House Republicans ramp up investigation into Hunter Biden

Last month, Hunter Biden struck a plea deal on tax and gun charges with federal prosecutors. But the reality is that Mr. Biden’s legal problems are far from over.

House Republicans are ramping up their investigations of the accusations against President Joe Biden’s son and the Justice Department’s handling of his case. GOP lawmakers are particularly focused on allegations from two IRS agents that Justice officials obstructed and delayed their probe into Hunter Biden’s actions. Both are scheduled to appear as witnesses at a public hearing of the GOP-led House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Democrats have dismissed the effort as groundless and motivated by politics. Republicans insist they are following leads that might ultimately implicate the commander in chief himself.

The plea deal

The Justice Department began investigating Hunter Biden in 2018, initially focusing on his foreign business dealings in China and Ukraine, among other countries.

In June, the Department struck a plea deal with Mr. Biden under which he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018. He also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program which, if completed, would allow him to avoid being charged for falsely saying he was not a drug user when he purchased a .38 caliber revolver at a Wilmington, Delaware, gun store on Oct. 12, 2018.

Mr. Biden now admits that period was a low point in his life when he was struggling with addiction problems. He has since paid back his taxes owed.

If the plea deal is approved by a federal judge as it stands, Mr. Biden would likely face no prison time. However, U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss, who led the investigation and filed the charges, said in a June 20 statement that “the investigation is ongoing.” He did not say what aspects of Mr. Biden’s life were still under the Justice Department microscope. Mr. Biden is expected to appear in court July 26. 

“Sitting here with my father”

Many Republicans were outraged at what they considered a slap on the wrist for a Biden family member. On his Truth Social network former President Donald Trump insinuated that Mr. Biden was guilty of much worse and that the plea deal amounted to a “traffic ticket.”

Days after Justice officials announced the plea deal, the House Ways and Means Committee released transcripts from several IRS officials who had testified before the panel under what Republicans said were whistleblower protections.

One of the officials, Gary Shapley, an IRS agent who had supervised the inquiry into Mr. Biden, described a July 30, 2017, WhatsApp message from Mr. Biden to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao. The message was obtained from iCloud storage under a search warrant.

In the message, Mr. Biden said that he was sitting with his father, and that “we would like to understand how the commitment made was not fulfilled.”

If the matter was not resolved to his satisfaction, Mr. Biden said, “the man sitting next to me and every person he knows” would find out.

President Biden has personally dismissed the claim that he was connected to his son’s business activities. He emphatically answered, “No, I wasn’t,” when asked by reporters last month whether he was involved in his son’s business dealings, or in the room when the WhatsApp message was sent.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers have said that the message was sent during a period of their client’s life that was dominated by addiction to crack cocaine and filled with personal turmoil. His brother Beau Biden died in 2015, and after that he spiraled downward, even engaging in a brief affair with his late brother’s wife.

Abbe Lowell, one of Mr. Biden’s attorneys, questioned the authenticity of the message in a June 30 letter to the Republican chairman of the House Way and Means Committee.

“President Biden and our client were not together that day,” Mr. Lowell wrote.

The whistleblowers

Republican investigators have based many of their criticisms of the Hunter Biden plea deal on the assertions of two whistleblower witnesses: Mr. Shapley, and an unidentified “Agent X.” 

These witnesses, according to testimony transcripts, have outlined what they deem to be a pattern of slow-walking and delay in the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden investigation.

Mr. Shapley, for instance, has described what he believes to be roadblocks that he and other agents encountered when they attempted to interview witnesses they deemed relevant to the investigation or issue search warrants.

Both whistleblowers say they believe they have been subject to professional retaliation for coming forward and presenting their case to congressional investigators.

Their most contentious claims involve U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed to his position by former President Trump, and continued his investigation of Hunter Biden under the Biden administration.

Mr. Shapley said that Mr. Weiss had sought to be appointed a special counsel – which would have allowed him to bring tax charges against Mr. Biden in jurisdictions other than Delaware – but was denied this status. U.S. Attorneys in California and Washington appointed by the current president then blocked him from prosecuting Mr. Biden in their jurisdictions, according to the whistleblowers.

In his testimony Mr. Shapley also said he had personally heard Mr. Weiss say he would not be the “deciding official” on the question of whether to prosecute the younger Mr. Biden.

The Biden response

Administration officials have responded that various actions whistleblowers have interpreted as slow-walking may simply reflect the natural hesitations of officials involved in a complex, politically fraught investigation.

Bringing a felony tax evasion case against Mr. Biden may have been difficult, for instance, as juries sometimes balk at convicting on such charges when defendants have already paid back owed taxes and penalties, as Mr. Biden has.

Meanwhile, Mr. Weiss has publicly denied being blocked from pursuing serious charges against Mr. Biden.

In a letter to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mr. Weiss asserted that he never requested special counsel status. He said he had inquired about something else: whether he could be appointed a special attorney under a set of Justice Department regulations that would allow him to bring charges in jurisdictions other than his own, if necessary.

“I was assured I would be granted this authority if it was necessary,” Mr. Weiss wrote.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has also weighed in on Mr. Weiss’ powers. 

“He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own,” Attorney General Garland said at a press conference last month.