By Catherine Yang
Next week, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will hold a hearing where two Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers will testify before Congress on matters relating to the Biden family’s financial dealings, and “the politicization and misconduct” within federal agencies with regard to investigations into Hunter Biden.
Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisory special agent, revealed himself as one of the whistleblowers in May. The other witness, thus far only known as Whistleblower X, is a criminal investigator with the IRS.
The hearing is open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online.
Both of the whistleblowers have provided documents showing the investigations into the Biden family had been stymied in some way. Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) on Wednesday called this an opportunity to give the American people transparency and accountability.
“Since taking the gavel in January, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability has made rapid progress in our investigation into the Biden family’s domestic and international business dealings to determine whether these activities compromise U.S. national security and President [Joe] Biden’s ability to lead with impartiality,” he stated.
“From the thousands of financial records we’ve obtained, we know the Biden family set up over a 20 shell companies, engaged in intentionally complicated financial transactions with foreign adversaries, and made a concerted effort to hide the payments and avoid scrutiny,” said Mr. Comer.
The House Ways and Means Committee has also been investigating the financial dealings of the Biden family, and last month released transcripts of 14 hours of testimony, revealing among many things that Hunter Biden had an excess of $17 million from Ukraine, China, and Russia.
“Additionally, these whistleblowers provided information about how the Justice Department refused to follow evidence that implicated Joe Biden, tipped off Hunter Biden’s attorneys, allowed the clock to run out with respect to certain charges, and put Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal,” Mr. Comer stated. “Americans are rightfully angry about this two-tiered system of justice that seemingly allows the Biden family to operate above the law.”
Interference?
The whistleblowers had in the House Ways and Means Committee testimonies said the Justice Department and IRS used a number of tactics to delay investigations into Hunter Biden’s tax fraud, including denying requests by the U.S. Attorney to bring charges, letting the clock run out to reach the statute of limitations, and sharing sensitive actions of the investigators to Mr. Biden’s attorneys.
The transcript from the first whistleblower, Mr. Shapley, can be viewed here (pdf). The testimony from the second whistleblower can be viewed here (pdf). The testimonies were given in a closed-door hearing, and the testimonies were made public after a vote. All Democrats on the committee voted against the measure.
Whistleblowers reported facing “almost immediate retaliation” after coming forth, including being passed over for a promotion and being removed from the investigation of Mr. Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has denied the claims that federal agencies interfered with the investigation.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was named in the testimonies, also refuted claims that he was denied authority to bring charges.
In a press conference after the House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said that the government was not treating all taxpayers equally, giving Mr. Biden a “slap on the wrist” and “soft glove treatment” even after evidence came to light.
In one case, Mr. Biden’s attorneys were made aware that the IRS knew about documents stored in a Northern Virginia storage unit, giving the attorneys time to remove the documents.
In another case, investigators authenticated WeChat messages in which Mr. Biden demanded payment from Chinese business partners, using his father’s name and position as leverage in the exchanges.
FBI’s 2-Day Interview With Alleged Whistleblower
On Wednesday, Mr. Comer also requested the FBI share an unredacted copy of the report from a two-day interview in 2019 with Gal Luft, another alleged whistleblower in the investigations into the Biden family.
Mr. Luft, a think tank director, had previously served in an advisory position to CEFC China Energy, and gave the FBI inside information on the company’s dealings with the Biden family, including giving Hunter Biden and his uncle monthly payments of large sums in exchange for use of the Biden name.
On Monday, Mr. Luft was charged with eight counts, including making false statements to federal agents in this 2019 interview. Mr. Luft had been a witness the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability planned to interview, but he was arrested in February and then fled when released on bail. Mr. Luft claims the information he gave the FBI was on par with what was released after the laptop allegedly belonging to Mr. Biden came to light.
“To be clear, the Committee takes no position regarding the federal charges against Luft. Instead, the Committee requests narrowly tailored information he allegedly provided the DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March 2019 regarding his interactions with the Chinese company, CEFC,” Mr. Comer wrote.
“Any criticism of Luft reflects the type of people who partnered with CEFC and accepted money from the corrupt Chinese company—this includes the Biden family. It would be negligent for the Committee not to attempt to speak with a cooperator directly involved with CEFC.”
