The New York Times Confirms Key Claim of Hunter Biden Whistleblower

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The New York Times has independently confirmed one of the key claims of Gary Shapley, the Internal Revenue Service whistleblower whose allegations have raised new questions about how the federal investigation into Hunter Biden has been conducted.

As the lead IRS official on the Biden case, Shapley has testified that U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss, the lead Department of Justice prosecutor on the same case, was rebuffed by federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles when he requested that Biden be charged for tax crimes committed in 2014 and 2015 in those jurisdictions. Here’s the Times‘ account and confirmation of that allegation (emphasis mine):

But in mid-2022, Mr. Weiss reached out to the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Matthew Graves, to ask his office to pursue charges and was rebuffed, according to Mr. Shapley’s testimony.

A similar request to prosecutors in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, was also rejected, Mr. Shapley testified. A second former I.R.S. official, who has not been identified, told House Republicans the same story. That episode was confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation.

The whistleblower further alleged that Weiss told him and a group of six other FBI and IRS agents that he would not ultimately be the “deciding official” when it came time to either charge the president’s son or not and that he was denied special counsel status — which would allow him to pursue charges in jurisdictions outside of his own in Delaware — when he requested it.

Shapley’s allegations diverge from the testimony of Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has maintained that Weiss has full autonomy in the case and told Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that Weiss would be able to bring charges outside of Delaware.

In a letter addressed to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) earlier this month, however, Weiss insisted that he has “ultimate authority” over the investigation.

Last week, Weiss struck a deal with Biden in which the latter pled guilty to tax crimes committed in 2017 and 2018 as well as admitted to the facts of a felony gun charge against him that will keep the president’s son out of prison. Critics of the arrangement have described it as a “sweetheart” deal and characterized it as part of a larger effort to protect the Biden family.

Garland has flatly denied Shapley’s claim that Weiss even requested special counsel status.