An IRS whistleblower told Congress on Thursday that the tax agency recommended felony charges against Hunter Biden and that the federal prosecutor handling the probe of the first son was rebuffed from filing charges on multiple occasions, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee disclosed on Thursday.
Rep. Jason Smith (R., Mo.) said at a press conference that two IRS employees claimed the agency sought felony charges against the younger Biden for attempting to evade taxes and fraudulent or false statements, all felony charges. The whistleblowers, who worked on the Biden probe since its start in November 2018, further claimed that the investigation was marred by "recurring unjustified delays" and "unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation," Smith said.
The bombshell disclosure comes days after federal prosecutors in Delaware struck a plea deal with Biden on two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun charge that will be dropped after he completes a diversionary program.
Smith asserted that Biden received "a slap on the wrist for charges that have put other Americans behind bars."
According to Smith, the whistleblowers testified that Hunter Biden failed to pay more than $2.2 million in taxes and received $8.3 million from foreign entities in Ukraine, China, and Romania. Biden received at least $6 million from CEFC China Energy, an energy conglomerate linked to Chinese military intelligence. A Romanian businessman investigated for bribery paid Biden another $1 million for help on his legal case. And Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company, paid Hunter Biden more than $80,000 a month to serve on its board of directors.
In one stunning revelation, Smith cited an encrypted text message in which Hunter Biden threatened a Chinese business partner for payment by invoking his father.
"I am sitting here with my father and would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," Biden wrote in a July 30, 2017, message to Henry Zhao.
"I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father."
The whistleblowers claimed that the Justice Department dragged its feet in authenticating the text message, according to Smith.
The Republican said the whistleblowers further testified that U.S. attorney David Weiss attempted to bring charges against Hunter Biden on at least two occasions but was blocked from doing so. Smith said Weiss sought to file charges in Washington, D.C., in March 2022 and in California in fall 2022. He also sought special counsel status in Spring 2022 but was also rejected.
The whistleblowers say the DOJ chose to let the statute of limitations expire on crimes committed in 2014 and 2015, when Biden failed to report approximately $400,000 in income from Busisma. His business partner Eric Schwerin, according to the testimony, asked him multiple times to amend his tax returns to include the money from Ukraine while his father was vice president, but Hunter Biden never did and now "there is no mechanism available to collect the tax owed by Hunter Biden for 2014 other than in a voluntary fashion."
"The purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts," the whistleblower testified.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware declined comment. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not address Smith's specific allegations but said that Weiss had "full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate. He needs no further approval to do so."
This is a developing story.