Internal records, transcripts and interviews tell a complex story of growing distrust between the Justice Department and IRS investigators.
Hunter Biden departs a court appearance at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., on July 26. stretch back years, according to a review of transcripts, documents and interviews — revealing how prosecutors and investigators turned on each other while handling a high-profile case Republicans are using to attack President Biden ahead of the 2024 election.
The whistleblowers and their supporters say they came forward to force authorities to do the right thing: bring criminal charges against a person whom the agents believe broke the law.Investigating ‘Sportsman’ Shapley, whose experience included complex international cases such as U.S. taxpayers hiding funds in Swiss bank accounts, told Congress that getting approval for even simple tasks in the Biden case was difficult. When IRS agents wanted in late 2020 to walk by Biden’s California home to verify that it was, in fact, his residence, they were overruled by Justice Department headquarters. “Tax does not approve,” an official wrote in an email, according to a congressional interview transcript.
In September and October of that year, Shapley and Ziegler got more disappointing news, according to documents and congressional testimony. The Delaware prosecutors’ office told them in one email that the Justice Department’s tax division seemed unlikely to approve some parts of the investigation, and said in anotherAttorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, has insisted in congressional testimony that Weiss, a career prosecutor in Delaware tapped by Trump as U.S.
“Gary is a fantastic agent. He’s a bulldog. He will get to the bottom of it,” Batdorf said, according to a congressional transcript. But Batdorf also told congressional investigators that Shapley’s belief in his cases meant that he often went above or outside his chain of command to try to fix what he saw as problems.
The meeting was attended by Stuart Goldberg, the acting head of Justice’s tax division, several of his deputies, IRS officials and agents, and FBI officials. It became a kind of faceoff between IRS agents arguing for charging Biden and Justice Department That disagreement would linger, coming to a head in a more consequential gathering of people involved in the investigation that fall.two FBI agents involved in the case discussed the possibility that Weiss might be named a special counsel, a move that would give him a greater formal degree of independence from Justice Department leadership. But that appointment didn’t happen.
The Oct. 7, 2022, session has become a focal point of efforts by GOP lawmakers to prove the investigation was biased in favor of the president’s son. “I don’t recall those exact words as I sit here today,” Waldon, Shapley’s boss, later told congressional investigators. “But I do recall there being the process discussion, where he would talk about the process in order to get the case indicted and subsequently prosecuted. And that could’ve involved the different districts.”
Shapley, as a manager, found the request unusual, since a manager’s notes — unlike those of case agents — are not typically part of discovery. Throughout the case, Shapley had chronicled his frustrations, assuming neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers would ever see them.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hunter x Hunter Creator Is Resuming Work on the MangaHunter x Hunter Yoshihiro Togashi appears to have resumed work on his manga after a lengthy hiatus.
Read more »
Hunter x Hunter's Creator Confirms The Manga Is Returning SoonNew Hunter X Hunter chapters are in the works.
Read more »
Hunter Biden Might Get Supreme Court's Help on Gun ChargeHunter Biden might get a legal boost from an unlikely source – the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court – when he contests his indictment on firearms-related charges, thanks to the reasoning expressed by the justices in their most recent gun rights rulings.
Read more »
Jason Smith says evidence shows Joe Biden 'connected' to Hunter's business dealsHouse Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) touted the process and results of the impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, saying recently released evidence shows the president was 'not just aware' but 'connected' to his son Hunter Biden's business deals.
Read more »
Attorney General Merrick Garland discusses the process behind Trump, Hunter Biden prosecutionsAttorney General Merrick Garland told 60 Minutes about the process of the special counsel investigations into former President Donald Trump and Hunter Biden on 60 Minutes.
Read more »
US Supreme Court ruling may help Hunter Biden fight gun chargeHunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, may get a legal boost from an unlikely source - the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court - when he contests his indictment on firearms-related charges, thanks to the reasoning expressed by the justices in their most recent expansion of gun rights.
Read more »