A senior IRS official corroborated a whistleblower's bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley's boss confirmed Shapley's account of a key meeting that occurred on October 7, 2022, between IRS agents and DOJ prosecutors handling the Biden probe. After the meeting, Shapley wrote to his boss, Darrell Waldon, that U.S. attorney David Weiss indicated he was prohibited from bringing charges against Biden in Washington, D.C. Weiss said that he requested special counsel status but that Justice Department headquarters had denied that request.
"Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," Shapley wrote.
Waldon, who attended the meeting with Shapley, signed off on his subordinate's characterization of the meeting. "Thanks, Gary. You covered it all," Waldon wrote.
The email is powerful evidence supporting Shapley's claims that the Biden Justice Department interfered in the investigation into the embattled first son and that, contrary to statements from Attorney General Merrick Garland and others, Weiss could not operate freely.
Hunter Biden this week agreed to a plea deal on two misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018. Shapley testified, however, that IRS investigators and Weiss's office initially sought felony tax evasion charges against Biden for the years 2014 to 2018. Shapley detailed Biden's schemes to evade taxes, including deductions for payments he made to prostitutes and a Los Angeles sex club.
Shapley's email also opens Garland to congressional scrutiny. A 10-year IRS veteran, Shapley told Congress that Weiss's statements conflicted with Garland's testimony that the prosecutor had full authority over the Biden investigation.
"The Hunter Biden investigation … is being run by and supervised by the United States attorney for the District of Delaware," Garland testified at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on April 26, 2022, referring to Weiss. "He is in charge of that investigation. There will not be interference of any political or improper kind."
"I believe this to be a huge problem—inconsistent with DOJ public position and Merrick Garland testimony," Shapley wrote in his Oct. 7, 2022, memo.
According to Shapley, Weiss disclosed that he went to Matthew Graves, the Joe Biden-appointed U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., in early summer 2022 to request to file charges in that jurisdiction. But according to Shapley, Weiss said the request was rejected. "Biden-appointed [U.S. attorney] said they could not charge in his district," Shapley wrote.
Weiss said that he had requested special counsel authority to charge a case in Washington but that "Main DOJ denied his request and told him to follow the process," according to Shapley.
Shapley wrote that in mid-September 2022, Weiss asked newly appointed prosecutor E. Martin Estrada to charge Biden in California. That decision was pending at the time, but Estrada, another Biden appointee, ultimately rejected the request.
Weiss's office declined to comment on Shapley's allegations. The U.S. attorney's offices in Washington and California did not respond to requests for comment.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Weiss "has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate."