New York Times independently verifies IRS whistleblower's claim that DOJ obstructed Hunter Biden tax probe

The New York Times has independently confirmed the authenticity of IRS whistleblowers' claims that allege Biden's Department of Justice interfered with the probe into Hunter Biden's taxes.

In the article, NYT revealed that the IRS whistleblowers' testimony was "confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation." The paper buried the confirmation far down in the 21st paragraph of the article.



The confirmation in question is in regards to explosive testimony from multiple IRS whistleblowers that claim Biden's Department of Justice interfered with the federal probe into Hunter Biden's taxes, revealing that United States Attorney David Weiss was blocked by the DOJ from pursuing charges against Hunter Biden in California.

The DOJ's interference also delayed "authenticating a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden demands payment from Chinese officials, during which he noted that his father was in the room."
 

On Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith released five new documents revealing evidence from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged the Justice Department's interference, claiming that "the Biden Department of Justice is intervening and overstepping when it comes to the investigation of the president's son."

In an interview with the House Ways and Means Committee on May 26, 2023, Gary Shapley, a supervisory special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation, said that "Since October 2022, IRS CI has taken every opportunity to retaliate against me and my team."

"Even after IRS CI senior leadership has been made aware on a recurring basis that the Delaware US Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice was acting improperly, they acquiesced to a DOJ request to remove the entire team from the Hunter Biden investigation, a team that had been investigating it for over 5 years."

Shapley said he was "blowing the whistle" because the "Delaware US Attorney's Office, Department of Justice Tax, and Department of Justice provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest in an important and high-profile investigation of the President's son, Hunter Biden."

The IRS whistleblower said that the investigation, which was first launched in November of 2018, had been running smoothly until Biden became the "presumptive Democratic nominee for President in early April 2020," leading to "career DOJ officials dragg[ing] their feet on the IRS taking these investigative steps" which included approving a search warrant and 15 interviews.
 

In a June 16, 2020 call between himself, another special agent, and the chain of command up to the Director of Field Operations, Shapley said he "pointed out that if normal procedures had been followed we already would have executed search warrants, conducted interviews, and served document requests. Nevertheless, my IRS chain of command decided we would defer to DOJ."

"From around October 2020 through October 2022, I was the IRS CI manager who interacted directly with the United States Attorney, David Weiss, and individuals at DOJ Tax Division the most," Shapley said.

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

However, Shapley refuted Garland's claims, insisting that Weiss was blocked by Biden's Department of Justice from charging Hunter, which he authenticated in past emails.

Shapley told CBS News, "I documented exactly what happened. And it doesn't seem to match what the attorney general or the US attorney are saying today."

In an e-mail correspondence between Shapely and his supervisor following a meeting with Weiss on October 7, 2022, Shapley wrote that "Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed."

"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."

David Weiss is the Trump-appointed Delaware US Attorney who issued a plea deal last week for the probe into Hunter Biden.