Hunter Biden investigation: GOP says DOJ shut down potential campaign finance prosecution

Hunter Biden investigation: GOP says DOJ shut down potential campaign finance prosecution

October 13, 2023 08:36 PM

House Republicans Friday accused the Department of Justice of quashing an investigation into a wealthy Democratic Party donor who helped pay off some of Hunter Biden‘s unpaid taxes.

The House Ways and Means Committee pointed to the trove of material it obtained last month from IRS whistleblowers that included an allegation that a top prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware dismissed IRS agents’ worries about a potential campaign finance violation related to the donor, Kevin Morris.

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The whistleblowers provided the material, which was used in the Department of Justice’s investigation into Hunter Biden, after they testified to Congress that they had witnessed the DOJ extend preferential treatment to Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden‘s son, and allow statutes of limitations to expire for certain tax crimes that could have been brought against him.

Hunter Biden is expected to be charged for evading taxes in 2017 and 2018, but other years that the whistleblowers say he was under investigation for remain unaccounted for.

Hunter Biden
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden arrives for a court appearance in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023.

Matt Rourke/AP

In 2017 and 2018, Hunter Biden raked in more than $2 million but failed to pay income taxes those years, according to a defunct plea deal filed by prosecutors this summer.

He later paid them off with the help of Morris, a high-profile Hollywood attorney and Democrat donor, who loaned the younger Biden $2 million and owns some of his high-value artwork.

The committee pointed out that Morris began helping Hunter Biden at the same time Joe Biden was running for president in 2020.

Investigators noted in a report provided by the whistleblowers that “there may be campaign finance criminal violations” related to Morris aiding the younger Biden.

Handwritten notes one of the whistleblowers, Gary Shapley, took during a call with Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf in January 2022 document that Wolf said she was “not ‘personally’ interested in pursuing” the campaign finance concern.

“It is reasonable to ask who requested that Kevin Morris cover Hunter Biden’s tax liability or whether he received something in return for his more than $2 million dollars in payments to someone that he barely knew,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) said in a statement on Friday.

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“One of the biggest benefits to the Joe Biden presidential campaign in 2020 was Kevin Morris trying to cover the tracks of Hunter’s mounting legal troubles,” Smith continued. “Moreover, the American people deserve to know why when IRS investigators smelled a potential campaign finance violation and wanted to investigate the matter further, the Justice Department moved to shut down the investigation.”

The DOJ has declined to comment on the material released by the committee.

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