An IRS whistleblower said critical steps in the federal investigation into Hunter Biden were put “on the back burner” as the 2020 presidential election approached and stressed that “the most substantive felony charges were left off the table,” while doubling down on his claim that that the entirety of the Justice Department’s probe into the president’s son was influenced by politics.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr., who was the supervisor of the Hunter Biden investigation at the IRS, sat for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier. The interview aired Wednesday on “Special Report” on Fox News Channel.
Shapley alleged during the interview, and in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, that DOJ prosecutors directed investigators to avoid asking witnesses questions about President Biden; chose not to collect search warrants related to the president’s son; and more.
Shapley had testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf repeatedly worked to “limit” questioning related to Joe Biden.
HUNTER BIDEN SCHEDULED TO MAKE FIRST COURT APPEARANCE ON FEDERAL TAX CHARGES IN JULY
With regard to investigative steps related to Hunter Biden’s laptop, Shapley testified that “based on guidance provided by the prosecutors on a recurring basis to not look into anything related to President Biden, there is no way of knowing if evidence of other criminal activity existed concerning Hunter Biden or President Biden.”
The interview comes just days after the Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a deal that is expected to keep him out of prison. The president’s son also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement with regard to a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
As for investigative steps, Shapley also said investigators sought to obtain and execute search warrants in several different locations between April and June 2020.
Shapley told Fox News Wednesday that he “witnessed” Weiss explaining that he was “not the deciding person on whether or not charges are filed or not.”
Shapley said Weiss wanted to charge Hunter Biden in March 2022 in the district led by the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. Matthew Graves, but said Graves would not allow him to charge.
Meanwhile, Shapley told Baier this is “kind of in an unprecedented place.”
The Justice Department has denied any improper interference in the investigation.
