a judge has final review and approval of the plea agreement.
“At the appropriate time, I welcome the opportunity to discuss these topics with the Committee in more detail, and answer questions related to the whistleblowers’ allegations consistent with the law and Department policy,” Weiss said Friday, “It is my understanding that the Office of Legislative Affairs will work with the Committee to discuss appropriate timeline and scope.”
Garland had previously said he supported Weiss speaking out at an appropriate time.
Weiss, however, said Friday he was unable to provide certain documents and materials requests by House Republicans, citing the ongoing investigation.
“At this juncture, I am required to protect confidential law enforcement information and deliberative communications related to the case. Thus, I will not provide specific information related to the Hunter Biden investigation at this time,” Weiss wrote.
On Friday, one of Hunter Biden’s attorneys accused House Republicans of attempting to derail Biden’s plea deal with Weiss by pushing forward what he characterized as “false allegations” from IRS whistleblowers.
“To any objective eye your actions were intended to improperly undermine the judicial proceedings that have been scheduled in the case,” attorney Abbe Lowell wrote to House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith. “Your release of this selective set of false allegations was an attempt to score a headline in a news cycle—full facts be damned. We all know the adage: an allegation gets page one attention, while the explanation or exoneration never gets coverage at all or is buried on page 10. This letter is an attempt to make sure the response is found.”
The IRS whistleblowers began the process of coming forward months before their closed-door testimony to the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee.
When asked about Shapley’s testimony on June 23, the White House referred to a previously-released statement.
“President Biden has made clear that this matter would be handled independently by the Justice Department, under the leadership of a U.S. attorney appointed by former President Trump, free from any political interference by the White House,” the statement said. “He has upheld that commitment.”
The Donald Trump-appointed US attorney leading the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter has decades of experience as a federal prosecutor.
David Weiss, the Delaware US attorney, met in April with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, who had requested a routine status update on the investigation. The long-running probe, which began as early as 2018, at one time concerned multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Joe Biden was vice president.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department said in court filings that Biden will plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and struck a deal with federal prosecutors regarding a felony gun charge.
In 2018, the Senate confirmed Weiss to serve as US attorney for the District of Delaware. At the time of his nomination, he was serving as the acting US attorney for the district and was one of nine candidates whom Trump said shared his “vision for ‘Making America Safe Again.’”
The Philadelphia native is a member of the Delaware and Pennsylvania bars.
A Washington University in St. Louis and Widener University School of Law graduate, Weiss began his career in law in 1984 as a clerk to Justice Andrew D. Christie of the Delaware Supreme Court, according to his Justice Department biography.
Following his clerkship, Weiss prosecuted violent crimes and white-collar offenses as an assistant US attorney before joining firm Duane Morris, where he was a commercial litigation associate and eventually became a partner. He later served as chief operating officer and senior vice president at The Siegfried Group, a financial services firm, according to his biography.
He served as the first assistant US attorney starting in 2007.
Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden continued into the Biden administration, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to stress during a March Senate committee hearing that he would not interfere with the investigation. Weiss, he reiterated at the time, had “full authority” to carry out the investigation and to bring in another jurisdiction if necessary.
Garland said Weiss was “not to be denied anything that he needs.”
Two whistleblowers told Congress that IRS investigators recommended charging Hunter Biden with attempted tax evasion and other felonies, which are far more serious crimes than what the president’s son has agreed to plead guilty to, according to transcripts of their private interviews with lawmakers.
The IRS whistleblowers said the recommendation called for Hunter Biden to be charged with tax evasion and filing a false tax return – both felonies – for 2014, 2018 and 2019. The IRS also recommended that prosecutors charge him with failing to pay taxes on time, a misdemeanor, for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the transcripts, which were released Thursday by House Republicans.
It appears that this 11-count charging recommendation also had the backing of some Justice Department prosecutors, but not from more senior attorneys, according to documents that the whistleblowers provided to House investigators.
In a deal with prosecutors announced earlier this week, Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to just two tax misdemeanors.
The allegations come from Gary Shapley, a 14-year IRS veteran, who oversaw parts of the Hunter Biden criminal probe, and an unnamed IRS agent who was on the case nearly from its inception. Shapley approached Congress this year with information that he claimed showed political interference in the investigation. He and the entire IRS team were later removed from the probe.
“I am alleging, with evidence, that DOJ provided preferential treatment, slow-walked the investigation, did nothing to avoid obvious conflicts of interest in this investigation,” Shapley told lawmakers.
David Weiss, the Trump-appointed US attorney in Delaware who oversaw the Hunter Biden criminal probe, eventually reached a plea deal where the president’s son will plead guilty to two misdemeanors for failing to pay taxes on time. The plea agreement will also resolve a separate felony gun charge, if Hunter Biden abides by certain court-imposed conditions for a period of time.
Hunter Biden isn’t pleading guilty to any felonies, and he wasn’t charged with any tax felonies. CNN reported that prosecutors are expected to recommend no jail time. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Delaware on July 26.
It isn’t uncommon for there to be internal disagreements among investigators over which charges to file against the target of an investigation, much like the disagreements that the IRS whistleblowers described. CNN reported last year that some FBI and IRS investigators were at odds with other Justice Department officials over the strength of the case, and that there were discussions over which types of charges were appropriate and whether further investigation was needed.
Sources familiar with the criminal probe told CNN in April that prosecutors were still actively weighing a felony tax charge against Hunter Biden. And it is common for prosecutors to strike deals with defendants where they plead guilty to a small subset of the possible charges they could’ve faced.
The Justice Department probe into Hunter Biden was opened in November 2018, and was codenamed “Sportsman.” According to Shapley’s testimony, federal investigators knew as early as June 2021 that there were potential venue-related issues with charging Hunter Biden in Delaware. Under federal law, charges must be brought in the jurisdiction where the alleged crimes occurred.
If the potential charges couldn’t be brought in Delaware, then Weiss would need help from his fellow US attorneys. He looked to Washington, DC, where some of Hunter Biden’s tax returns were prepared, and the Central District of California, which includes the Los Angeles area where Hunter Biden lives.
But Shapley told the committee that the US attorneys in both districts wouldn’t seek an indictment.
A second whistleblower, an IRS case agent who also testified to the committee but hasn’t been publicly identified, also told lawmakers that this is what happened. He agreed that Weiss was “was told no” when he tried to get the cooperation of the US attorneys in in DC and Los Angeles, who are Biden appointees.
Hunter Biden’s eventual plea agreement was filed in Weiss’ jurisdiction, in Delaware.
Shapley contends in his interview that Attorney General Merrick Garland was not truthful when he told Congress that Weiss had full authority on the investigation.
Shapley recounted a meeting on October 7, 2022, where, according to Shapley’s notes memorializing the meeting, Weiss said, “He is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed” against Hunter Biden. This undermines what Weiss and Garland have publicly said about Weiss’ independence on the matter.
Shapley also testified to committee investigators that it was during this October 2022 meeting that he learned for the first time that Weiss had requested to be named as a special counsel, but was denied.
In testimony to Congress in March, Garland said Weiss was advised “he is not to be denied anything he needs.”
Regarding the claims of political interference with the Hunter Biden criminal probe, Weiss told House Republicans in a recent letter that Garland granted him “ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.”
After the transcripts were released Thursday, spokespeople for the US attorney’s offices in DC and Los Angeles issued near-identical statements reiterating that Weiss “was given full authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction he deemed appropriate.” The Justice Department echoed those comments in a statement saying Weiss “needs no further approval” to bring charges wherever he wants.
The whistleblowers also allege that at multiple key junctures, investigators were thwarted in their efforts because prosecutors were concerned about interfering in the 2020 presidential election.
In 2020, IRS investigators sought to conduct search warrants and take other overt steps. But according to Shapley, several weeks before the election, in September 2020, a Justice Department prosecutor questioned the optics of searching Hunter Biden’s residence and Joe Biden’s guest home.
Later that year, other planned searches were delayed because then-President Donald Trump was refusing to concede and was continuing to contest the results.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith said earlier Thursday that the transcripts reveal “credible whistleblower testimony alleging misconduct and abuse” at the Justice Department that “resulted in preferential treatment for the president’s son.”
The Missouri Republican highlighted the whistleblowers’ allegations that the Justice Department “overstepped” in their efforts to intervene in the Hunter Biden criminal probe.
“The testimony … details a lack of US attorney independence, recurring unjustified delays, unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation, a lack of transparency across the investigation and prosecution teams, and bullying and threats from the defense counsel,” Smith said.
Democrats on the committee said the transcripts were “a premature and incomplete record” of what happened with the Hunter Biden probe and accused the GOP of a “stunning abuse of power.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyer pushed back in a statement Friday against the whistleblowers claims, saying it was “preposterous and deeply irresponsible” to suggest that federal investigators “cut my client any slack” during their “extensive” five-year probe.
“A close examination of the document released publicly yesterday by a very biased individual raises serious questions over whether it is what he claims it to be,” attorney Chris Clark said. “It is dangerously misleading to make any conclusions or inferences based on this document.”
Shapley, the IRS supervisor-turned-whistleblower, told House lawmakers that Justice Department prosecutors denied requests to look into messages allegedly from Hunter Biden where he used his father as leverage to pressure a Chinese company into paying him.
“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” according to a document Shapley gave to Congress, which quotes from texts that are allegedly from Hunter Biden to the CEO of a Chinese fund management company.
The message continues: “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight.” The message goes onto say, “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
The second, unnamed IRS whistleblower also testified to lawmakers about this alleged WhatsApp message, saying prosecutors questioned whether they could be sure Hunter Biden was telling the truth that his father was actually in the room in the messages. The unnamed whistleblower testified that they did not know whether the FBI investigated the message.
Shapley told House investigators that a Justice Department attorney insisted that the FBI not ask directly about Joe Biden when doing interviews. But the FBI did manage to ask one key witness about Joe Biden, and Shapley said the witness told investigators that some suggestions of the president’s involvement were overstated.
An email sent among business partners of Hunter Biden said an equity stake should be held “for the big guy,” an apparent reference to Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time. But one of the associates told the FBI that it was probably just “wishful thinking or maybe he was just projecting” that Joe Biden would get involved if he did not run for president in 2016.
Joe Biden has repeatedly denied having any involvement in his son’s overseas business dealings, where he made millions of dollars from China, Ukraine and other countries. House Republicans have used their oversight probes to look for evidence that Joe Biden was actually involved.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
