Emails: DOJ Sought Briefing on Hunter Biden Case Attended by Political Appointees, National Security Official

FILE - President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden leaves after a court appearance, Wednesday,
AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File

IRS agent whistleblowers raised concerns about the scheduled attendance of political appointees and a national security official at a briefing on the Hunter Biden case — 16 days after President Joe Biden assumed office, the IRS whistleblowers alleged in recent disclosures to Congress.

The circumstances surrounding the meeting raise additional questions about whether or not Attorney General Merrick Garland’s claims of not interfering in the probe of the president’s son are true.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is sworn in at the start of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on September 20, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Now-Special Counsel David Weiss’ office and five new assistant attorneys general in the DOJ’s Washington headquarters met on February 5, 2021, to discuss the probe, according to IRS whistleblowers.

“The 5 attorneys have the briefing at 1130 with the AAGs,” Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf wrote to the IRS and FBI agents working the case. “It is scheduled for an hour, but if we aren’t on at 1230, you will know that it ran long. You guys can either start without us or people can log out and we will shoot an email out when we are done.”

Wolf is the official who IRS whistleblowers claim refused to allow investigators to ask about Joe Biden being “the big guy.” Wolf allegedly cautioned the investigation team not to search Joe Biden’s guest house in Delaware for evidence against Hunter Biden because of “optics.” Hunter Biden’s lawyers also worked with Wolf to draft the sweetheart plea deal that collapsed, according to the New York Times.

T94 Shapley 3 Attachment 13 WMRedacted by Breitbart News on Scribd

Hours after Wolf’s email, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley forwarded Wolf’s message to the IRS chain of command about his concern that Joe Biden’s new DOJ lawyers asked to join the meeting. Those invited to the meeting included Biden’s political appointees and an official from the National Security Division [NSD] who did not have jurisdiction in the tax probe.

“We learned today that USAO and DOJ Tax are briefing the new AAG on the tax case today,” Shapley wrote. “NSD asked for a briefing so they could understand the tax side of the case. I don’t understand why this matters to them since they are NSD…but I just wanted to give you an update that this meeting was occurring.”

WATCH — Dem Rep. Lofgren: Garland Dodged on if He Spoke to FBI About Hunter Because He Might Have Done So:

A total of four IRS agents told House investigators that Joe Biden’s DOJ blocked Weiss from charging Hunter Biden, seemingly contradicting Garland’s assertion of Weiss’ complete authority to charge the president’s son.

“He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own,” Garland said in June of Weiss.

Weiss investigated Hunter Biden for five years for tax, gun, Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), and Mann Act violations. The probe came to a head when IRS whistleblowers alleged in April that two Biden administration political appointees within the DOJ had worked to block charges against Hunter Biden for tax violations, against recommendations.

The DOJ planned to let Hunter Biden off the hook, without charges, until two whistleblowers came forward to expose political interference in the investigation, the Times reported.

Weiss’ plea deal with Hunter Biden collapsed in July under judicial scrutiny. Weiss later charged Hunter Biden with three gun violations after Garland appointed him special counsel. Media reports indicate Weiss could still charge the president’s son with tax violations.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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