(Headline USA) The New York Times independently confirmed this week a key part of a whistleblower’s allegations against the Justice Department.
In a report about IRS criminal supervisory agent Gary Shapley’s claims, the Times revealed that Shapley, who was tasked with overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances, did in fact alert multiple U.S. attorneys of Hunter’s alleged crimes.
Shapley testified that he found evidence of wrongdoing in three districts: Delaware, the Central District of California and the District of Columbia. He notified each of the district’s U.S. attorneys, but was rebuffed by California’s and D.C.’s, both of whom were appointed by President Joe Biden.
The U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, is currently investigating Hunter Biden. Shapley said that when Weiss reached out to other DOJ prosecutors about his intention to file charges against Hunter, he too was shut down.
The New York Times confirmed this in its report: “[I]n 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,” the Times said.
“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,” the publication reported.
This confirmation directly contradicts what Attorney General Merrick Garland said about the investigation during his congressional testimony. Garland testified that Weiss was the one with sole authority over the investigation and that the Justice Department has not interfered in it.
“The United States Attorney had been advised that he has full authority to make those referrals you’re talking about or to bring cases in other districts if he needs to do that. He has been advised that he should get anything he needs,” Garland told lawmakers.
Garland also specifically denied that Weiss had been barred from bringing charges against Hunter Biden in D.C. and the Central District of California.
“[Weiss is] not restricted in his investigation in any way,” Garland said.
