IRS whistleblowers expose Hunter Biden's crimes and DOJ coverup

[Occam's Banana]

New York Times independently verifies IRS whistleblower's claim that DOJ obstructed Hunter Biden tax probe
The IRS whistleblowers' testimony was "confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation."
https://thepostmillennial.com/new-yo...iden-tax-probe
Katie Daviscourt (28 June 2023)

The New York Times has independently confirmed the authenticity of IRS whistleblowers' claims that allege Biden's Department of Justice interfered with the probe into Hunter Biden's taxes.

In the article, NYT revealed that the IRS whistleblowers' testimony was "confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation." The paper buried the confirmation far down in the 21st paragraph of the article.

The confirmation in question is in regards to explosive testimony from multiple IRS whistleblowers that claim Biden's Department of Justice interfered with the federal probe into Hunter Biden's taxes, revealing that United States Attorney David Weiss was blocked by the DOJ from pursuing charges against Hunter Biden in California.

https://twitter.com/ChuckRossDC/stat...12492592586754

The DOJ's interference also delayed "authenticating a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden demands payment from Chinese officials, during which he noted that his father was in the room."

On Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith released five new documents revealing evidence from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged the Justice Department's interference, claiming that "the Biden Department of Justice is intervening and overstepping when it comes to the investigation of the president's son."

In an interview with the House Ways and Means Committee on May 26, 2023, Gary Shapley, a supervisory special agent with the IRS Criminal Investigation, said that "Since October 2022, IRS CI has taken every opportunity to retaliate against me and my team."

"Even after IRS CI senior leadership has been made aware on a recurring basis that the Delaware US Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice was acting improperly, they acquiesced to a DOJ request to remove the entire team from the Hunter Biden investigation, a team that had been investigating it for over 5 years."

Shapley said he was "blowing the whistle" because the "Delaware US Attorney's Office, Department of Justice Tax, and Department of Justice provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest in an important and high-profile investigation of the President's son, Hunter Biden."

The IRS whistleblower said that the investigation, which was first launched in November of 2018, had been running smoothly until Biden became the "presumptive Democratic nominee for President in early April 2020," leading to "career DOJ officials dragg[ing] their feet on the IRS taking these investigative steps" which included approving a search warrant and 15 interviews.

In a June 16, 2020 call between himself, another special agent, and the chain of command up to the Director of Field Operations, Shapley said he "pointed out that if normal procedures had been followed we already would have executed search warrants, conducted interviews, and served document requests. Nevertheless, my IRS chain of command decided we would defer to DOJ."

"From around October 2020 through October 2022, I was the IRS CI manager who interacted directly with the United States Attorney, David Weiss, and individuals at DOJ Tax Division the most," Shapley said.

On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters that Weiss had "complete authority to make all decisions on his own" and required no permission from the Justice Department to bring charges.

However, Shapley refuted Garland's claims, insisting that Weiss was blocked by Biden's Department of Justice from charging Hunter, which he authenticated in past emails.

Shapley told CBS News, "I documented exactly what happened. And it doesn't seem to match what the attorney general or the US attorney are saying today."

In an e-mail correspondence between Shapely and his supervisor following a meeting with Weiss on October 7, 2022, Shapley wrote that "Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed."

"There were really earth-shaking statements made by David Weiss that really brought to light some of my previous concerns. And the first one was that he is not the deciding person on whether or not charges are filed," Shapley said. "It was just shocking to me."

David Weiss is the Trump-appointed Delaware US Attorney who issued a plea deal last week for the probe into Hunter Biden.

[Occam's Banana]

New York Times independently verifies IRS whistleblower's claim that DOJ obstructed Hunter Biden tax probe
The IRS whistleblowers' testimony was "confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation."
https://thepostmillennial.com/new-yo...iden-tax-probe
Katie Daviscourt (28 June 2023)

[...]

Competing Accounts of Justice Dept.’s Handling of Hunter Biden Case
An I.R.S. investigator’s testimony describing strains over the inquiry into President Biden’s son is at odds with the version laid out by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/u...ter-biden.html
[archive link: https://archive.fo/OmXAt]
Glenn Thrush & Michael S. Schmidt (27 June 2023)

At a Senate hearing in March, Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, spent seven minutes grilling Attorney General Merrick B. Garland about the Hunter Biden investigation, reading a series of unusually specific queries from a paper in his hands.

Did David C. Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware kept on under Mr. Garland to continue overseeing the inquiry, have full authority to bring charges against President Biden’s son in California and Washington if he wanted to? Had Mr. Weiss ever asked to be made a special counsel? Was the investigation truly insulated from political considerations?

That encounter has taken on new significance after House Republicans released testimony last week from a senior Internal Revenue Service investigator on the case that appeared to contradict Mr. Garland’s assurances to Mr. Grassley and others that Mr. Weiss had all the freedom and authority he needed to pursue the case as he saw fit.

The I.R.S. official, Gary Shapley, oversaw the agency’s role in the investigation of Mr. Biden’s taxes and says his criticism of the Justice Department led to him being denied a promotion. He told the House Ways and Means Committee that Mr. Weiss had been rebuffed by top federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and Washington when he had raised the prospect of pursuing charges against the president’s son in those jurisdictions.

Mr. Shapley, testifying under what Republicans say are whistle-blower protections, also said that he had witnessed Mr. Weiss saying last year that he would not be the “deciding official” regarding whether to prosecute Mr. Biden, and that Mr. Weiss had been turned down when he sought special counsel status, which would have allowed him greater flexibility in handling the case.

In providing accounts of internal discussions at odds with Mr. Garland’s testimony, Mr. Shapley gave Republicans a fresh opening to raise questions about the case and to cast doubt on the Justice Department’s repeated statements that Mr. Weiss had complete control of the investigation with no political interference.

But it remains unclear how much of the difference in the accounts reflects possible factors like miscommunication, clashing substantive judgments among agencies over how best to pursue a prosecution, or personal enmity among officials working on a high-pressure, high-profile case. Investigators like Mr. Shapley whose job it is to uncover evidence often have different perspectives from prosecutors who have to take into account how to treat defendants fairly and present cases to juries.

Republican efforts to link Hunter Biden’s problems to his father have often come up short, and Mr. Garland, a former federal appeals court judge, has taken pains to distance himself from core decision-making in the politically polarizing cases that have landed on his desk. Still, Republican leaders now see Mr. Garland as a potentially vulnerable figure as they look for ways to undercut the president heading into the 2024 campaign.

“If it comes true what the I.R.S. whistle-blower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general,” Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News on Monday.

Mr. Garland, addressing reporters on Friday, forcefully denied Mr. Shapley’s claims. Mr. Weiss said in a letter to Congress this month that he had not been constrained in pursuing the investigation. Mr. Weiss said in the letter, dated June 7, that he had been “granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges.” He has yet to face more specific questions from House Republicans in the wake of Mr. Shapley’s testimony.

White House officials dismissed Mr. McCarthy’s impeachment threat as a “distraction.” And Hunter Biden’s lawyers have told the Justice Department that Mr. Shapley has broken federal laws that keep grand jury material secret. Mr. Shapley’s lawyer, Mark D. Lytle, said his client “has legally protected rights to blow the whistle.”

“There are so many unanswered questions here that I think the only solution is having Garland or Weiss, or both, testify before Congress or have a long press conference where they answer everything that’s being thrown at them,” said John P. Fishwick Jr., who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2015 to 2017.

“Is this just a disgruntled guy who didn’t get his way, as happens in every investigation?” he added, referring to Mr. Shapley. “Or is there something else going on?”

Mr. Weiss announced this month that Mr. Biden had agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of having failed to file his 2017 and 2018 taxes on time. Mr. Weiss also charged Mr. Biden in connection with his purchase of a handgun in 2018 but said he would not prosecute the charge under a two-year pretrial diversion program.

The Hunter Biden investigation was initiated by the Trump Justice Department in 2018 and eventually handed to Mr. Weiss, a Republican whose reputation for nonpartisanship had earned him the support of Delaware’s two Democratic senators during his confirmation a few months earlier.

Mr. Weiss was, according to the committee’s transcripts, determined to keep the inquiry under wraps as long as possible, thanking his team for keeping the investigation secret in a strategy session shortly after the 2020 election.

After President Biden was elected, the department’s interim leadership kept Mr. Weiss in place and in charge of the inquiry. Mr. Garland, after being confirmed, continued that arrangement, and was eager to avoid any suggestion of political meddling, according to people in his orbit.

But if Mr. Garland was content with how the politically explosive case was being handled, Mr. Shapley, a 14-year I.R.S. employee, was stewing in the shadows.

He recounted in his testimony that he had been arguing in meetings with Mr. Weiss and other prosecutors to aggressively pursue charges against Mr. Biden stemming from his failure to pay taxes in 2014 and 2015, two years not covered under Mr. Biden’s agreement to plead guilty on the misdemeanor tax charges. During those years, Mr. Biden was earning income from work for a Ukraine-based energy company and Chinese clients that Mr. Shapley suggested was being channeled through entities that had a presence in Washington and the Los Angeles area.

It is not clear if Mr. Weiss was convinced those strands of the investigation should be prosecuted or was simply making sure all potential charges were pursued thoroughly. 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.

While Mr. Weiss had the authority to pursue leads that led to jurisdictions other than his own in Delaware, the department’s practices dictated that he secure the approval and cooperation of the U.S. attorneys in those districts before proceeding.

If Mr. Weiss wanted to move ahead without their approval, he could have brought the issue to Mr. Garland’s attention, and the attorney general could then appoint him “special attorney,” which would allow him to bypass the standard chain of command. There is no indication that Mr. Weiss appealed for help from Mr. Garland or his top deputies — or that he even communicated about the case with anyone in leadership beyond the department’s top career official at headquarters.

When Mr. Grassley, at the hearing in March, pressed Mr. Garland on that point — without referring explicitly to Mr. Shapley’s claim, which would not become public for months, but tracking closely what Mr. Shapley would tell the Ways and Means Committee — the attorney general said he would “assure” that Mr. Weiss would be able to bring charges outside Delaware if that was his wish. At a news conference after the transcript was released, Mr. Garland repeated that message.

As the investigation ground on, Mr. Shapley had grown disenchanted with the lack of progress in the investigation, and by his account was so upset over the conduct of the Justice Department he found it hard to sleep.

He testified that Mr. Weiss, despite his public statements to the contrary, was also unhappy, and that he complained about being handcuffed by higher-ups in the department.

Things came to a head during a meeting among investigators on Oct. 7, when Mr. Weiss made an unexpected admission to him in the presence of several other federal law enforcement officials, according to Mr. Shapley’s account.

“He surprised us by telling us on the charges, quote: ‘I’m not the deciding official on whether charges are filed,’” said Mr. Shapley, a longtime Republican who has said he is motivated by the evenhanded application of justice, not politics.

“To add to the surprise, U.S. Attorney Weiss stated that he subsequently asked for special counsel authority from Main D.O.J. at that time and was denied that authority,” he added.

Mr. Weiss, he said, was then told “to follow D.O.J.’s process.”

Mr. Shapley did not say if Mr. Weiss told him who had turned down his request to appoint a special counsel, a decision that can only be made by an attorney general under department regulations.

After Mr. Garland last week denied Mr. Shapley’s account, Mr. Shapley’s lawyer, Mr. Lytle, issued a statement naming six F.B.I. and I.R.S. agents who he said witnessed the exchange, which Mr. Shapley also recorded in a contemporaneous email.

Later, Mr. Shapley blamed Mr. Weiss, without evidence, for helping to kill a promotion he had hoped to get, by criticizing him to his superiors at the I.R.S.

“I think it tainted me,” he told the Ways and Means Committee. “I think that they retaliated against me because of that. There’s really no other explanation for it.”

A spokeswoman for Mr. Weiss did not return a request for comment. In his June 7 letter to Representative Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he wrote that he had “ultimate authority” over every aspect of the investigation, which seemed to contradict Mr. Shapley’s claim that he had said he was not the deciding official in the case. (Mr. Jordan subsequently sent a letter asking Mr. Weiss to clarify what “ultimate authority” means.)

In a short news release last week setting out the terms of the deal with Mr. Biden, Mr. Weiss added without explanation: “The investigation is ongoing.” It is unclear whether that phrase was just Justice Department boilerplate, a hint about the possibility of more charges arising from the inquiry or a shield against demands for documents and testimony about the Biden case from Congress.

Mr. Garland, who often sidesteps requests for comment on ongoing investigations, has been uncharacteristically blunt in refuting Mr. Shapley’s testimony.

“Mr. Weiss never made that request,” Mr. Garland told reporters last Friday, referring to whether Mr. Weiss had sought special counsel status.

Under the special counsel regulation, Mr. Weiss would have been required to inform Mr. Garland about any major developments in the investigation, including his request to bring charges in California and Washington. Mr. Garland, in turn, would have to inform Congress in writing if he decided to overrule any major investigative decision, like charging Mr. Biden.

“If you provided the Delaware U.S. attorney with special counsel authority, isn’t it true that he would not need permission from another U.S. attorney to bring charges?” asked Mr. Grassley, a longtime chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in March.

“It’s a kind of a complicated question,” replied Mr. Garland.

He then suggested it was also an irrelevant one, arguing that Mr. Weiss “already” possessed the same authority under both scenarios.

Mr. Grassley did not appear to be convinced.

A correction was made on June 27, 2023: An earlier version of this article mischaracterized a letter that Representative Jim Jordan sent to David C. Weiss. It did not address his use of the term “ultimate authority.” The letter also was not sent on Monday. It was sent last week.

[Occam's Banana]

RazörFist | Welcome to Misdirection Month! - Razör Rants
If only we could get Vladimir Putin into a submarine, we'd have the ideal distraction.
https://odysee.com/@RazorFist:1/welc...!-raz%C3%B6r:7

[devil21]

Mods don't put people on ignore, reading your posts is their job.

The definition of moderator is to be a moderate middle observer, with no biases one way or another, especially biases stemming from financial incentives that may benefit one or both parties the moderator is supposed to be impartial toward.

I remember a time when moderators on RPF were barely seen, since that's what moderators were for. The good ol' days. Moderators posted when they had something to say. Now...well....yeah.

[Occam's Banana]

"The Biden DOJ would never have charged Hunter if his last name wasn't Biden."

https://twitter.com/tomselliott/stat...44169636864005

[nobody's_hero]

The definition of moderator is to be a moderate middle observer, with no biases one way or another, especially biases stemming from financial incentives that may benefit one or both parties the moderator is supposed to be impartial toward.

I remember a time when moderators on RPF were barely seen, since that's what moderators were for. The good ol' days. Moderators posted when they had something to say. Now...well....yeah.

I remember a time when moderators banned for less. Good ol' days indeed. Lost a lot of contributing members over the years because a mod was having a bad day.

Honestly man it's just. . . the arrogance that you exude (you're not alone in this), and maybe not aware of it.

Skepticism is healthy (even necessary) but some people take it to such extremes that everyone becomes your enemy, and your lesser, for not embracing your perceptions. We've all probably been guilty of it at some point or another. I've had some heated moments for sure and it's a wonder I wasn't at least temp banned on occasion.

This forum has become so paralyzed by paranoia it's little more than an echo chamber, certainly not much use for political action. A shell of its 2008-self.

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/...81227822764033

BREAKING — Israeli professor Dr. Gal Luft, the "missing witness" in the Biden corruption investigation, accuses the Bidens of receiving bribes from individuals linked to Chinese military intelligence and using an FBI mole named "One Eye" to share classified information with CEFC China Energy.

In an exclusive video obtained by @mirandadevine at The Post, Luft claims that he provided incriminating evidence to six officials from the FBI and the Department of Justice during a secret meeting in Brussels in March 2019, but he alleges that it was covered up.

According to Luft, he voluntarily informed the US government about a potential security breach and compromising information regarding Joe Biden, who was vying to be the next president at the time.

However, instead of being recognized as a whistleblower, he claims to have now become the target of the very same people he informed.

Luft asserts that his recent arrest in Cyprus was an attempt to prevent him from testifying to the House Oversight Committee about the Biden family's alleged corruption.

Luft denies being an arm dealer stating that he "has never traded a bullet in his entire life."

He further states that "nowhere in my indictment has the DOJ claimed or presented evidence that I bought, sold shipped or financed any weapons."

Luft alleges that Joe Biden, shortly after his vice presidential term, attended a meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, DC, with his son Hunter and officials from CEFC.

Luft claims that his account of the meeting was later corroborated when the famous laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, which contained all the emails and receipts, was handed to the FBI.

According to Luft, CEFC was paying Hunter $100,000 a month and his uncle Jim Biden $65,000 in exchange for their connections and the use of the Biden name to promote China's Belt and Road Initiative globally.

Luft denies operating as an unregistered foreign agent and questions why he is being indicted for ghostwriting an innocuous article for which he received no payment when the Bidens' influence-peddling on behalf of foreign governments goes unpunished.

"Why does the mother of all FARA cases which is the Biden's systemic influence peddling on behalf of foreign governments for which they raked in millions go unpunished?"

Luft challenges the government to release the minutes of the Brussels meeting and make public the evidence against him.

[Brian4Liberty]

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/...81227822764033
...

U.S. Attorney announces charges against whistleblower

https://twitter.com/alx/status/1678533756171239429

[Brian4Liberty]

https://twitter.com/alx/status/1678527826121596929

[Champ]

I remember a time when moderators banned for less. Good ol' days indeed. Lost a lot of contributing members over the years because a mod was having a bad day.

Honestly man it's just. . . the arrogance that you exude (you're not alone in this), and maybe not aware of it.

Skepticism is healthy (even necessary) but some people take it to such extremes that everyone becomes your enemy, and your lesser, for not embracing your perceptions. We've all probably been guilty of it at some point or another. I've had some heated moments for sure and it's a wonder I wasn't at least temp banned on occasion.

This forum has become so paralyzed by paranoia it's little more than an echo chamber, certainly not much use for political action. A shell of its 2008-self.

Yup. This is how this place is now. If I attempt to post my honest thoughts on certain topics, I will have a bunch of people breathing down my neck, like some mob of intimidators, just daring me to say it again, lest I suffer some kind of interweb consequences. And I am of the belief that this is a desired result by some of these people.
They want me and others to feel this intimidation so that we don't participate here anymore. It's been like this since around 2015, shortly after Trump announced his candidacy and has only gotten worse through the years.

Basically, if I do not show severe and intense hatred of Trump, anything I say will be attacked and condemned. I will be some kind of outsider or other. Everything revolves around Trump and the issues he brought to the forefront of political discussions. So with that being the case, I have taken my time and business elsewhere since this is the way it is here now. Trump has a thousand flaws, but has also done some good outside of his presidency, there is nuance here, there is gray area, yes it exists. It's a mixed bag, but these thoughts are disallowed by those that are trying to intimidate others out of these forums, because I did not condemn him. It's a joke and not in the spirit of Ron Paul, having vigorous discussion and debate, not even in the slightest. It's all about shutting debate down entirely.

Hundreds, maybe thousands have left since 2015 as a result of this culture. And it does not seem like there is any hope in this ever changing. Let the echo chamber continue forth!

[acptulsa]

Basically, if I do not show severe and intense hatred of Trump, anything I say will be attacked and condemned. I will be some kind of outsider or other.

@Anti Federalist do you feel like an outsider when you say something nice about Trump, and people remind you what a tool he has been? Or does it strike you as life on a political forum?

Well, Champ, you weren't around to see what happened to the scores of astroturfers who spammed the place up talking up Obama and McCain, but you certainly saw what happened to those who tried to sell us Romney. Why did you think it would be different when you tried to sell your pet tool? You saw 'Scusesmyth and all the others pop up at that moment and provide you a choir to preach to, and you knew what had happened when the place had become awash in spam before. Why did you think we needed your spam too?

Everything revolves around Trump.

Not this forum.

Trump has a thousand flaws...

Nice of you to notice. 'Scusesmyth still hasn't figured that out.

Let the echo chamber continue forth!

Sure, dude. This place is an echo chamber because it doesn't advertise Trump 24/7 any more like all the mainstream media does do.

Hell, man. People get paid to help maintain the illusion that, as you said, "Everything revolves around Trump." Why aren't you working for a place paid to maintain that illusion by Soros and pals, instead of wasting time on us?

[devil21]

^^^^^^Or perhaps most still haven't accepted that candidates for highest offices are just cult built actors on the stage selling narratives while they fold on the biggest agendas that affect us all. Whether one ascribes positive or negative motivations to their narratives is irrelevant. It's still just a production. And the production is in the final act, the curtain is closing (or opening if you believe Frank Zappa's quote about the stage, the curtain and the brick wall) and the actors are exiting stage left.




https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/122...s-long-as-it-s

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
― Frank Zappa

Interesting video, especially the medical garb and then people all naked like they're in a morgue. Seems relevant.

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/GPIngersoll/stat...53179217723394

[Undertow88]

In this explosive video, the IRS whistleblower comes forward to set the record straight and deliver a scathing response to Jamie Raskin's misguided defense of Hunter Biden. The truth will be revealed, and the facts laid bare, as the whistleblower exposes the real story behind the controversial tax allegations. Like, comment and subscribe for more videos.

[acptulsa]

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/st...96575779942401

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/s...83044700381186

[Occam's Banana]

Hunter Biden’s Scandals Always Were—And Still Are—About Joe Biden's Corruption. Plus: Congress Nukes Hawley's Stock-Trading Ban | SYSTEM UPDATE #117
https://rumble.com/v32b9k0-system-update-117.html

CLIP:

NEW EVIDENCE: Joe Biden Directly Involved in Hunter's Corruption Scheme | SYSTEM UPDATE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fzi9305-to

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/realNickMiles/st...59820705128449

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2/sta...73250329665536

[Sonny Tufts]

https://twitter.com/realNickMiles/st...59820705128449

Good for the judge.

[acptulsa]

[Occam's Banana]

The fix was in for Hunter Biden — until a hero judge stepped up
https://nypost.com/2023/07/26/the-fi...ge-stepped-up/
Andrew C. McCarthy (26 July 2023)

If you are trying to pull off a corrupt deal — one that is actually political theater, but that you are trying to masquerade as law — you’d better make sure the judge is in on it.

When it came to that little detail, the Biden administration dropped the ball.

Judge Maryellen Noreika instead did her job.

That is why Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea bargain blew up in Delaware federal court today.

Understand what was happening here.

In every normal criminal case, in every legitimate investigation, you have adversarial parties — the defense looking out for the accused’s interest and, critically, the Justice Department looking out for the public interest.

That means government attorneys being appropriately aggressive in prosecuting lawbreakers.

In fact, Justice Department plea-bargain standards generally call for requiring the defendant to plead guilty to, at a minimum, the most serious, readily provable charge.

The Biden investigation is continuing — even expanding — but we already know the Justice Department could have readily proved serious tax felonies (involving more than $10 million in income) and a gun offense carrying a potential 10-year sentence.

Alas, there’s nothing standard about the Hunter Biden case. That’s because the parties are not adversaries. They are in cahoots.

Thus did the president’s son and the president’s Justice Department conspire to orchestrate a plea deal that would (a) allow Hunter Biden to escape prison and be given immunity from future prosecution over the Biden family business of cashing in on President Biden’s political influence, and (b) allow the Biden administration to pretend that, with independence and integrity, the president had allowed his Justice Department to prosecute his own son.

On the egregious facts already known about Hunter’s conduct and the Biden family business, there would have been no way to consummate such a deal unless the judge was in on the scheme.

Judge Noreika was not in on it. She is the one who acted with independence and integrity, declining to let the Biden family and the Biden Justice Department turn her into a rubber stamp for their corruption.

Part of what can make a plea bargain a sweetheart plea bargain is how it’s framed. That’s especially true in political cases.

The point of plea agreements, by which the vast majority of criminal cases are settled, is to spell out in exacting detail the complete understanding of the parties. It’s a contract.

If something goes wrong down the road, if one of the parties breaches the terms, the clarity of the agreement puts everyone on notice of the consequences.

Here though, because the defendant and the prosecution were not adversaries as in normal criminal cases, they could not spell out their one-sided agreement. Doing so would have been too politically damaging — and this was all about politics.

Both Hunter Biden and the Biden Justice Department wanted an arrangement that would give Hunter the maximum amount of immunity from prosecution for the minimum amount of criminal admissions they thought they could get away with.

But there would have been scandal if prosecutors had written an agreement that said: Hunter pleads guilty to two trivial misdemeanor counts for years 2018 and 2019 with the expectation of no jail time, and the government further makes a firearms felony disappear; in exchange, the Justice Department will not prosecute him for any other tax crimes, money laundering, felony failure to register as a foreign agent, bribery conspiracy, or any other criminal offenses arising out of his business dealings from 2014 to 2019.

So instead, with a nod and a wink, the Justice Department wrote a plea agreement saying merely that Hunter would plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges in satisfaction of the conduct covering all tax years from 2014 through 2019.

This would allow Hunter to walk away saying the case was over and claiming immunity for not only tax crimes but for any criminal offense arising out of his years of lucrative business dealings. For its part, the Justice Department would say, “The agreement settling the tax offenses speaks for itself. Beyond that, we, of course, cannot comment because that could compromise an ongoing investigation.”

Get it? Hunter quietly walks away with a complete pass, the Justice Department clams up, the “ongoing investigation” slips into the great black hole that it has been all along, never again to be heard of, and Joe Biden goes on the campaign trail bragging about how he fearlessly let his Justice Department prosecute his own son with — all together now — independence and integrity.

It didn’t happen that way because, thankfully, one federal judge did her duty.

Judge Noreika didn’t have to do much: just ask Hunter Biden’s defense lawyers and the Biden Justice Department prosecutors what, exactly, they had agreed to.

The Biden Justice Department didn’t dare say that publicly, so the sweetheart deal went up in smoke.

[Occam's Banana]

Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal on gun, tax charges torpedoed by judge in sensational court room dust up
https://nypost.com/2023/07/26/hunter...-kevin-morris/
Josh Christenson & Steven Nelson (26 July 2023)

First son Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax and gun charges Wednesday, a dramatic about-face after his wrist-slap, probation-only plea deal fell apart — with the judge in the case accusing both sides of wanting her to “rubber-stamp” an improperly broad agreement.

The stunning turn of events came more than 90 minutes into the hearing at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Del., where Hunter was expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay taxes and enter a diversion program on a felony federal weapons charge.

But US District Judge Maryellen Noreika ran the rule over both prosecutors and the lawyers for President Biden’s 53-year-old son — asking assistant US attorney Leo Wise if Hunter was still under scrutiny for potential offenses including failing to register as a foreign agent for lucrative dealings in countries such as China and Ukraine that allegedly involved his father.

“Yes,” admitted Wise, echoing statements by his boss, Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, whose office confirmed the ongoing nature of the probe to The Post Wednesday. Wise added if Hunter’s team thought otherwise, “then there’s no deal.”

Hunter’s main attorney, Chris Clark, has insisted that he believed the first son’s criminal liability to be resolved entirely by the tentative pact and responded to Wise by dramatically announcing: “As far as I’m concerned, the plea agreement is null and void.”

After a 20-minute recess that doubled as a bargaining period, both sides tried to move forward with a revised plea deal that specified Hunter would face no additional charges linked to tax crimes committed between 2014 and 2019 — or any counts involving his drug use and associated weapons violations.

Judge Noreika was still suspicious, asking both sides if they intended for her to sign off on a deal that bound her to impose no prison time on the first son.

“We’re not asking the court to rubber-stamp anything,” Wise said at one point, to which the judge answered: “Well, it certainly seems that way.”

Finally, after three hours of high drama, Noreika told Wise and Clark that the revised agreement was still “not straightforward” and included “atypical provisions.”

Asked if there was any precedent for the kind of deal being proposed, Wise admitted: “No, your honor.”

“I think having you guys talk more makes sense,” the judge said, before asking Hunter: “Without me saying I’ll agree to the plea agreement, how do you plead?”

“Not guilty, your honor,” the president’s son answered, a pro forma statement ahead of his next hearing, set for Aug. 25.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has since Monday teased the opening of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged role in Hunter’s dealings, and confirmation of an ongoing investigation beyond tax violations could spur on House investigators.

Hunter Biden introduced his dad to many of his foreign associates and in some instances served as a liaison to US officials. Legal experts assess that he likely violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act through conduct documented on his abandoned laptop and other records.

One of Hunter’s closest business partners, Devon Archer, is expected to testify to Congress next week that the then-second son often put his then-vice president father on speakerphone while meeting with overseas partners.

FARA violations can carry stiff penalties, and a five-year statute of limitations means that charges likely would have to come soon for Hunter — who left the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma in 2019 and whose most lucrative Chinese government-linked partnership spanned 2017 and 2018.

Violations of the law can send perpetrators to prison. Former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced in 2018 to 60 months behind bars specifically for FARA violations related to his work in Ukraine, plus another 30 months for tax and bank fraud and witness tampering.

There is evidence that Joe Biden met in person with Hunter’s associates from China, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine — in addition to meeting with his US partners — and Hunter complained in records on his abandoned laptop that he had to give “half” of his income to his dad.

One allegation apparently under investigation is an FBI informant’s June 2020 tip that a Ukrainian oligarch — Burisma’s owner Mykola Zlochevsky — said he was “coerced” to pay $10 million in bribes to Hunter and then-Vice President Joe Biden to influence US government policy. Hunter joined the company’s board in 2014, soon after his father took over the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.

Congressional Republicans are demanding to know what Weiss’ office and the FBI did to vet the bribery allegation.

Hunter — who has earned at least $1.3 million by selling his novice artworks since his father became president, including to a presidential commission appointee — repeatedly involved his dad in foreign business relationships.

Hunter rode aboard Air Force Two with his dad on an official trip to Beijing in 2013 as he set up a state-backed investment fund called BHR Partners. Hunter introduced Joe Biden to incoming CEO Jonathan Li and Joe Biden later wrote college recommendation letters for Li’s children.

As part of a later Chinese business venture with government-linked CEFC China Energy, Hunter’s associates in May 2017 penciled in a 10% cut for Joe Biden. The president allegedly met with Hunter’s business partners in that deal, including Tony Bobulinski, and he was listed as a participant in an October 2017 call about CEFC’s attempt to purchase US natural gas.

Hunter also flew with his dad aboard the taxpayer-funded jet to Mexico in 2016 with business associate Jeff Cooper as the pair courted that nation’s business elite, whom Hunter’s father had hosted the preceding year at the official vice president’s residence in Washington.

The House Oversight Committee in May identified nine Biden relatives who allegedly received foreign income from shady figures in China and Romania — and has argued they were selling access to their powerful relative.

Hunter Biden had appeared confident ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, showing up alongside his “sugar brother,” attorney Kevin Morris.

Morris, a Hollywood-based lawyer and Democratic donor, was spotted last week taking a hit from a bong outside his Los Angeles home while Hunter, a recovering drug addict, paid a visit.

Hunter Biden agreed last month to plead guilty to failing to pay at least $100,000 on more than $1.5 million in earned income in both 2017 and 2018.

He also agreed to admit to lying about his crack cocaine use on a federal firearm purchase form in 2018.

At the hearing, Hunter assured the judge he hadn’t used drugs since May 2019, though he gave his formal “sober date” as June 1 of that year.

The younger Biden faced a maximum sentence of two years’ probation for the tax crimes and 10 years in a federal prison for lying on the gun purchase form.

Under an unusual diversion agreement for the gun charge, Hunter would have had to remain sober, submit to drug testing, avoid committing other crimes for two years and agree not to own a firearm again.

Morris, who accompanied Hunter to court, has been a central — and mysterious — figure in Hunter’s orbit since they met at a December 2019 Biden fundraiser.

He reportedly loaned Hunter about $2 million last year to pay off back taxes in a bid to reduce the likelihood or severity of charges for allegedly evading about $2.2 million in tax payments on $8.3 million in foreign income from 2014 to 2019.

As Hunter cried poverty to reduce child support payments to his 4-year-old daughter Navy Joan Roberts, he used Morris’ private jet in May to travel to a court appearance in Arkansas.

Morris is also among the buyers of Hunter’s novice artworks, according to a Monday report by Business Insider.

And a purportedly leaked business record says the attorney assumed control of Hunter’s 10% stake in Chinese state-backed investment fund BHR Partners, which drew negative headlines and questions about conflicts of interest for Hunter and his dad.

IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley, who led the tax fraud investigation of Hunter for more than three years, suggested in a recent Fox News interview that he was skeptical about the relationship between the men.

“Well, to say [Hunter Biden] paid [back taxes] is a misnomer, right? Because it was an individual, Morris, that he met at a campaign finance event and then he immediately starts giving Hunter Biden money to pay off tax debts, to pay living expenses,” Shapley said.

“The money that was given to Hunter Biden by Morris showed up on his tax returns as a loan to him. So, when you have a person that you meet at a campaign finance event, then he’s, all of a sudden, giving you millions of dollars and … it’s a loan to you, I wouldn’t necessarily say that the subject paid those taxes.”

Hunter Biden’s plea deal has been derided by Shapley, primary IRS case agent Joseph Ziegler, and Republicans in Congress as a “sweetheart” deal.

President Biden’s Justice Department appointees allegedly blocked more serious charges while prosecutors allegedly impeded standard investigative steps and barred agents from asking about the president’s role in foreign dealings in countries such as China and Ukraine, despite communications that implicate him.

The president did not have any public events Wednesday and his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, sought to distance him from the courtroom drama.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and this was a personal matter for him,” Jean-Pierre said. “As we have said, the president, the first lady, they love their son, and they support him as he continues to rebuild his life.”

[69360]

Seems like the question is if Joe is going to throw Hunter under the bus to save himself?

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/stat...34285709574145

[Madison320]

People who believe in putting other people in prison for not paying taxes should probably go to prison for not paying taxes. That's what they want, isn't it?

Somehow getting Hunter Biden for tax evasion feels like getting Jeffrey Dahmer for jaywalking.

[dannno]

Somehow getting Hunter Biden for tax evasion feels like getting Jeffrey Dahmer for jaywalking.

Yes it is, that's a whole other topic.

[acptulsa]

https://twitter.com/DC_Draino/status...59858072076292

[acptulsa]

https://twitter.com/MikeASperrazza/s...04580295389186

[Occam's Banana]

Hunter Biden’s Sweetheart Plea Deal Falls Apart, Dems & DHS Secretary Call for Domestic War on Terror, & Mitch McConnell Embodies Gerontocracy | SYSTEM UPDATE #118
https://rumble.com/v32in60-system-update-show-118.html

CLIP:

Hunter’s Sweetheart Plea Falls Apart: What Really Happened? | SYSTEM UPDATE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6tz4bFaHNY