House Judiciary demands DOJ records on purge of IRS team investigating Hunter Biden

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee demanded Thursday that the Justice Department hand over any records detailing its role in the purge of IRS investigators assigned to first son Hunter Biden’s case.

The 13-person investigative team was taken off the criminal probe of President Biden’s 53-year-old son last week — allegedly on DOJ orders — after supervisory agent Gary Shapley contacted Congress to allege a coverup featuring “preferential treatment” and false testimony to Congress by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“The timing of the Department’s removal of the agent and investigative team raises serious concerns given that the investigation was the subject of the agent’s protected whistleblower disclosure,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to Garland.

“The Committee will not tolerate the Department’s retaliatory conduct against this or any other whistleblower,” the chairman added.

Shapley, who is set to testify privately on Friday to the House Ways and Means Committee, oversaw the Hunter case as the investigative team’s supervisor since January 2020 and raised internal concerns for years about what he described as irregularities and slow-walking that benefited the first son.

The primary case agent who worked on the investigation since it opened in 2018 also raised internal concerns — and in an email to superiors last week wrote that the Justice Department “has been acting inappropriately” in the investigation.

Jordan is demanding from Garland “[a]ll documents and communications referring or relating to the removal on or around May 15, 2023, of an IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent and investigative team from an ongoing investigation.”

He also requested “documents and communications between or among the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service referring or relating to any investigations involving both the [DOJ] and [IRS], from May 1, 2023, to the present” as well as those involving Delaware US Attorney David Weiss’ office.

Weiss, a Trump administration holdover recommended to his post by Delaware’s Democratic senators, is in charge of the Hunter Biden criminal investigation, and is weighing charges related to alleged financial crimes as well as the first son purportedly lying about his drug use on a federal gun purchase form.

Shapley contends that Garland misled Congress about Weiss’ ability to unilaterally make charging decisions and said in a “CBS Evening News” appearance Wednesday that he decided to come forward after a contentious October meeting with prosecutors.

FBI agents who worked on the case also reportedly are frustrated about the lack of charges against Hunter Biden after finishing most investigative work last year.

Shapley and his subordinate have not publicly confirmed that Hunter Biden is the subject of the investigation, but congressional sources have done so.

Hunter Biden allegedly failed to pay millions of dollars in taxes on income from foreign ventures in countries where his father held sway as vice president. Authorities also have considered charges of money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Hunter reportedly borrowed about $2 million last year from Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris to pay his back taxes, though doing so doesn’t legally absolve him of the original non-payment.