The Department of Justice (DOJ) is blocking two tax attorneys involved with the Hunter Biden investigation from testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, according to a new House report.
The House Ways and Means, Oversight and Judiciary Committees released a report Tuesday summarizing the testimony from numerous officials related to the IRS whistleblower allegations of special treatment given to Hunter Biden throughout the investigation. (RELATED: DOJ Prosecutors Grill Hunter Biden For Attempting To Subpoena Donald Trump)
In the report, House investigators accuse the DOJ of withholding information from the committees and preventing two DOJ Tax Division officials from testifying in defiance of congressional subpoenas. (RELATED: House Republicans Release Report Detailing How DOJ Gave Hunter Biden ‘Special Treatment’ During Investigation)
READ THE FULL REPORT:
“Even still, despite these troubling findings, there is more information that the Justice Department is keeping from the Committees,” the report reads.
“The Justice Department has still not fully complied with requests for relevant documents, and it has impeded the Committees’ investigation by baselessly preventing two Tax Division officials—Senior Litigation Counsel Mark Daly and Trial Attorney Jack Morgan—from testifying, despite subpoenas compelling their testimony. These documents and this testimony are necessary for the Committees to complete our inquiry.”
Senior litigation counsel Mark Daly and trial attorney Jack Morgan both feature prominently in the testimony given by IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler related to the Hunter Biden case.
Most notably, Daly and Morgan delivered a presentation during a June 2022 meeting arguing against charging Hunter Biden for the 2014-15 tax years, both whistleblowers testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in May and June.
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: Internal Revenue Service Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley (L) and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler (R), who both worked on the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, testify before the House Ways and Means Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Ways and Means Committee is hearing testimony from Internal Revenue whistleblowers Service Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, who both claim they were blocked from pursuing leads that would lead to more serious charges during their five-year investigation into Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“So June 15th, 2022, the meeting with Stuart Goldberg, [Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General]. The meeting with DOJ Tax at Main DOJ where the purpose of the meeting was misrepresented to the agents. We had no idea that they were going to bring up a huge presentation to everyone there regarding the reasons why we shouldn’t charge this case,” Ziegler testified.
He said Daly and Morgan delivered the presentation at the June 2022 meeting. Shapley also recalled details from the DOJ Tax officials’ presentation.
“And this was when DOJ Tax was kind of giving a presentation about potential problems with ’14, ’15. Now they’ve already tried to bring it to D.C. They already requested special counsel and got denied. So now they’re kind of trying to make this evidential issue for those years,” Shapley testified.
Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves declined to cooperate with Weiss on the Hunter Biden case, Graves and Weiss confirmed when they testified to the Judiciary Committee, according to transcripts reviewed by the Daily Caller. (RELATED: Witness Testimony Confirms Key Allegations Made By IRS Whistleblowers In Hunter Biden Tax Case)
As a result, the statute of limitations expired for the 2014-15 tax years, Weiss confirmed. Shapley and Ziegler testified about alleged tax offenses Hunter Biden committed in 2014-15 related to his income from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings.
“That process meant no charges would ever be brought in the District of Columbia, where the statute of limitations on the 2014 and ’15 charges would eventually expire. The years in question included foreign income from Burisma and a scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon,” Shapley stated.
Burisma paid Hunter Biden $83,333.333 per month as a board member during the 2014-15 tax years, according to bank records released in August by the House Oversight Committee.
DOJ tax official Stuart Goldberg testified to the House Judiciary Committee in October and said he knew ahead of time Daly and Morgan were giving their presentation, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Special counsel David Weiss needs authorization from the DOJ Tax Division to charge Hunter Biden for alleged tax offenses, Goldberg told the Judiciary Committee.
Weiss testified to the Judiciary Committee in November and confirmed the Tax Division has the authority to authorize investigative steps and tax charges in the Hunter Biden case.
The top prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case, Weiss, said he never ran into problems with the Tax Division. Weiss and his team continue to scrutinize Hunter Biden’s taxes alongside a California grand jury, CNN first reported.
Hunter Biden was indicted on three federal gun charges in September, to which he pleaded not guilty in early October.
Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada declined to partner with Weiss on the Hunter Biden case, he testified in October, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Shapley and Zielger are testifying before the Ways and Means Committee behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss the Hunter Biden investigation in further detail.
The transcripts of the whistleblowers’ initial testimony were released in late June and they proceeded to testify before Congress publicly in July. In September, the Ways and Means Committee released a trove of documents supporting the IRS whistleblower testimony.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.