Fox News Analyst Says Hunter Biden Whistleblower Testimony Looks Like ‘Republican Version Of the Steele Dossier’
Fox News senior political analyst Juan Williams is highly skeptical of testimony from an IRS whistleblower who says the Department of Justice thwarted a robust prosecution of Hunter Biden.
Biden reached a plea agreement with U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Republican who was appointed by Donald Trump in 2018. Per the deal, Biden pleaded guilty to two tax violations. Republicans are crying foul and say Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, got off easy. Weiss maintains he was the ultimate decision-maker in the case.
In response, congressional Republicans are touting the testimony of two alleged whistleblowers from the IRS, who helped work the case. They claim Weiss’ probe was hindered by higher-ups at the Department of Justice. One of the whistleblowers provided Republican lawmakers with screenshots of WhatsApp messages allegedly from Hunter Biden demanding payment from a Chinese official in 2017.
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight,” Hunter Biden allegedly wrote. “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
During Friday’s edition of Special Report on Fox News, Williams said Republicans should not necessarily take the claims at face value. He compared the claims to the infamous Steele dossier, which was compiled during the 2016 presidential campaign by an ex-British intelligence officer who collected unsubstantiated salacious accounts about Donald Trump. Steele’s funding originally came from a conservative publication before Hillary Clinton’s campaign funded the enterprise.
Williams said:
What we have this week was a decision by a Trump-appointed prosecutor who had full authority over the case, by his own account, to bring two misdemeanor charges basically against Hunter Biden. That was it. All these other things that we’re hearing about, an app message? We don’t know if the president was involved and he wasn’t even president or vice president at the time. This was from 2017.
Last week, Senator Grassley said he had a tape of somebody. This week you have an app message. I don’t know what’s coming next, but it looks like this is the Republican version of the Steele dossier with a bunch of rumors and innuendo and no hard evidence. No proof. Nothing
Guest Marc Thiessen objected to Williams’ characterization.
“Joe Biden said over and over and over, ‘I never discussed my son’s business dealings with him.’ And now you have a WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden. This is not just the whistleblower saying this. They have the screenshot of the actual message.”
“Mark, obviously this was in 2017,” Williams retorted. “I repeat myself. And Joe Biden was not an official in any capacity as vice president or president.”
Williams then suggested Hunter Biden was lying when he claimed in the message his father was sitting next to him.
Watch above via Fox News.
