Despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s assertions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) intended to drop all charges against Hunter Biden until two whistleblowers revealed political involvement in the investigation.
As The New York Times reported earlier this year, U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss’s office came close to agreeing to stop the inquiry without seeking a guilty plea of any charges against Mr. Biden.
The NYTs revealed the inner workings of Hunter Biden’s lawyers with high-ranking officials at the DOJ, who had limited Weiss’s ability to act despite Garland’s testimony to Congress that Weiss had complete power to do so.
According to the Times, not only did the whistleblowers prevent the cover-up, but now Hunter Biden’s attorneys are calling for their prosecution for speaking out against their client’s preferential treatment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, suspected of meddling on Hunter Biden’s behalf, and Christopher J. Clark, a well-connected counsel representing Hunter Biden, stand out as significant actors in the Times’ account.
Senior law enforcement authorities disagree with the I.R.S. agents and their Republican supporters’ allegation that the evidence they presented at the specific moment they did had a role in influencing the vote. While Mr. Biden’s defense team acknowledges that I.R.S. agents influenced the agreement, they have argued to the Justice Department that their client should be penalized for revealing inquiry facts to Congress.
However, the letters show that his viewpoint shifted in the spring, communicated via his staff, just around the time two IRS officers working on the matter accused the Justice Department of hampering the probe. Mr. Weiss unexpectedly insisted that Mr. Biden enter a guilty plea to tax crimes.
Whistleblowers Gary A. Shapley Jr., an IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent, and Joseph Ziegler, an IRS Special Agent, testified before Congress that prosecutors had blocked their investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax crimes and had even warned him of searches and interviews.
Federal judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointment, refused to sign off on a “sweetheart” plea agreement that would have shielded Hunter Biden from further investigation.
In the case earlier this month, Garland appointed Weiss as Special Counsel, prompting speculation that his true motivation was to maintain the cover-up. The charges against Noreika were dropped, presumably so they might be prosecuted elsewhere but more likely to escape her authority.
