{"id":2215390,"date":"2024-04-08T08:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T12:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-grassley-demands-doj-irs-come-clean-about-targeting-hunter-biden-whistleblowers\/"},"modified":"2024-04-08T08:09:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T12:09:20","slug":"exclusive-grassley-demands-doj-irs-come-clean-about-targeting-hunter-biden-whistleblowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-grassley-demands-doj-irs-come-clean-about-targeting-hunter-biden-whistleblowers\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Grassley Calls on DOJ and IRS to Disclose Details on Targeting Whistleblowers Related to Hunter Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-grassley-demands-doj-irs-come-clean-about-targeting-hunter-biden-whistleblowers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2215390&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senator Chuck Grassley expressed concern over the Justice Department\u200d and IRS \u200dallegedly attempting\u2063 to discredit whistleblowers involved in the Hunter Biden investigation. Grassley detailed these claims in a letter obtained \u200bby The Federalist. The allegations suggest interference with\u2064 the investigation, including \u2062obstructing search\u2062 warrant requests and offering Hunter \u200bBiden\u200c a plea\u2064 deal. Grassley is urging prompt action to address these serious issues.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>A recent court filing in the criminal case against Hunter Biden suggests the Justice Department and IRS seek \u201cto dirty up the very whistleblowers\u201d who exposed political favoritism and misconduct in the Hunter Biden investigation, Sen. Chuck Grassley charged in a letter to the IRS commissioner obtained exclusively by The Federalist. A review of the underlying court filing submitted by Special Counsel David Weiss in the federal tax evasion case pending against the president\u2019s son confirms Grassley\u2019s charges \u2014 highlighting again that Attorney General Merrick Garland never should have named Weiss as special counsel.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Grassley dispatched a letter to the IRS commissioner expressing concern over the agency\u2019s retaliation against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. As the Iowa Republican\u2019s letter detailed, beginning in 2020, Shapley and Ziegler \u201cmade legally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jim-jordan-demands-fbi-explain-domestic-extremism-symbols-guide\/\" title=\"Jim Jordan Demands FBI Explain Domestic Extremism Symbols Guide\">protected whistleblower disclosures<\/a> to IRS officials concerning government misconduct relating to the Hunter Biden investigation.\u201d Following further whistleblower disclosures to the House Ways and Means Committee, and that committee\u2019s vote to release documents and testimony related to its investigation of the whistleblowers\u2019 charges, the country learned the specifics of those charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-46087708\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2c366d158c34b6e00c4b09e0a06c1693 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2c366d158c34b6e00c4b09e0a06c1693\"><\/div>\n<p>Among other things, the whistleblowers <a href=\"https:\/\/oversight.house.gov\/release\/hearing-wrap-up-irs-whistleblowers-expose-how-bidens-were-treated-differently%25EF%25BF%25BC\/\">revealed<\/a> to the House Ways and Means Committee that the investigation into Hunter Biden had been thoroughly thwarted: Search warrant and subpoena requests were improperly denied, limitations were placed on investigators concerning who could be questioned and about what, and then someone tipped off the Biden transition team, preventing agents from successfully questioning nearly a dozen witnesses. <\/p>\n<p>But the obfuscation went much higher. The whistleblowers revealed that in early August 2022, they had recommended in a 99-page memorandum that felony and misdemeanor charges be brought against Hunter Biden. However, prosecutors allowed the statute of limitations to run on the most serious felony counts \u2014 because the DOJ refused to grant U.S. Attorney Weiss the authority to charge Hunter Biden in D.C. or California, and the Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in those districts declined to bring charges.<\/p>\n<p>Weiss\u2019s office instead offered Hunter Biden a sweetheart misdemeanor plea agreement. After that deal <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/23\/after-hunters-sweetheart-deal-went-south-heres-whats-next-from-bidens-compromised-doj\/\">collapsed<\/a> following questioning by a federal judge on the propriety of the agreement, Garland, in August 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/08\/15\/6-takeaways-from-the-hunter-biden-special-counsel-appointment-you-wont-hear-from-big-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">named<\/a> Weiss special counsel. Weiss finally had the authority needed to pursue charges in other federal districts, which he did, charging Hunter Biden in a nine-count indictment with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/theres-only-one-explanation-for-hunter-bidens-simple-indictment-taking-so-long-2020-election-interference\/\" title=\"Why Hunter Biden's indictment is taking so long: 2020 election interference\">multiple tax offenses<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/he-was-epsteined-conspiracy-theories-swirl-after-john-mcafees-tweets-resurface-following-alleged-suicide\/\" title=\"\u2018He Was Epsteined\u2019: Conspiracy Theories Swirl After John McAfee\u2019s Tweets Resurface Following Alleged Suicide\">including tax evasion<\/a>, in the Central District of California on Dec. 7, 2023. The felony tax charges in California were in addition to felony gun charges Weiss <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/09\/14\/hunter-biden-slapped-with-three-felony-gun-charges-after-lying-on-background-check-in-2018\/\">brought<\/a> against the president\u2019s son in his home district of Delaware.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden\u2019s high-priced attorneys quickly executed a multi-prong offensive to repel the accumulating charges. As Grassley\u2019s Thursday letter detailed:<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-462b221862e60744f5db4a36cfe9ae97 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-462b221862e60744f5db4a36cfe9ae97\"><\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Hunter Biden\u2019s attorneys went into overdrive to try and discredit these brave whistleblowers. A June 27, 2023, New York Times article reported that Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyers asserted to the Justice Department that Shapley broke federal laws by making legally protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress concerning the mishandling of the investigation into their client. Days after that article, on June 30, 2023, Hunter Biden\u2019s attorney sent a letter to House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith amazingly alleging that Shapley and Zeigler\u2019s legally protected whistleblower disclosures before Congress were unlawful.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>While it is not surprising that Hunter Biden\u2019s well-heeled attorneys would seek to represent their client zealously, even if it meant attacking the whistleblowers, as Grassley\u2019s letter highlights, a recent filing in the California tax case suggests Weiss and the IRS are cooperating in those efforts. The DOJ and FBI may even be investigating Shapley and Ziegler for \u201cmaking legally protected disclosures,\u201d the senator worried.<\/p>\n<p>Of concern was Weiss\u2019s March 11, 2024, response to Hunter Biden\u2019s motion to dismiss the tax charges based on supposedly \u201coutrageous government conduct.\u201d In his motion, Hunter argued that Shapley and Ziegler willfully disclosed his confidential tax information and that illegal or improper conduct should bar the special counsel from pursuing the tax charges. <\/p>\n<p>Weiss\u2019s response stressed that Hunter had failed to present any evidence indicating the alleged \u201coutrageous government conduct\u201d had anything to do with tax charges the special counsel\u2019s office brought. In fact, the indictment came more than a year after Shapley and Ziegler were removed from the Hunter Biden investigation, the special counsel noted. <\/p>\n<p>Weiss could have ended there but instead claimed that Hunter\u2019s repeated assertions \u201cthat the IRS took no action to address Shapley and Ziegler\u2019s decision to make public statements\u201d \u201cis simply not true.\u201d Weiss\u2019s response memorandum then cited a declaration he filed under seal that prosecutors maintain establishes \u201cthe IRS has taken responsible steps to address Shapley and Ziegler\u2019s conduct.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f900f96c17a34c486d704c52109505d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-3f900f96c17a34c486d704c52109505d\"><\/div>\n<p>Filed simultaneously with the special counsel\u2019s response was an application to seal the declaration and two other exhibits. According to Weiss, the three exhibits he sought to seal \u201crelate[] to a potential ongoing investigation(s).\u201d Those potential investigations are unrelated to Hunter Biden, Weiss stressed.<\/p>\n<p>The most logical inference from Weiss\u2019s description of the exhibits is that Shapley and Ziegler are the subjects of one or more investigations. Here, Grassley skewered the special counsel, writing in his Thursday letter: \u201cOn the one hand, the Justice Department has argued that a \u2018potential ongoing investigation\u2019 is so sensitive that it cannot be publicly revealed and yet, on the other hand, it has precisely done that in a public filing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this \u2018potential ongoing investigation\u2019 relates to Shapley and Ziegler, its reference in public and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/horrifying-details-emerge-from-charges-against-top-cnn-producer-accused-of-child-sex-crimes\/\" title=\"Horrifying Details Emerge From Charges Against Top CNN Producer Accused Of Child Sex Crimes\">sealed court documents<\/a> can only be viewed as a Justice Department and IRS tactic to dirty up the very whistleblowers that exposed Justice Department and IRS misconduct,\u201d the senator from Iowa continued. Grassley then stressed the impropriety of Weiss\u2019s involvement in any such investigation: \u201cU.S. Attorney Weiss\u2019s conduct would be the definition of a conflict of interest since he\u2019d be investigating and potentially prosecuting whistleblowers that disclosed misconduct by him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Grassley, who has been a stalwart protector of whistleblowers, asked the IRS to confirm whether Shapley and Ziegler were the subject of an ongoing investigation and, if so, when and why the IRS chief counsel shared that information with the Justice Department, given the actual conflicts of interest among the whistleblowers, Weiss, and the DOJ more broadly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate Congress taking steps to ensure DOJ is transparent about whether the government is engaged in a retaliatory investigation of the IRS whistleblowers,\u201d Tristan Leavitt, the president of Empower Oversight, which represents the whistleblowers, told The Federalist when asked about Grassley\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n<p>Leavitt, however, stressed that the conflict of interest is not limited to the criminal case against Hunter Biden. Referencing a letter Empower Oversight sent Garland last week, Leavitt told The Federalist that the DOJ\u2019s conflicts of interest extend to \u201cHunter Biden\u2019s baseless lawsuit accusing the IRS whistleblowers of crimes.\u201d In defending Hunter Biden\u2019s separate civil suit against the IRS, which seeks to hold the federal agency liable for Shapley and Ziegler\u2019s disclosures, the DOJ has yet to argue the IRS agents\u2019 statements were protected whistleblower disclosures.<\/p>\n<p>Grassley\u2019s demand for answers from the IRS about the DOJ\u2019s conflict of interest in the criminal case against Hunter Biden may provide a necessary spotlight on the Biden administration\u2019s animus toward the whistleblowers, which extends to Hunter Biden\u2019s civil case against the government. As Shapley and Ziegler\u2019s attorney told The Federalist, \u201cDOJ\u2019s interests align too closely with Hunter Biden\u2019s for these actors to be impartial.\u201d And that is precisely why naming Weiss as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/durham-issues-trial-subpoenas-for-clinton-campaign-members-and-dnc\/\" title=\"Durham Issues Trial Subpoenas for Clinton Campaign Members and DNC\">special counsel made<\/a> no sense.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1623217c34858ea0d2a5b0a9bba4ec0b fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1623217c34858ea0d2a5b0a9bba4ec0b\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a letter obtained exclusively by The Federalist, Sen. Chuck Grassley alleges that a recent court filing in Hunter Biden&#8217;s criminal case implies that the Justice Department and IRS are trying to discredit the whistleblowers who revealed political favoritism. Grassley calls on the IRS commissioner to address this issue promptly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":2215391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Chuck-Grassley-Iowa-Speech.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2215390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Chuck-Grassley-Iowa-Speech.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2215390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2215390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2215391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2215390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2215390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2215390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}