IRS Whistleblower Exposes DOJ's Attempt to Stop Special Counsel from Charging Hunter Biden
A third Internal Revenue Service whistleblower came forward to confirm that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, before being named special counsel, faced roadblocks from the Justice Department in seeking to prosecute Hunter Biden.
“IRS Director of Field Operations Michael Batdorf told the House Ways and Means Committee in a closed-door interview on Sept. 12 that he felt ‘frustrated’ by the refusal of the Justice Department to approve tax charges that IRS agents viewed as well-supported by evidence, according to a transcript of the interview,” the Washington Examiner reported Thursday.
Further, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who testified before the Ways and Means Committee in May, was removed from leading the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son because of tension with Weiss over the lack of charges being filed, Batdorf said.
Shapley told the committee that Weiss said during an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting that he could not bring charges outside his Delaware district without the approval of the DOJ tax division in Washington or a U.S. attorney in California, where Biden lived at the time, and that approval was not forthcoming.
“He surprised us by telling us on the charges, ‘I’m not the deciding official on whether charges are filed,’” Shapley recounted in his May 26 testimony.
“He then shocked us with the earth-shattering news that the Biden-appointed D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves would not allow him to charge in his district,” he said.
That means Hunter Biden would not face tax charges related to “foreign income from Burisma” in 2014 and 2015, and therefore the statute of limitations would expire for those years.
“All of our years of effort getting to the bottom of the massive amounts of foreign money Hunter Biden received from Burisma and others during that period would be for nothing,” Shapley said.
Batdorf, who is above Shapley in the IRS chain of command, told the Ways and Means Committee that during a June 2022 meeting with Weiss and IRS officials, the DOJ tax division opposed bringing charges against Biden.
“DOJ Tax would have to authorize charges prior to David Weiss recommending an indictment or prosecution,” Batdorf said, according to the Examiner.
“So, I mean, my understanding is that, I mean, he can’t make that decision without DOJ Tax authorization,” he said.
GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday during a House Judiciary Committee hearing about the authority a U.S. attorney has to prosecute tax crimes.
“Do tax cases, as a general matter, require approval by Main Justice, no matter what district has venue? Yes or no?” Roy asked.
“Most of the time, but not when the attorney general has granted authority to a U.S. attorney to do what he thinks is best,” Garland responded.
In other words, he was in effect refuting the assertion that Weiss could not have brought the charges against Biden without D.C.’s approval.
The New York Post reported that IRS Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, who was present at the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting with Weiss, also testified before the Ways and Means Committee in September that Weiss did see himself as the “deciding person” in the Biden case, as Shapley had told lawmakers.
Waldon also recounted that Weiss separately told him in conversation that “he was not going to be responding to Mr. Shapley’s emails anymore” due to “a conflict around discovery.”
“The US Attorney’s Office was no longer working or talking with Mr. Shapley. And there was no immediate — I didn’t think that that would be resolved quickly. And in order to move the investigation forward, I recommended that, you know, he be removed,” Waldon said, referring to Shapley.
Batdorf verified that Shapley and his IRS team were removed from the Biden case due to friction with Weiss over the lack of charges.
“I mean, the decision to remove Mr. Shapley was made by Darrell and I in December [2022], when we knew there was an issue — potential issue going forward,” Batdorf testified, according to the Post.
In August, Garland named Weiss special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation to give him “full authority” to bring his investigation into other jurisdictions, CBS News reported.
The move came after a sweetheart plea deal fell through in late July when the judge presiding over the case questioned the terms of the agreement.
Biden was to receive blanket immunity from future prosecution regarding any of his overseas business deals in exchange for pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges.
Further, under a diversion agreement, an illegal gun possession charge stemming from 2018 would not be filed if Biden remained drug-free for two years and agreed not to possess a gun again.
Weiss had recommended probation with no jail time.
After coming under intense criticism from Republican lawmakers regarding the unequal application of the law, the special counsel’s office last week indicted Biden on federal felony firearms charges.
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