On Thursday, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) jumped at the opportunity to bring focus on an IRS whistleblower's bombshell letter concerning the ongoing federal investigation into First Son Hunter Biden during an oversight hearing on IRS affairs. The whistleblower alleged that IRS agents had been blocked from digging deeper into Biden family matters.
"Last week, a whistleblower came forward with troubling claims about abuses of power," Smith told IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel. "We are conducting a review of this matter and will go wherever the facts lead us. I expect full cooperation from the IRS, particularly with regard to ensuring this whistleblower is protected from retaliation."
According to the US media, the House Ways and Means Committee has authorized two lawyers for the IRS whistleblower to collect information from their client concerning alleged wrongdoing he witnessed while carrying out a probe into Hunter Biden's tax affairs.
The committee's official letter "frees" the IRS agent in question and his lawyers from 6103 tax privacy obligations so that they can provide the collected information to Congress for further investigation. Generally, Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 6103 prohibits the release of tax information by an IRS employee.
On April 19, the New York Post revealed that an IRS whistleblower came forward to shed light on apparent violations during the Hunter Biden tax evasion investigation. In particular, the agent cited "preferential treatment" and false testimony to Congress by a "senior political appointee." Later, the newspaper reported that Attorney General Merrick Garland is the appointee whose sworn testimony to Congress is being challenged.
Mark Lytle, a seasoned white-collar attorney, defined the whistleblower as "a career IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent who has been overseeing the ongoing and sensitive investigation of a high-profile, controversial subject since early 2020" in his letter to US members of Congress. According to the media, the IRS agent has already informed the inspectors general of the Treasury and Justice Departments about the alleged violations.
According to the US press, the potentially misleading statement could pertain to Garland's April 2022 testimony, in which he said that "there will not be interference of any political or improper kind" in Hunter Biden's probe and that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who has been conducting the investigation over the past few years, is able to criminally charge the younger Biden without the permission of other Justice Department leaders.
Thus, on March 1, 2023, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reminded Garland that without special counsel authority, Weiss could need permission of another US attorney in certain circumstances to bring charges against Hunter Biden "outside the district of Delaware." After a tense discussion between Grassley and Garland, the senator summed up that "If Weiss … must seek permission from a [President] Biden-appointed US attorney to bring charges, then the Hunter Biden criminal investigation isn’t insulated from political interference, as you publicly proclaimed."
It was earlier reported that Weiss is also looking into Hunter's apparent money laundering, unregistered foreign lobbying, and misleading the authorities about drug use on his gun purchase form.
Meanwhile, the latter IRS whistleblower complaint is not the only case involving the agency and high-profile Democratic officials. In March 2019, Clinton Foundation whistleblowers and independent expert forensic investigators Lawrence W. Doyle and John F. Moynihan filed a lawsuit in the US Tax Court over the IRS' apparent unwillingness to scrutinize the Clinton charities' systemic financial flaws. The litigation is pending.
Back in December 2018, Doyle and Moynihan testified before US lawmakers alleging that the Clinton Foundation owes the US government between $400 million and $2.5 billion in taxes. Speaking to Sputnik, Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel suggested that US federal agencies have become instrumental in covering up the misdeeds and corruption of US dynastic political families, including the Clintons, the Bidens, the Bushes, and the Obamas.