Internal Justice Department communications about alleged tax crimes by President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, and how federal prosecutors cut him a seemingly sweetheart plea deal, could be unmasked under a new federal lawsuit
The non-profit public interest law firm Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Justice Department for records from the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden.
“Evidence shows Garland Justice Department obstructed an IRS criminal investigation implicating Joe Biden. And on top of this obstruction, Garland’s Justice Department is violating federal FOIA law to cover-up this serious scandal,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Biden initially agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax violations as part of a deal hammered by critics for being too soft, and for allegedly slow-walking the investigation so the statute of limitations would lapse for more serious crimes.
The deal fell apart after objections by the assigned federal judge over several aspects, including an unusual blanket immunity agreement for all other possible future criminal charges.
Judicial Watch filed suit after the DOJ failed to respond to a May 21, 2023, FOIA request for “records and communications, including emails, email chains, email attachments, text messages, calendar invites, calendar meetings, voice recordings, charts, correspondence, briefings, letters, memoranda, reports, notes, of the Office of the Attorney General or the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, or any person acting on their behalf, regarding the Internal Revenue Service investigation of Hunter Biden.”
Two IRS whistleblowers, Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year Special Agent with the IRS, and Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, have testified to the House Oversight Committee, alleging the Garland Justice Department obstructed criminal investigations into multiple members of the Biden family.
U.S.-based banks filed over 170 reports with federal investigators noting suspicious transfers of cash from overseas accounts.
According to the Committee:
The Department of Justice prevented investigators from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden; divulged sensitive information to Hunter Biden’s attorneys; and allowed the clock to run out to prevent charging Hunter Biden with felonies. President Biden’s politically appointed U.S. Attorneys for D.C. and Central District of California denied the U.S. Attorney in Delaware’s request to bring charges, which [at that time] put Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal. Additionally, the IRS whistleblowers’ testimony confirms the Oversight Committee’s findings about the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes.
Ziegler testified:
In the Criminal Tax Manual, Chapter 10, found on the Department of Justice website, Tax Division policy states, “Cases involving individuals who fail to fil tax returns or pat a tax but who also commit acts of evasion or obstruction should be charged as felonies to avoid inequitable treatment.” In early August of 2022, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice Tax Division drafted a 99-page memorandum. This memorandum recommended approving felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017m 2018, and 2019 tax years. If the Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss followed DOJ policy as he stated in his most recent letter, Hunter Biden should have been charged with a tax felony, and not only the tax misdemeanor charge. We need to treat each taxpayer equally under the law.
Shapley testified:
I am here to tell you that the Delaware USAO and Department of Justice handling of the Hunter Biden tax investigation was very different from any other case in my 14 years at the IRS. In this country, we believe in the rule of law, and that applies to everyone. There should not be a two-track justice system depending on who you are and who you’re connected to. Yet in this case, there was. At every stage decisions were made that benefited the subject of the investigation.
Judicial Watch notes:
Shapley noted that “evidence, including the laptop, was concealed from investigators,” and that “the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office also slow-walked interviews, serving document requests, and pursuing physical search warrants.” He also testified that an “electronic search warrant on Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud led us to WhatsApp messages with several CEFC China Energy executives where he claimed to be sitting and discussing business with his father Joe Biden, we sought permission to follow up on the information in the messages. Prosecutors would not allow it.”
