(Daily Caller) IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have been vindicated by witness testimony related to the Hunter Biden investigation.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, special counsel in the Hunter Biden case and additional Department of Justice (DOJ) officials have testified to the House Judiciary Committee and confirmed allegations central to Shapley and Ziegler’s testimony.
Weiss testified to the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 7 and confirmed Shapley’s allegation about the DOJ denying a request from Weiss for additional authority to charge Hunter Biden, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Shapley testified to the Ways and Means Committee in May and said Weiss stated during an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting that he was denied special counsel authority after Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves prevented Weiss from charging Hunter Biden in his district.
“However, I would later be told by United States Attorney Weiss that the D.C. U.S. attorney would not allow U.S. Attorney Weiss to charge those years in his district. This resulted in United States Attorney Weiss requesting special counsel authority from main DOJ to charge in the District of Columbia,” Shapley said.
Shapley’s attorneys have released handwritten notes and an email containing his account of what happed during the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting. The Ways and Means Committee released a trove of documents in September to support the IRS whistleblower testimony.
“Weiss requested special counsel status in D.C. + main DOJ said ‘no’ – follow the process,” Shapley’s notes say.
Graves testified before the Judiciary Committee in October and confirmed he refused to partner with Weiss on the case, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Weiss confirmed he was denied special attorney authority under section 515, a slightly different type of additional charging authority, and that DOJ officials told him to follow the typical charging processes, as Shapley described in his testimony and notes.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan reacted to Weiss’ testimony by saying it confirmed Shapely’s accusation about Weiss’ request for additional authority.
“And that answer, I think the key is, is entirely consistent with what Mr. Shapley said after the October 7, 2022 meeting, when he said USA Weiss requested Special Counsel authority when it was sent to DC and Main DOJ denied his request and told him to follow the process,” Jordan told reporters in early November.
A rift between Weiss and Shapley escalated after the Oct. 7 meeting and caused Shapley to be removed from the Hunter Biden case, two IRS officials testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in September.
Shapley and Ziegler said Graves’ decision resulted in the statute of limitations expiring for charges related to Hunter Biden’s income from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings. The company paid Hunter Biden more than $80,000 per month to be a board member during the 2014-15 tax years, according to bank recordsreleased in August by the House Oversight Committee.
“That process meant no charges would ever be brought in the District of Columbia, where the statute of limitations on the 2014 and ’15 charges would eventually expire. The years in question included foreign income from Burisma and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon. There were also potential FARA issues relating to 2014 and 2015. The purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts,” Shapley stated.
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – JULY 26: Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on July 26, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The DOJ stopped signing extensions to statutes related to the 2014-15 tax years as a result of Graves not cooperating, according to Ziegler.
“And so what ended up happening is we were assigning statute extensions. We were having these meetings on the 2014-2015 tax year. And I believe that from what happened is, because D.C. said no, they have since let that statute run. So they no longer asked for statute extensions,” he testified to the Ways and Means Committee in June.
Weiss confirmed the statute of limitations expired for those alleged tax offenses committed in D.C. during the 2014-15 tax years. He told the Judiciary Committee he would address the matter in his special counsel report due at the conclusion of the investigation.
The IRS whistleblowers also testified that Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada refused to cooperate on the Hunter Biden case. Estrada testified in front of the Judiciary Committee in October and confirmed he declined to partner with Weiss on the case, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Weiss confirmed Graves and Estrada declined to work with him on potentially charging Hunter Biden in their districts. He said he would only ask the U.S. attorneys to partner if he was considering prosecuting the case.
Shapley and Ziegler both testified about the DOJ Tax Division’s alleged hesitation to approve investigative steps and potential charges on the Hunter Biden case.
For example, the DOJ Tax Division worked with Weiss’ office to delay planned interviews ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Ziegler testified.
“One other thing I would like to note is September 4th, 2020, we had a conference call and [DOJ Tax and Delaware USAO] told us essentially that we were on pause from any overt activities or any activities that could be overt whatsoever. So we couldn’t — we weren’t allowed to issue subpoenas,” he said.
