David Weiss, the prosecutor overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden, appeared set earlier this year to end the probe without bringing charges before whistleblowers from the IRS came forward, the New York Times reported.
After years of probing Biden over alleged tax and gun crimes, Weiss "appeared willing to forgo any prosecution of Mr. Biden at all, and his office came close to agreeing to end the investigation without requiring a guilty plea on any charges," according to the Times.
That changed, the Times reported, around the time IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler came forward, alleging the investigation into Biden was sabotaged by the Justice Department.
The whistleblowers alleged that the DOJ shielded Biden and his father from scrutiny, preventing prosecutors from filing felony charges and undermining the tax investigation.
After the whistleblowers testified before Congress, Weiss and his deputy Lesley Wolf changed their tune, deciding the first son should plead guilty to tax charges, the Times reported:
As the testimony from the I.R.S. agents took hold, Mr. Biden’s legal team felt the ground shift beneath them. The U.S. attorney’s office suddenly went quiet.
On Tuesday, May 23, after four days of silence, Ms. Wolf delivered unwelcome news. Mr. Weiss had revised what he wanted in the deal, now demanding that Mr. Biden plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes. It crossed a red line for Mr. Clark.
Erupting in anger, Mr. Clark accused Ms. Wolf of misleading him. He renounced the possibility of any deal, but after consulting with Mr. Biden, reversed course and told Ms. Wolf that Mr. Biden was willing to go along.
Biden and Weiss then negotiated a now-infamous plea deal that would have seen the first son avoid prison time and win broad immunity from further prosecution in exchange for pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax crimes.
Federal judge Maryellen Noreika last month rejected that plea deal, taking issue with the broad immunity the first son would have won. She told prosecutors and Biden's legal team to craft a new one. She said the original deal was "not standard" and "different from what I normally see."
Politico reported this weekend that lawyers for Hunter Biden threatened to put President Joe Biden on the stand if their client was charged. "President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial," Hunter Biden lawyer Chris Clark said in an October 2022 letter to Weiss.