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Tag: Hunter Biden

  • Trump Says Hunter Biden Should’ve Gotten the Death Penalty for Not Paying His Taxes on Time

    Trump Says Hunter Biden Should’ve Gotten the Death Penalty for Not Paying His Taxes on Time

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    Last month, Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges stemming from paying his taxes late in 2017 and 2018. (As part of the deal, he also agreed to be charged, but not prosecuted, for purchasing a handgun at a time when he was using drugs, which is contingent on him never owning a firearm again and remaining drug-free for two years.) Naturally, this deal enraged conservatives, who have insisted for some time now that president’s son is the most corrupt person to walk the face of the earth, that his dad is just as bad, and that as punishment, both Hunter and Joe should be sent to Guantánamo Bay in a deal that also involves Donald Trump being installed as president for life.

    Obviously, that whole Guantánamo Bay/Trump-as-emperor is merely a parody of the things Republicans have said about the Biden Boys; while it’s pretty close, no one has actually called for them to be sent to the notorious detention camp known for housing terrorists. But as of Tuesday, at least one person had suggested that Biden the Younger should have been sentenced to death for his crimes, and you can probably take a guess as to who that person was.

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    Yes, that’s former a U.S. president and current presidential candidate raging on Truth Social that federal prosecutor David Weiss did not give Hunter Biden “a death sentence” for his aforementioned crimes, which, as a reminder, were paying his taxes late two years in a row and buying a gun when he was using drugs. This is funny for a lot of reasons, including but not limited to the fact that:

    • Trump’s family business was found guilty last year of tax fraud, conspiracy, and falsifying business records
    • Trump himself reportedly “participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud,” according to a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation by The New York Times*
    • Trump has been accused of much worse crimes than not paying his taxes on time, including conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation (to which he pleaded not guilty); he’s also under investigation by the feds for trying to overturn the 2020 election and inciting a violent riot that left five people dead, and facing potential charges for trying to overturn the election in Georgia.

    Also amusing is the notion put forth by Trump that there are “TWO TIERS OF JUSTICE.” There are, but for many decades he’s been a beneficiary of the two-tier system, on account of being a wealthy guy with power. Meanwhile, he was happy to help do his part to see innocent people sent to prison.

    *A lawyer for Trump insisted to the Times that no fraud or tax evasion ever took place, but that if it did Trump wasn’t involved and it should be pinned on his employees and siblings. “There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone,” the attorney said. “The facts upon which the Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate. President Trump had virtually no involvement whatsoever with these matters. The affairs were handled by other Trump family members who were not experts themselves and therefore relied entirely upon the aforementioned licensed professionals to ensure full compliance with the law.”

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    This just in from the anti-vax candidate

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  • Mystery GOP Whistleblower Accused Of Being Unregistered Foreign Agent, Arms Dealer

    Mystery GOP Whistleblower Accused Of Being Unregistered Foreign Agent, Arms Dealer

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    Federal prosecutors on Monday unsealed charges against a think tank leader who claims he has incriminating information about President Joe Biden.

    The Justice Department said Gal Luft, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel, engaged in “multiple international criminal schemes,” including arms dealing and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of the People’s Republic of China.

    The government said Luft was arrested in Cyprus in February but that he’s now on the run after having been released on bail. In its news release, the Justice Department asked for tips about Luft’s whereabouts.

    Luft said in a video published online by the New York Post last week that he gave investigators details about arrangements between the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and a Chinese energy company, and that he was arrested in order to prevent his testimony before the House Oversight Committee.

    “Instead of showing appreciation for my whistleblowing, I became public enemy number one,” Luft said in the video.

    Hunter Biden’s financial arrangements with CEFC China Energy have been previously reported by journalists as well as by Republicans wielding bank records and subpoenas from Capitol Hill.

    Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Luft “subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.”

    Luft, the director of a Washington, D.C., think tank called the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said in his video that the government official Williams referred to is former CIA Director James Woolsey, who served as an adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. All he did, Luft said, was ghostwrite an article with Woolsey’s name on it.

    The indictment says Luft schemed to “educate” the official so that he would make public statements favorable to China and that this official would be paid $6,000 per month for articles in a Chinese newspaper.

    According to emails quoted in the indictment, Luft and an associate hoped Woolsey would get a prominent position within the new administration. Woolsey wound up resigning as a Trump adviser before Trump took office.

    House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.), who has been conducting investigations into the Biden family, said earlier this year that one of his sources had gone missing, prompting mockery from Democrats.

    After the New York Post made Luft’s video public, Comer said he’d been vindicated.

    “He’s very credible, and the people on MSNBC who made fun of me when I said we had an informant that was missing, they should feel like fools right now,” Comer told Newsmax TV last week. “This is their worst nightmare.”

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  • Congressional Republicans seek special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden whistleblower allegations

    Congressional Republicans seek special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden whistleblower allegations

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    A group of senior Congressional Republicans are demanding an investigation into what they call “unlawful whistleblower retaliation against veteran IRS employees” involved in an investigation into the president’s son, Hunter Biden.

    In a letter sent Wednesday to special counsel Henry Kerner, whose office is responsible for investigating claims of retaliation against federal whistleblowers, Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson and Reps. Jason Smith, James Comer and Jim Jordan said IRS officials violated “anti-gag” rules that protect federal employees. The letter is the latest effort by Republicans to seize on whistleblowers’ allegations that investigators were impeded by supervisors during their yearslong probe. They are also requesting a briefing on steps taken by Kerner’s office by July 19.

    In the letter they cited two internal emails by IRS administrators. In one, GOP lawmakers allege a special agent in charge reminded personnel on May 19 that case information could not be shared without “seeking approval” from a supervisor. In another, sent on May 25, GOP lawmakers allege an IRS deputy commissioner wrote in an email that the agency is “deeply committed” to whistleblower protections, but the Republicans said the email “fails to inform IRS employees of their Constitutional and statutory right to make protected disclosures to Congress.”

    “The Deputy Commissioner’s email states IRS employees may make (disclosures) to a supervisor, management, the DOJ Office of the Inspector General, or the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration but blatantly fails to provide that IRS employees have the right to make lawful disclosures to Congress,” the Congressmen wrote.

    In Wednesday’s letter, the Congressional Republicans wrote that “IRS employees have the right to make lawful disclosures to Congress if they believe a tax return or return information ‘may relate to possible misconduct, maladministration, or taxpayer abuse.’”

    “The importance of protecting whistleblowers from unlawful retaliation and informing whistleblowers about their rights under the law cannot be understated,” they wrote.

    A spokesperson for Kerner’s office confirmed the letter was received Wednesday.

    “We are in the process of reviewing it,” said the spokesperson, Zachary Kurz.

    Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee who has overseen the five-year-long investigation, said in a court filing on June 20 that Hunter Biden agreed to enter a guilty plea to two misdemeanor tax counts and judicial diversion related to a felony gun charge. The deal with prosecutors will have to be approved by a judge at a hearing which is currently set for July 26. 

    The allegations of retaliation were first aired by IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley, whose attorneys wrote in a May letter to members of Congress that he and his team had been removed from the investigation “at the request of the Department of Justice.” He was one of two IRS investigators to testify behind closed doors to members of Congress on May 26 and June 1.

    “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 last week. “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 pushed back against allegations of retaliation in a June 30 letter to Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee Chair. 

    “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,’” Weiss wrote, quoting a June 22 letter from Jordan. 

    Jordan and other House Republicans have asked the Justice Department to make Weiss available for closed-door interviews with Congress. Weiss said in his letter he would meet with Congress “at the appropriate time,” but said he could not while the Hunter Biden investigation is ongoing.

    “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.

    Also on June 30, an attorney for Hunter Biden accused House Republicans of using the whistleblower claims in an attempt to derail the plea deal.

    “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 Smith, the House Ways and Means Chair. 

    The two IRS whistleblowers began the process of coming forward months before their closed-door testimony to the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee. 

    Asked on June 23 about Shapley’s testimony, 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.”

    Catherine Herridge


    Catherine Herridge

    Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.

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  • Former GOP congressman and Jan. 6 select committee adviser Denver Riggleman now working with Hunter Biden

    Former GOP congressman and Jan. 6 select committee adviser Denver Riggleman now working with Hunter Biden

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    Former Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia — who served as a senior technical adviser to the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol — is working with the legal team advising President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who is facing increasing scrutiny from House Republicans over his business dealings. 

    Riggleman’s work with Hunter Biden is focused on assessing data issues, and he has assisted Biden’s lawyers as they contend with congressional inquiries and evaluate GOP claims made about his conduct, according to three people with knowledge of the Biden legal team. 

    Riggleman’s work with Hunter Biden was confirmed on Tuesday by Kevin Morris, a lawyer and confidant of the president’s son. 

    “Denver has been assisting us with data analysis since late last year,” Morris said in a statement to CBS News. “He is an invaluable resource and we have made tremendous strides in untangling the massive amount of corruption and disinformation involved in this story. There will be much more coming to the public.” 

    Riggleman said in a statement Tuesday that he and his associates are working with Hunter Biden’s attorneys. 

    “I and my forensics, data, and telephony team are conducting data investigations and analysis for Hunter Biden’s legal team,” Riggleman said, with a concentration on “data across the spectrum.” 

    Riggleman’s efforts have brought him into Hunter Biden’s circle, and he has also provided the president’s son with insights into House Republicans and their methods, those with knowledge of the Biden legal team said. 

    On Monday, they said, Riggleman was at a hotel in Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Hunter Biden’s lawyers. And on Tuesday evening, he was at the White House as one of the members of the Hunter Biden team invited to celebrate the July Fourth holiday. 

    For Hunter Biden, the coming months could be a critical period. Although a plea agreement with federal investigators was announced last month on tax fraud and gun possession charges, congressional Republicans have expressed outrage about the deal, vowing to move forward with their own investigations separate from the Justice Department’s probe. 

    Riggleman’s work with Hunter Biden’s team has included reviewing Republican claims related to a laptop that the lawyer for a Delaware computer repair shop owner says was left by Hunter Biden in 2019, which was later provided to the FBI under subpoena. 

    CBS News last year was provided a copy of that data by the lawyer for the repair shop and conducted an independent analysis led by two cyber investigators from Minneapolis-based Computer Forensics Services.

    Riggleman has spent months, those with knowledge said, providing digital forensic analysis for the Biden legal team on whether any data linked to Hunter Biden, such as text messages, has been distorted or fabricated. Data from the left-behind laptop and bank records remain key elements of the Republican investigation of the Biden family.  

    Riggleman, a 53-year-old former Air Force intelligence officer — and former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — has become a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump in recent years, and a frequent commentator, where he has argued that far-right extremism and conspiracy theories present a threat to American democracy. His book, “The Breach,” dealt with those issues, and with his work for the House select committee.  

    In an appearance last year on “60 Minutes,” Riggleman suggested that the Trump White House should be further investigated for any possible communications between officials and Jan. 6 rioters. 

    “The thing is, the American people need to know that there are link connections that need to be explored more,” Riggleman said. 

    Riggleman joined the Jan. 6 committee months after leaving the House in early 2021, following a single term representing the Charlottesville area. During his two years in Congress, Riggleman clashed with local conservatives over his decision to officiate a same-sex wedding, and was defeated by a conservative challenger at a nominating convention in 2020.

    At the start of his work with the Jan. 6 committee, Riggleman and several committee members developed a bond as he combed through reams of data, and mapped out text messages obtained from Trump allies, such as former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. But tensions about the committee’s strategy, and the scope of its investigation, eventually led Riggleman to leave his position.  

    Riggleman’s frustrations about the committee became public around the publication of “The Breach” last year. At the time, a spokesman for the committee said any assertion that the committee was not being aggressive in investigating Jan. 6 was false and misleading, pointing to its then upcoming final report as a comprehensive document. 

    In the coming months, GOP investigations of Hunter Biden are likely to coincide with the presidential campaign as Republican contenders begin to appear at debates, and Mr. Biden ramps up his reelection bid.

    In June, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss announced that a plea agreement had been reached with Hunter Biden, potentially avoiding incarceration or a trial over two misdemeanor tax offenses and a felony firearm offense. A federal judge must first approve the deal, and a hearing has been scheduled for July 26. 

    Most House Republicans have responded to the announced agreement by claiming they believe the Justice Department gave Hunter Biden a favorable deal due to his relation to the president.   

    “My first reaction is that it continues to show a two-tiered system in America,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said last month. “If you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”

    McCarthy has encouraged the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, to keep up its investigation of the business dealings of Mr. Biden’s family. 

    Biden’s lawyers have accused House Republicans of trying to derail the plea agreement.  

    As they move forward, House Republicans have also pointed to comments made by the IRS supervisory agent who helped oversee the investigation of Hunter Biden — and one of two whistleblowers who raised concerns about how the DOJ probe was conducted, saying the IRS whistleblower’s allegations necessitate further investigation. 

    “We have to make sure as a special agent for IRS Criminal Investigation that we treat every single person exactly the same,” Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, told CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod last month. “And that just simply didn’t happen here.”

    Hunter Biden’s criminal attorney, Christopher Clark, did not respond to requests for comment about Shapley’s remarks, but in a statement at the time the plea arrangement said that “as his attorney through this entire matter, I can say that any suggestion the investigation was not thorough, or cut corners, or cut my client any slack, is preposterous and deeply irresponsible.” 

    Robert Costa

    Robert Costa is CBS News’ chief election and campaign correspondent based in Washington, D.C.

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  • U.S. attorney defends Hunter Biden probe amid GOP accusations

    U.S. attorney defends Hunter Biden probe amid GOP accusations

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    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.”

    Catherine Herridge


    Catherine Herridge

    Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.

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  • Federal Prosecutor Denies He Was Prevented From Bringing Charges Against Hunter Biden

    Federal Prosecutor Denies He Was Prevented From Bringing Charges Against Hunter Biden

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    The federal prosecutor overseeing the case against President Joe Biden’s son on Friday denied that he had been hamstrung by the Justice Department.

    An IRS whistleblower has claimed that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss said he couldn’t bring charges against Hunter Biden outside of Delaware, contrary to statements from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

    Weiss himself previously said in a letter to congressional Republicans that he has “ultimate authority” to bring charges against Hunter Biden in any jurisdiction, and he said Friday that this is still the case.

    “I stand by what I wrote,” Weiss said in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Weiss has not previously responded to the whistleblower allegation.

    House Republicans have threatened to impeach Garland over the whistleblower claim, which they allege is more evidence that the Justice Department is biased against former President Donald Trump and protecting the Biden family.

    But Weiss was appointed by Trump and kept on by Joe Biden so that he could continue his investigation into Hunter Biden, whom he charged last month with tax crimes in Delaware. The younger Biden has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanors for failing to pay federal taxes and to enter a diversion program to head off a felony charge over illegal gun ownership.

    Before the charges were brought, a supervisory special agent from the IRS criminal division named Gary Shapley claimed Weiss said during an October meeting that he couldn’t charge Biden in Washington, D.C., or California because the U.S. attorneys in those jurisdictions wouldn’t cooperate.

    Republicans made Shapley’s testimony public after Weiss announced the Biden plea deal, which they described as a slap on the wrist.

    Weiss said in his Friday letter that even if prosecutors in other states didn’t want to partner on the case, he had been “assured” that Garland would let him bring charges in Washington, California “or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.”

    House Republicans this week asked Weiss, as well as other Justice Department and IRS officials, to sit for transcribed interviews about the Hunter Biden case, but Weiss said in his letter that he couldn’t provide details about the investigation. He denied that the Justice Department retaliated against Shapley.

    Separately on Friday, Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell blasted Republicans for making Shapley’s testimony public and suggested that Shapley himself might have been under an internal investigation for misconduct.

    “The timing of the agents’ leaks and your subsequent decision to release their statements do not seem innocent ― they came shortly after there was a public filing indicating the disposition of the five-year investigation of Mr. Biden,” Lowell said in a letter to House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.). “To any objective eye your actions were intended to improperly undermine the judicial proceedings that have been scheduled in the case.”

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  • Hunter Biden attorney accuses House GOP lawmakers of trying to derail plea agreement

    Hunter Biden attorney accuses House GOP lawmakers of trying to derail plea agreement

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    An attorney for Hunter Biden has accused congressional Republicans of trying to derail the plea agreement reached last week between President Biden’s son and prosecutors by pushing forward what he characterized as “false allegations” from IRS whistleblowers.

    “The timing of the agents’ leaks and your subsequent decision to release their statements do not seem innocent—they came shortly after there was a public filing indicating the disposition of the five-year investigation of Mr. Biden,” Hunter Biden attorney Abbe Lowell said of the disclosures made by IRS supervisor Gary Shapley in a six-hour closed-door appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee last month.

    Shapley, who examined Hunter Biden’s tax records and worked with the federal government on the case, told House Republicans that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the Trump appointee who was tasked with the Hunter Biden tax probe, was hampered in conducting the investigation. 

    Shapely testified that Weiss had said he was denied special counsel status, a position that could have offered him broader prosecutorial power. 

    But Weiss has refuted that statement, telling a GOP House panel that he was granted “ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.”

    Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters last week that Weiss had “complete authority to make all decisions on his own” and required no permission from Justice Department headquarters to bring charges.

    Shapley says he provided lawmakers with contemporaneous e-mail correspondence he wrote after an Oct. 7, 2022 meeting, when he says the U.S. attorney contradicted the assertion that he had complete authority over the probe. “Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed,” Shapley wrote to his supervisor.

    “To any objective eye your actions were intended to improperly undermine the judicial proceedings that have been scheduled in the case,” 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 letter also questions the motives and veracity of testimony from Shapley and another IRS agent who worked on the case.

    Shapley’s lawyers responded in a statement Friday that said, “All the innuendo and bluster that Biden family lawyers can summon will not change the facts.”

    “Lawful whistleblowing is the opposite of illegal leaking, and these bogus accusations against SSA Shapley by lawyers for the Biden family echo threatening emails sent by IRS leadership after the case agent also blew the whistle to the IRS Commissioner about favoritism in this case—as well as the chilling report that Biden attorneys have also lobbied the Biden Justice Department directly to target our client with criminal inquiry in further retaliation for blowing the whistle,” the statement continued. 

    Shapley’s attorneys went on to say that Hunter Biden’s lawyers’ “threats and intimidation have already been referred earlier this week to the inspectors general for DOJ and the IRS, and to Congress for further investigation as potential obstruction.” 

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  • IRS whistleblower says he was told not to pursue leads involving President Biden

    IRS whistleblower says he was told not to pursue leads involving President Biden

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    IRS whistleblower says he was told not to pursue leads involving President Biden – CBS News


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    Gary Shapley, the IRS whistleblower in the Hunter Biden tax investigation, said he feels Biden was given preferential treatment. In an exclusive interview with Jim Axelrod, he also said that he was told not to pursue leads that could involve investigating President Biden.

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  • IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden probe says he was stopped from pursuing investigative leads into

    IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden probe says he was stopped from pursuing investigative leads into

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    The IRS supervisory agent who helped oversee the investigation of Hunter Biden continues to raise questions about what he alleged was special treatment in the probe of the president’s son, telling CBS News that, dating back to the Trump administration, he was repeatedly prevented from taking steps he would have considered routine in other cases.

    “We have to make sure as a special agent for IRS Criminal Investigation that we treat every single person exactly the same,” said Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, who spoke exclusively to CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod on Tuesday. “And that just simply didn’t happen here.”

    Shapley’s comments come a week after the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, who has been leading the probe, announced a plea deal in the case against Hunter Biden. A Republican who said he has no political motive and has never been engaged in politics, Shapley told CBS News he believes stronger charges could have been brought.

    According to a Justice Department filing made public last week, Hunter Biden reached a tentative deal with the U.S. attorney in Delaware, agreeing to enter guilty pleas to two misdemeanor tax charges and admitting to felony gun possession. 

    Hunter Biden’s plea will include an acknowledgement that drug use was a contributing factor in his gun crime, and he will enter into a pretrial diversion agreement on that charge, according to the filing. It is expected that for two years, Hunter Biden must remain drug-free and must not commit additional crimes. If he fulfills this successfully, the gun count would be dismissed. This does not amount to a guilty plea.

    A federal judge has yet to approve the deal. A hearing has been scheduled on July 26 before Judge Maryellen Noreika at the federal courthouse in Wilmington. 

    Shapley said the five-year investigation uncovered conduct that he says could have resulted in additional charges.

    shapley.jpg
    IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley

    CBS News


    “Based on my experience, if this was a small business owner or any other non-connected individual, they would have been charged with felony counts,” Shapley said.

    Legal experts are split about whether the plea agreement was too strong, or not strong enough.

    “It is almost embarrassing that the tax division of the Department of Justice apparently approved this sweetheart of tax deals,” says former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi. “Should he have gotten a felony? Absolutely yes.”

    Others, like former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti disagree. He tweeted, “If anything, Hunter Biden was treated harshly — those crimes are rarely charged.”

    Shapley told CBS News that Hunter Biden wrote off as business expenses the money he paid for “prostitutes, sex club memberships, travel for the prostitutes, hotel rooms for purported drug dealers, no show employees.” Hunter has admitted to the drug use in his memoir “Beautiful Things,” published by an imprint of Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS News’ parent company. 

    Hunter Biden
    Hunter Biden

    Andrew Harnik/AP


    Hunter Biden’s criminal attorney, Christopher Clark, did not respond to a request for comment regarding Shapley’s allegations. But in an earlier statement, issued at the time the plea arrangement was announced, he said “as his attorney through this entire matter, I can say that any suggestion the investigation was not thorough, or cut corners, or cut my client any slack, is preposterous and deeply irresponsible.”

    In 2021, Hunter Biden repaid more than $2 million in past-due taxes after receiving a loan from one of his private attorneys.

    A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware declined to comment.

    Last week, the GOP House Ways and Means Committee chairman released transcripts of congressional interviews with two IRS whistleblowers, including Shapley, who both questioned whether the U.S. attorney overseeing the case was free to bring charges he saw fit. 

    “The testimony we have just released details a lack of U.S. attorney independence, recurring unjustified delays, unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation,” Chairman Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri, told reporters. 

    But three weeks ago in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Weiss asserted that he was granted “ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.”

    Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters Friday that Weiss had “complete authority to make all decisions on his own” and required no permission from Justice Department headquarters to bring charges.

    “Mr. Weiss was appointed by President Trump. As the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration, [he] would be 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,” Garland said, reiterating sworn statements he has made to Congress.

    Shapley, however, told CBS News: “I documented exactly what happened. And it doesn’t seem to match what the attorney general or the U.S. attorney are saying today.” 

    Shapley says he provided lawmakers with contemporaneous e-mail correspondence he wrote after an October 7, 2022 meeting, where he says the U.S. attorney communicated the opposite. “Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed,” Shapley wrote to his supervisor.

    “There were really earth-shaking statements made by David Weiss that really brought to light some of my previous concerns. And the first one was that he is not the deciding person on whether or not charges are filed,” Shapley said. “It was just shocking to me.”

    Shapley, who is still a supervisory special agent with the IRS, says he was prevented from pursuing any leads that involved President Joe Biden, including the now-infamous 2017 email from James Gilliar, a business associate of Hunter Biden’s, which bore the subject line “Expectations” and outlined a “provisional agreement” for “equity” in a deal with a Chinese energy company. 

    Two of Hunter Biden’s former business partners who received the message told CBS News that a line in the email — “10 held by H for the big guy?” — was shorthand for 10% held by Hunter Biden for his father.

    Shapley told CBS News that his efforts to look further into money trails that involved “dad” or “the big guy” were blocked by a senior prosecutor working for Weiss. 

    “I would say that they limited certain investigative leads that could have potentially provided information on the president of the United States,” Shapley said. 

    When the email became public in 2020, Gilliar told the Wall Street Journal that Joe Biden was not involved. And in one of the interviews FBI agents conducted during the investigation, another partner of Hunter Biden’s said the same. “I certainly never was thinking at any time that [then-Vice President Biden was] a part of anything we were doing,” businessman Rob Walker told agents, according to a transcript released by Congress.   

    President Biden has denied involvement in his son’s business affairs. 

    “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source, ever, in my life,” Mr. Biden said in October 2020 at a presidential debate.

    Shapley’s requests to look into those details came in late 2020, when Trump Attorney General William Barr had instituted a policy requiring he personally approve any investigation of a president or presidential candidate. Asked by CBS News if it was possible he was simply not read-in to all the reasoning for decisions by the prosecutors, Shapley acknowledged that was possible.

    “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. “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.”

    Jim Axelrod


    Jim Axelrod

    Jim Axelrod is the chief investigative correspondent and senior national correspondent for CBS News, reporting for “CBS This Morning,” “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and other CBS News broadcasts.

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  • Hunter Biden Court Date Is Set For End Of July

    Hunter Biden Court Date Is Set For End Of July

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    Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor charges at a newly scheduled court hearing in Delaware on July 26, NBC News reported.

    The charges, arising from a yearslong investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, include two counts of “willful failure” to pay a lump sum of roughly $200,000 in federal income taxes.

    A third gun-related charge against the younger Biden is not expected to be prosecuted due to a pretrial diversion agreement, which requires him to remain drug-free for 24 months and prohibits him from ever owning a gun again.

    “Hunter Biden received taxable income in excess of $1,500,000 annually in calendar years 2017 and 2018. Despite owing in excess of $100,000 in federal income taxes each year, he did not pay the income tax due for either year,” U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ office, which is prosecuting the case, said in a press release on Tuesday. Weiss is an appointee of former President Donald Trump.

    The gun charge alleges that “from on or about October 12, 2018 through October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance.” The president’s son addressed his substance abuse issues in his memoir.

    The investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings has been ongoing since 2018, although an inquiry into potential tax crimes reportedly began under the Obama administration. Republicans are seeking to leverage the investigation to damage President Biden’s reputation before the 2024 election and to distract from Trump’s own legal woes.

    The investigation will most likely not result in jail time, according to The New York Times.

    Hunter Biden’s attorney, Chris Clark, previously said in a statement that “it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.”

    “I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” he added. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”

    Clark did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment. Weiss’ office declined to comment to HuffPost.

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  • Hunter Biden agrees to plead guilty to tax charges

    Hunter Biden agrees to plead guilty to tax charges

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    Hunter Biden agrees to plead guilty to tax charges – CBS News


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    Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges stemming from an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware. Biden will also admit to illegal possession of a handgun, a felony, but the charge will be dismissed after 24 months if he completes the terms of a diversion agreement. Catherine Herridge has the details.

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  • Key takeaways from Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal on federal tax, gun charges

    Key takeaways from Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal on federal tax, gun charges

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    Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss announced on Tuesday that a plea agreement had been reached with President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, potentially avoiding incarceration or a trial. A federal judge must first approve the deal. 

    What are the charges? 

    Hunter Biden was charged with two misdemeanor tax offenses and a felony firearm offense.

    What is Hunter Biden pleading? 

    He is admitting to the felony gun possession allegation, but will enter into a pre-trial diversion agreement in lieu of entering a guilty plea. 

    Hunter Biden is entering a guilty plea to two misdemeanor tax charges relate to his willful failure to pay taxes for 2017 and 2018. A court filing on Tuesday indicates he had more than $1.5 million in income each year and did not pay taxes either year when they were due. He has since fully repaid back taxes and fines, including $2 million reportedly paid to the federal government last year, with the help of a loan from his personal attorney.

    Does he face prison time?

    If Hunter Biden had been convicted of the crimes, he could have faced a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge, according to a press release from Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss. A source with knowledge of the agreement said Hunter Biden will not be pleading guilty to the gun charge, which will be dismissed if he remains drug-free and doesn’t commit additional crimes for two years.

    Hunter Biden had a gun?

    Yes. Weiss said Hunter Biden unlawfully possessed a gun for 11 days, from Oct. 12 through Oct. 23, 2018, “despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance.” A court filing made by Weiss on Tuesday identifies the handgun as a Colt Cobra 38SPL.

    What else was part of the investigation?

    The investigation into Hunter Biden dates back to at least 2018. For a time, it appeared the investigation had broader scope, ranging across Hunter Biden’s many international business dealings. 

    A 2019 federal subpoena obtained by CBS News sought banking records for Hunter and the president’s brother, James, as well as two business partners. The subpoena demanded they turn over records for transactions with the Bank of China dating back to 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president. A December 2020 subpoena requested documents as far back as January 2017, “regarding (Hunter) Biden’s income, assets, debts, obligations, and financial transactions… and all personal and business expenditures.”

    Is the investigation over?

    It depends on whom you ask. Weiss’ office said in the statement Tuesday morning that the investigation is ongoing. Earlier in the day, Chris Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said in a statement to CBS News, “it is my understanding that the five-year investigation into Hunter is resolved.” 

    Congressional Republicans have vowed to move forward with their own investigations separate from the Justice Department probe.

    What does the White House say?

    “The President and First Lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life. We will have no further comment,” said White House spokesperson Ian Sams.

    Why are some Republicans criticizing the deal?

    Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that Hunter Biden’s plea agreement reflects a “two-tiered system” of justice and called it a “sweetheart deal.” 

    “My first reaction is that it continues to show a two-tiered system in America. If you are the President’s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. If you are the President’s son, you get a sweetheart deal,” McCarthy said in an apparent reference to federal charges against former President Donald Trump unsealed on June 9. The Justice Department has not indicated if it would seek incarceration in connection with that case. Trump has entered a not guilty plea to 37 felony counts related to his post-presidency handling of classified documents.

    McCarthy’s reaction mirrored a statement by a spokesperson for a political action committee associated with Trump, who also called it a “sweetheart deal.” 

    “Meanwhile, Biden’s DOJ continues to turn a blind eye to the Biden family’s extensive corruption and bribery scheme,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc.

    President Biden has for years denied Republicans’ corruption allegations.

    “I have not taken a penny from any foreign source, ever, in my life,” Mr. Biden said in October 2020 at a presidential debate.

    National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated that on May 31, when asked about Republicans’ corruption allegations against Biden during a press conference. 

    “Wow. The president has spoken to this and there’s nothing to these claims,” Kirby said.

    Didn’t Hunter Biden’s former business partner just get subpoenaed?

    Congressional Republicans are continuing with their own, separate, investigations into Hunter Biden and other members of the president’s family. On June 12, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, demanding he sit for a deposition. 

    The House Oversight Committee has been investigating the business dealings of several members of Mr. Biden’s family. Kentucky Republican James Comer wrote in a letter to an attorney for Archer stating that he “played a significant role in the Biden family’s business deals abroad, including but not limited to China, Russia, and Ukraine.” 

    Archer served alongside Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, a Ukraine energy company, beginning in 2014. During this period, then-Vice President Joe Biden was deeply involved in Ukraine policy, an era when his opponents say the energy firm was involved in corruption. Republican allegations related to Hunter Biden’s international business dealings did not factor into the Department of Justice plea agreement announced Tuesday.

    Graham Kates

    Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com

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  • 6/18: The Takeout: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

    6/18: The Takeout: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse

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    6/18: The Takeout: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse – CBS News


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    Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, joins Major Garrett on “The Takeout” to discuss the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump, the investigation into Hunter Biden, and why he thinks President Biden’s age is something he will “have to deal with” on the 2024 campaign trail.

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  • Hunter Biden business partner subpoenaed by House; Biden document investigation

    Hunter Biden business partner subpoenaed by House; Biden document investigation

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    Hunter Biden business partner subpoenaed by House; Biden document investigation “ongoing” – CBS News


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    According to a spokesperson for the special counsel leading the probe, the investigation into the discovery of classified documents dating from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president is “ongoing.” This comes as congressional Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s former business partner in a separate probe of their business dealings. CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge has more.

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  • Oversight Committee subpoenas former Hunter Biden business partner

    Oversight Committee subpoenas former Hunter Biden business partner

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    Congressional Republicans have subpoenaed Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Devon Archer, demanding he sit for a deposition this week.

    The Oversight Committee has been investigating the business dealings of several members of President Joe Biden’s family. Kentucky Republican James Comer wrote in a letter to an attorney for Archer stating that he “played a significant role in the Biden family’s business deals abroad, including but not limited to China, Russia, and Ukraine.”

    “Additionally, while undertaking these ventures with the Biden family, your client met with then-Vice President Biden on multiple occasions, including in the White House,” wrote Comer, the Oversight Committee Chairman.

    Archer’s potential testimony to the GOP House Government Oversight Committee is a significant milestone in the congressional probe. Archer served alongside Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma, a Ukraine energy company, beginning in 2014. During this period, then-Vice President Joe Biden was deeply involved in Ukraine policy, an era when his opponents say the energy firm was involved in corruption.

    An independent forensic review of Hunter Biden’s laptop data by CBS News confirmed hundreds of communications between Hunter Biden and Archer, specifically, emails that suggest working meals were arranged before or after Burisma board meetings.  Archer is widely believed to have facilitated Hunter Biden’s entry onto Burisma’s board.

    In February, Comer informed Hunter and the president’s brother James that he is seeking documents and communications from the Bidens as part of his committee’s probe into any possible involvement by the president in their financial conduct, in particular in foreign business deals “with individuals who were connected to the Chinese Communist Party.” Comer accused them in his letter of receiving “significant amounts of money from foreign companies without providing any known legitimate services.”

    White House spokesman Ian Sams tweeted on May 10 that the committee was “really just microwaving old debunked stuff” while offering “no evidence of any wrongdoing” by the president. 

    “House Republicans have shown no evidence of any policy decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. national interests,” Sams wrote.

    After reviewing thousands of records subpoenaed from four banks, the House Oversight Committee said in an interim report last month that some Biden family members, associates and their companies received more than $10 million from foreign entities, including payments made during and after President Joe Biden’s vice presidency. But the White House countered that GOP investigators could not point to a “single Joe Biden policy” that was unduly influenced.

    The 36-page interim GOP report, released by Comer accused some Biden family members and associates of using a “complicated network” of more than 20 companies, mostly LLCs formed when Mr. Biden was vice president, and used “incremental payments over time” to “conceal large financial transactions.”

    “From a historical standpoint, we’ve never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world,” Comer said. 

    After the report’s May 11 release Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, said the committee was “redoing old investigations that found no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Biden.”

    Archer was convicted in 2018 of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for his role in a scheme to defraud a Native American tribe and multiple pension funds. His conviction was overturned later that year, and U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abram wrote in her decision she was “left with an unwavering concern that Archer is innocent of the crimes charged.”

    The conviction was later reinstated by a federal appeals court. Archer lost an appeal of that decision earlier this month. He has not yet been sentenced.

    An attorney for Archer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

    Catherine Herridge


    Catherine Herridge

    Catherine Herridge is a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence based in Washington, D.C.

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  • Agent tied to Hunter Biden tax probe alleges

    Agent tied to Hunter Biden tax probe alleges

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    Agent tied to Hunter Biden tax probe alleges “irregularities” – CBS News


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    In an exclusive interview with CBS News, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley discussed what he called “irregularities” in the Justice Department’s handling of a federal investigation connected to President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Jim Axelrod reports.

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  • IRS whistleblower speaks about tax probe linked to Hunter Biden

    IRS whistleblower speaks about tax probe linked to Hunter Biden

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    IRS whistleblower speaks about tax probe linked to Hunter Biden – CBS News


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    In an exclusive interview with CBS News, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley discussed what he called “irregularities” in the Justice Department’s handling of a federal investigation connected to President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Jim Axelrod reports.

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  • IRS whistleblower speaks: DOJ

    IRS whistleblower speaks: DOJ

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    A whistleblower from inside the Internal Revenue Service has spoken publicly for the first time about a highly sensitive political probe he has supervised, which CBS News has determined is the ongoing probe into the finances of President Biden’s son Hunter Biden. 

    He said he became so concerned about prosecutors’ handling of “a high profile, controversial” investigation that he felt duty-bound to sound alarms.

    “There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” said Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, who spoke exclusively to CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod on Tuesday. “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”

    The accusations come more than three years into an investigation into Hunter Biden that’s being conducted in Delaware by a U.S. Attorney appointed by then-President Trump and held over by President Biden to avoid any appearance of political bias. The investigation focuses on potential crimes related to outstanding tax debts connected to income earned from a controversial stint as a board member for the Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was vice president, and a potential false statement related to a gun purchase. Last year CBS News reported that the past-due taxes were paid off with a loan from high-powered Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris, who provided Hunter Biden with financial backing. 

    Six months ago, a leak from the FBI revealed that agents there believed they had provided prosecutors with enough evidence to support criminal tax charges. No such charges have been brought as of this publication.

    Shapley told CBS News he became increasingly concerned about measures being taken that he said appeared to shield the target of the investigation — which CBS News independently confirmed is Hunter Biden.

    “Each and every time, it seemed to always benefit the subject,” Shapley said. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on. And I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”

    Shapley is a supervisory special agent with the IRS’s criminal investigations department, currently overseeing a team of 12 agents who specialize in international tax and financial crimes. Previously, he was an officer with the National Security Agency’s Office of the Inspector General. He was assigned to a “sensitive” investigation in January 2020, and within months, he said he grew concerned about how the Justice Department was handling the investigation. CBS News has learned that was the Hunter Biden probe. Shapley says he began documenting his concerns around June 2020.

    “For a couple years, we’d been noticing these deviations in the investigative process. And I just couldn’t, you know, fathom that DOJ might be acting unethically on this,” he said. 

    Sounding alarms

    The existence of a whistleblower inside the Hunter Biden probe became known last month after one of Shapley’s attorneys, Mark Lytle, wrote to Congress seeking legal protections for his client, who was maintaining his anonymity at the time. Without those protections, Shapley said he can’t share anything about a taxpayer investigation—including the identity of the subject— without breaking tax secrecy laws.

    Shapley is scheduled to appear before members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, but his testimony will not be open to the public.

    CBS News obtained a letter Shapley’s attorneys sent last week to the Office of the Special Counsel, a federal agency dedicated to assisting government whistleblowers. The letter alleges “irregularities” in the Department of Justice’s handling of the case,and cites a “charged meeting” Shapley’s team had with Justice Department prosecutors last October. According to the letter, following that meeting, Shapley’s team was effectively excluded from the investigation. Shapley would not say if he made prosecutors aware of his concerns but did acknowledge the incident prompted him to blow the whistle.

    “It was my red-line meeting,” Shapley said. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on, and I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”

    In his April letter to Congress, Lytle said Shapley previously made whistleblower disclosures to the IRS, the Treasury inspector general for Tax Administration, and the Justice Department’s inspector general. He also wrote his client would contradict sworn testimony “by a senior political appointee”. In his interview with CBS News, Shapley declined to identify the sworn testimony or name the political appointee.

    Whistleblowers in Washington

    In recent months, House Republicans have brought forward federal officials who they said were blowing the whistle on perceived political interference from within the Department of Justice on other matters. The effort to highlight these concerns is the result of the recently created subcommittee on the “weaponization” of government by the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats have questioned the legitimacy of those claims, and Ranking Member Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat representing the U.S. Virgin Islands,  has referred to the subcommittee as “a political stunt.”

    Shapley told CBS News he has taken no money from anyone in deciding to step forward. His legal effort is being assisted by a nonprofit whistleblower advocacy group with staff who have previously worked with  Republicans in congress, and he is a registered Republican. But he said he has never been politically active. He says he hasn’t made any political donations or been involved in political campaigns.

    “I’m not involved with any of that stuff,” he said. “It’s not what I want to do. I’m just simply not a political person. This is a job, and my oath of office is to treat everybody fairly that we investigate.”

    Shapley may already be paying a price for his decision to speak out. Last week, his attorneys informed Congress that he and his staff had been removed from the investigation “at the request of the Department of Justice.” He claims he’s faced retaliation from IRS leadership. In addition, Hunter Biden’s legal team has already accused him of breaking the law.

    The White House declined to comment on the matter, but shared a statement it has previously released saying 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. He has upheld that commitment.” 

    In a Senate hearing in March, Attorney General Merrick Garland vowed not to interfere with the work of David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney in Delaware leading the Hunter Biden investigation.

    “I promise to ensure that he’s able to carry out his investigation and that he be able to run it,” Garland said on March 1.

    Shapley would not say whether he was being investigated by the Justice Department in connection with the steps he’s taken.

    “If I were being investigated, it would be in retaliation for making a whistleblower complaint,” he said. 

    Spokespersons for both the Justice Department and the U.S Attorney’s Office in Delaware declined to comment.

    The IRS also declined comment, saying, “Under federal law,  the IRS can’t comment on specific taxpayer matters.” The agency’s statement added that it remains “deeply committed to protecting the role of whistleblowers,  and there are robust processes and procedures in place to protect them.” 

    Shapley said he finds this new role — as a whistleblower — to be well outside his comfort zone, and is not something he wants to do. But he said he felt an obligation to come forward and report what he views as a violation of his oath of office.

    “When I saw the egregiousness of some of these things, it no longer became a choice for me,” he said. “It’s not something that I want to do. It’s something I feel like I have to do.”

    He said his ultimate motivation is what drove him to pursue the work of criminal tax investigations in the first place.

    “When taxpayers are treated differently — and subjects of investigations are treated differently,” he said, “I don’t see how it doesn’t affect the fairness of the system.”

    Jim Axelrod


    Jim Axelrod

    Jim Axelrod is the chief investigative correspondent and senior national correspondent for CBS News, reporting for “CBS This Morning,” “CBS Evening News,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and other CBS News broadcasts.

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  • Joe Biden Watches Granddaughter Maisy Biden Graduate From UPenn

    Joe Biden Watches Granddaughter Maisy Biden Graduate From UPenn

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    PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joe Biden took a brief break from being president on Monday to focus on being “pop,” attending his granddaughter Maisy Biden’s graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.

    Maisy is the youngest daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle, who both attended the ceremony. Also present were Maisy’s older sisters, Naomi and Finnegan, and first lady Jill Biden, and the Bidens’ daughter, Ashley Biden.

    Before the commencement, some students waved at the president and took photos. He waved back and pumped his fist. But other than that, Biden was just another face in the crowd, albeit a very recognizable one. The family sat stage left, apart from the rest of the audience.

    Idina Menzel, the actress and singer, gave the commencement address, even belting out a few lines of a song from the musical “Rent.”

    After the ceremony, Biden and his family went to a lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant.

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  • House Republicans allege Biden family members received millions in payments from foreign entities in new bank records report | CNN Politics

    House Republicans allege Biden family members received millions in payments from foreign entities in new bank records report | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    House Oversight Chairman James Comer laid out new details to support allegations that members of Joe Biden’s family including his son Hunter received millions of dollars in payments from foreign entities in China and Romania including when Biden was vice president, according to a memo obtained by CNN.

    New bank records cited in the memo were obtained by the committee through a subpoena and include payments made to companies tied to Hunter Biden. Republicans also alleged that Hunter Biden used his familial connections to help facilitate a meeting in 2016 between a Serbian running for United Nations Secretary-General and then-national security adviser to the vice president Colin Kahl.

    The foreign payments raise questions about Hunter Biden’s business activities while his father was vice president, but the committee does not suggest any illegality about the payments from foreign sources. The bank records by themselves also do not indicate the purpose of the payments that were made.

    The memo marks Comer’s most direct attempt to substantiate his allegations that Biden family members have enriched themselves off the family name. Comer has suggested that Biden may have been improperly influenced by the financial dealings, particularly by his family’s foreign business partners.

    But the latest report does not show any payments made directly to Joe Biden, either as vice president or after leaving office.

    Comer has been publicly teasing information for months about the paper trail committee Republicans have uncovered through subpoenas sent to multiple banks and trips to the Treasury Department to review records.

    Comer and other Republicans on the committee held a press conference Wednesday morning to tout their findings.

    “These people didn’t come to Hunter Biden because he understood world politics or that he was experienced in it, or that he understood Chinese businesses. They wanted him for the access his last name gave him,” Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said during the news conference.

    On Wednesday, Comer was asked about specific policy decisions Biden made while president or vice president that may have been directly influenced by these foreign payments. Comer failed to name any and instead pointed to then-vice president Biden traveling around the world and discussing foreign aid in the last year of the Obama administration, and added they think there are decisions Biden made as president that “put China first and America last.” Comer said the committee “will get into more of those later.”

    Ahead of the memo’s release, White House spokesperson Ian Sams said in a statement to CNN, “Congressman Comer has a history of playing fast and loose with the facts and spreading baseless innuendo while refusing to conduct his so-called ‘investigations’ with legitimacy. He has hidden information from the public to selectively leak and promote his own hand-picked narratives as part of his overall effort to lob personal attacks at the President and his family.”

    Abbe Lowell, counsel for Hunter Biden, said in a statement, “Today’s so-called “revelations” are retread, repackaged misstatements of perfectly proper meetings and business by private citizens. Instead of redoing old investigations that found no evidence of wronging by Mr. Biden, Rep. Comer should do the same examination of the many entities of former President Trump and his family members.”

    The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, said in a statement to CNN, “Chairman Comer has failed to provide factual evidence to support his wild accusations about the President. He continues to bombard the public with innuendo, misrepresentations, and outright lies, recycling baseless claims from stories that were debunked years ago.”

    Bank records cited in the committee’s memo show that within five weeks of then-Vice President Biden’s meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in 2015, a Romanian who Hunter Biden was doing legal consulting for, Gabriel Popoviciu, started sending money to Rob Walker, a business associate of Hunter’s.

    Walker received more than $3 million from November 2015 to May 2017 and wired approximately $1 million in various installments to Hunter Biden, his business associate James Gillian, and Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s oldest son, Beau Biden who died in May 2015. Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden were romantically involved for a period after Beau’s death.

    It has long been known that Hunter Biden did legal work for Popoviciu, a wealthy Romanian business executive who was convicted in 2016 on corruption charges.

    Comer’s memo raises questions about why Popoviciu was paying a Biden family business associate directly instead of the law firm where Hunter Biden worked at the time or the other firm Hunter reportedly referred Popoviciu to.

    Former President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani was also involved with Popoviciu, which Comer’s memo does not mention.

    Committee Republicans obtained the bank records from subpoenas to four different banks.

    The report also alleges that in 2016, Vuk Jeremic, a Serbian politician who was running for UN secretary-general, tried to use his business relationship with Hunter Biden and his associates to get a meeting with Kahl, who was then an aide in Biden’s vice president’s office.

    In a June 2016 email, Jeremic wrote to Hunter Biden and a business associate, Eric Schwerin, asking to “meet with VPOTUS National Security Advisor Colin Kahl” related to the UN secretary-general election.

    Schwerin instructed Hunter Biden to “Think about how you want to respond,” according to the report.

    In a July 2016 email, Jeremic followed up via email saying, “[m]y meeting with Colin did not last very long, but didn’t go too bad, I think. What is suboptimal is that OVP seems to be outside the decision-making loop on the UNSG elections issue. Colin promised to get better informed on what’s going on at the moment,” according to the report.

    Republicans said they intend to pursue more communications related to the matter, but concluded it appears that “a Biden administration official met with Jeremic to discuss the UN Secretary General election at the direction of Hunter Biden and/or his business associates.”

    Kahl did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jeremic’s attorneys told the committee in a letter last month he would not cooperate with a request for documents and testimony due to separation of powers issues and because House rules limit subpoenas to people “within the United States.”

    The memo also alleges that two Chinese nationals made payments of $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s professional corporation through a Chinese-backed energy company. Republicans claim that at least one of those individuals had ties to the Communist Party of China.

    The memo alleges that those two individuals were connected to CEFC, a Chinese energy conglomerate, had a business relationship with Hunter Biden.

    Committee Republicans claim one of the individuals “used CEFC to bribe and corruptly influence foreign officials.”

    The memo includes a copy of a bank transaction showing that on August 4, 2017, CEFC Infrastructure wired $100,000 to Owasco P.C, Hunter Biden’s professional corporation.

    The memo also includes details from the bank records on how money was moved between companies, including a $100,000 payment to one of Hunter Biden’s companies that was then funded by a Chinese based firm tied to the CEFC, the Chinese energy conglomerate.

    Comer alleges the transaction “disproves President Biden’s claim that his family received no money from China.”

    In the report, the committee acknowledged there “exist legitimate commercial transactions with China-based entities and individuals.”

    “However, the pattern of behavior engaged in by the Bidens and their Chinese counterparties—memorialized in relevant bank records—signals an attempt to layer companies and cloud the source of money,” the committee alleges.

    Comer has previously revealed that members of Biden’s family received just over $1 million indirectly from State Energy HK Limited, a Chinese company.

    Senate Republicans in 2020 first detailed how Walker made wire transfers to companies associated with Hunter Biden and president’s brother, James, after receiving a $3 million wire from the Chinese company.

    The latest GOP memo claims Walker also sent some of that money to Hallie Biden and an unknown bank account identified as “Biden.”

    Committee Republicans said they are continuing to trace bank records and have written to additional witnesses involved in certain transactions to request documents as well as interviews.

    According to the report, Republicans intend to pursue legislative changes – a key step needed to justify their investigation if fights over subpoenas head to court.

    Those changes include laws that require additional reporting about the finances of a president or vice president’s family members, public disclosure of foreign transactions involving the family members of senior elected officials and an expedited law enforcement review of any suspicious bank activity reports related to a president or vice president’s immediately family members.

    Comer left the door open on whether his committee would investigate the foreign business dealings of former President Donald Trump and his family ahead of making any legislative recommendations to address influence peddling. To date however, Comer has not looked into Trump’s financial dealings or pursued an investigation into the classified documents that he had at Mar-a-Lago.

    “We’re going to look at everything when we get ready to introduce the legislation to ban influence peddling” Comer said. “This has been a pattern for a long time. Republicans and Democrats have both complained about Presidents’ families receiving money.”

    On the foreign business dealings of Trump’s son-in law, Jared Kushner, specifically, Comer said, “I’m not saying whether I agreed with what he did or not, but I actually know what his businesses are. What are the Biden businesses?”

    This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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