Federal judge denies Hunter Biden's motion to seal IRS whistleblower materials

On Thursday, US District Judge Maryellen Noreika denied Hunter Biden's motion to seal IRS whistleblower materials. The judges also reprimanded the first son's lawyers for falsely claiming the materials contained "social security" and "grand jury" information in their effort to keep the materials under seal.

Whistleblower testimony was given by Gary Shapley, who worked for the IRS investigating Hunter Biden. He testified before Congress in June that his investigation was improperly held up and intentionally hindered due to partisan politics favoring Joe Biden and his presidential campaign in 2020.

Earlier in the day, the judge also dismissed misdemeanor tax charges against Hunter, an expected move after his “sweetheart" plea deal fell through last month during which he was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax so as to avoid jail time on a felony gun charge.



After the plea deal collapsed, Biden pleaded "not guilty" after it was revealed that he was still under federal investigation.

Last week, the Department of Justice submitted a filing to dismiss the case ahead of a possible trial on Hunter's felony gun charge in a different district.

Hunter's attorneys and Special Counsel David Weiss, who also serves as the Department of Justice's US Attorney for Delaware, are still arguing over a diversion agreement concerning the felony firearms charge that would allow Hunter to avoid any jail time, as Weiss has stated he is looking to prosecute Biden in either Washington, DC, or California.

Biden's lawyers claim the previous agreement is valid and binding but Weiss disagrees stating in a Tuesday court filing, “The defendant chose to plead not guilty at the hearing on July 26, 2023, and U.S. Probation declined to approve the proposed diversion agreement at that hearing. Thus, neither proposed agreement entered into effect."

He added that Hunter "rejected these counterproposals on August 7, 2023."

Weiss added, "Seeing that the parties were at an impasse, the Government informed the Defendant, in writing on August 9, 2023, that it was withdrawing the most recent version of its proposed plea and diversion agreements. That is why the Government has asked the Court to vacate its briefing order and has moved to dismiss the criminal tax information."