Hunter Biden tax charges fans flame of impeachment inquiry
Hunter Biden’s latest tax indictment has fanned the fire of criticism against the president, who faces an impeachment inquiry by House Republicans and growing evidence that he personally benefited from his son’s overseas business deals. The latest indictment, which features nine more charges related to allegedly failing to file or pay taxes and filing falsely, backs up critics of the Biden family who say the impeachment inquiry is not without merit. “This indictment describes extremely serious felony violations of federal law for not only failing to pay taxes, but for engaging in a deliberate, intentional scheme to evade paying those taxes, including by claiming false and fraudulent business deductions. The standard sentence for that is many years in prison,” Hans von Spakovsky, a legal expert at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, told The Center Square. “This also proves that the claims that there is nothing for the House committee to investigate is nonsense and it shows that the president himself was potentially involved in a shady, crooked business enterprise that sold government access for millions of dollars and did everything to hide its income from disclosure,” he added. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., also raised concerns about reports from IRS whistleblowers that the Department of Justice interfered in the IRS investigation into Hunter Biden. “The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal, and today’s charges filed against Hunter Biden are the result of Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler’s efforts to ensure all Americans are treated equally under the law. Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth,” Comer said. “IRS whistleblowers also revealed investigators were prevented from following evidence that could have led to Joe Biden.” The Biden family and associates received more than $20 million from several overseas entities, including China and Russia, with Comer saying some of those funds were funneled to the president himself. The ongoing Congressional investigation into that matter is separate but linked to the latest tax charges indictment, which laid out how Hunter Biden spent lavishly on prostitutes, drugs, and more while not paying taxes. “Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” the indictment said. Comer threatened Hunter Biden with a contempt of Congress charge if he skips his scheduled deposition next week. Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with nearly 30 years of combined experience at the agency, testified earlier this year that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment. The whistleblowers testified that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped block investigators’ plan for an interview of the president and a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. Biden’s DOJ also took fire for what was considered a lenient plea deal that was offered to Hunter Biden but later fell through. “But it also shows that he was almost right – he would have gotten away with this through a sweetheart plea deal with no jail time except for a federal judge questioning the unprecedented leniency of government prosecutors,” said Hans von Spakovsky. “And even though these are very serious charges – finally – they also show the incompetence of DOJ prosecutors or their deliberate malfeasance since he is only being charged with four years of tax violations when we know that these prosecutors allowed the statute of limitations to expire on prior years of similar tax violations.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
AG Merrick Garland takes fire from Republicans
House Republicans peppered Attorney General Merrick Garland with questions during a hearing Wednesday about the probe into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. As The Center Square previously reported, two IRS whistleblowers testified before Congress that the DOJ abused its power and interfered in their inquiry into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes. Notably, they testified that the investigation was slowed so that the statute of limitations could run out on some charges. Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with a combined 27 experience years at the agency, testified before Congress that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped block investigators’ plan for an interview of the president and a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. “Everyone knows why they did it,” House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said at the hearing. “Those tax years, that… involved the president. It’s one thing to have a gun charge in Delaware. That doesn’t involve the president of the United States. But Burisma? That goes right to the White House.” Garland seemed to preempt some of these criticisms in his opening statement, saying he was not obligated to do the bidding of the president or Congress. He declined to give specific answers to many of the Republicans’ questions, including around the federal indictment of former President Donald Trump. “Our job is to pursue justice, without fear or favor,” Garland said in his opening statement. “Our job is not to do what is politically convenient. Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate. As the President himself has said, and I reaffirm today: I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also add I am not Congress’s prosecutor.” That reference to Congress’s prosecutor is an apparent reference to Republicans’ frustrations with the DOJ for not prosecuting Hunter Biden more aggressively. House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has released a steady stream of evidence in recent months alleging that Hunter Biden was involved in an overseas “bribery scheme” and that his father knew about it. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who kicked off an impeachment inquiry on the same issue, pointed to about 150 U.S. Treasury Department suspicious activities reports filed by the agency around Hunter Biden’s dealings as well as bank records and the testimony from IRS whistleblowers who said the Biden family and associates received around $20 million from entities in adversarial nations. Special counsel David Weiss indicted Hunter Biden earlier this month over a gun purchase he made in 2018 after his plea deal unexpectedly fell through. Hunter Biden, who is also expected to face tax charges, was ordered by a federal magistrate judge on Wednesday to appear in court at his Oct. 3 hearing. Garland has taken fire over a string of incidents where critics say the agency has wrongly weaponized its power and targeted Americans, including working with social media groups to censor American posts and allegedly being more aggressive in prosecuting conservatives and right-leaning groups. “As someone who grew up in the Soviet Union, I’m disturbed by the fact that so many hardworking Americans—including my constituents—are afraid of political persecution by our own government,” said Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind. “Unfortunately, it does not seem like AG Garland is.” House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., recently sent a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration requesting travel records for Air Force Two after allegations that Hunter Biden may have used the vice president’s plane for his overseas deals when his father held that position in the Obama administration. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Republicans investigate alleged political interference in Hunter Biden case
Two key House Committees issued subpoenas for Biden administration officials as part of an investigation into allegations of political interference on behalf of Hunter Biden, who faces an array of legal issues. Republican leadership on the House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on the Judiciary issued the subpoenas for IRS employees and two FBI agents. Whistleblower testimony about U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss, who is now special counsel in the Hunter Biden case, is what sparked the lawmakers’ inquiry. In particular, whistleblowers say Weiss told personnel from the IRS and DOJ that he had tried to bring charges against Hunter Biden multiple times and in multiple jurisdictions but was denied. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in a joint statement that the whistleblower allegations point to “political interference in the investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign influence peddling and tax evasion.” “Unfortunately, the Biden Administration has consistently stonewalled Congress,” the lawmakers said. “Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they may lead, and our subpoenas compelling testimony from Biden Administration officials are crucial to understanding how the President’s son received special treatment from federal prosecutors and who was the ultimate decision maker in the case.” The whistleblower testimony contradicts both Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland, who recently led Congress to believe that Weiss was the final decision-maker in the case. Hunter Biden is currently expected to face trial after his plea deal over tax and gun-related charges fell apart over questions of whether he would be immune to future prosecution for other alleged crimes. The subpoenas come after two IRS whistleblowers testified before the House Oversight Committee in July, saying that the DOJ acted improperly in the Hunter Biden investigation. As The Center Square previously reported, the testimony came from Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, both IRS employees with a total 27 years of experience at the agency. They said that Hunter Biden’s preferential treatment was unlike than other cases in their decades of experience. Notably, they testified that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf helped prevent investigators from conducting an interview with President Joe Biden along with a search warrant of the Biden residence in Delaware. The pair also testified that they tried to report the alleged abuse of power using the standard channels but ultimately felt compelled to blow the whistle. Ziegler said in his testimony that there was abuse of authority, ethical violations and “gross mismanagement” in the Hunter Biden case and called for a special counsel to investigate. Shapley testified that in the Hunter Biden case, evidence was kept hidden from investigators and that decisions were repeatedly made that benefited Hunter Biden and the president. Shapley called it an “undeniable pattern of preferential treatment and obstruction of the normal investigative process.” Smith and Jordan said they tried normal interview requests with the IRS and FBI employees but were denied. How the federal employees will respond to the subpoenas remains to be seen. In the past, Trump administration officials ignored Congressional subpoenas. “Americans deserve to know the truth, especially now that Attorney General Garland has appointed as special counsel the same U.S. Attorney who oversaw Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal and botched the investigation into his alleged tax crimes,” Smith and Jordan said. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
