IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified for six hours over the alleged Hunter Biden cover-up

WASHINGTON — IRS Supervisor Gary Shapley spent about six hours Friday testifying privately before Congress about an alleged cover-up in the criminal investigation into first son Hunter Biden.

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee gave the panel’s Democratic minority equal time to question Shapley on his claims that prosecutors have been slow to move forward in the five-year-old case.

Tax secrecy laws prohibit Shapley from publicly releasing details of the investigation, but disclosures to Congress are protected by law.

Republicans and Democrats alternated their questions in one-hour blocks and did not immediately make important exchanges public.

“Supervisor Special Agent Gary Shapley testified for approximately six hours today before Democratic and Republican staffers on the House Ways and Means Committee,” his legal team told The Post.

“Both sides had an equal opportunity to ask any questions they wanted, and Special Agent Shapley answered all of their questions.”

Shapley has overseen tax fraud investigations into 53-year-old Hunter Biden since January 2020 and contacted congressional leaders on April 19 to present evidence to Congress of “preferential treatment” and alleged false statements by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The IRS removed Shapley and 12 subordinates from the case last week in what his legal team said constituted unlawful retaliation ordered by the Justice Department.

A subordinate, the IRS’s top case agent since the investigation began in 2018, emerged Monday as the second whistleblower. He has not arranged to testify before Congress, but wrote in an email to his superiors last week that “we have been saying for some time” that prosecutors “acted inappropriately.”

Shapley, who has worked at the IRS for 14 years, said in a whistleblower retaliation complaint filed with a federal regulator, “My choice was to turn a blind eye to their wrongdoing and not sleep, or put myself in the crosshairs by doing the right thing.” Thing.”

His subordinate, who has worked at the IRS for 13 years, wrote that he was outraged that he was suddenly pulled out of the investigation.

The case officer wrote to his superiors that he had “spent thousands of hours on the case and worked to complete 95% of the investigation, [and] sacrificed sleep/vacation/grey hair etc.”

He added: “My husband and I (who identified me as a case worker) have been publicly outed and ridiculed on social media for our sexual orientation and it is unacceptable in my opinion that we are eventually removed from office because we have always tried to do the right thing.” ”

The FBI team tasked with investigating Hunter Biden is also reportedly frustrated that no charges have been filed against the first son, who reportedly borrowed around $2 million from Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris last year to settle tax arrears, although this does not legally exempt him from the initial non-payment.

Exactly one week after Shapley first contacted Congress, Hunter Biden’s legal team met with Justice Department executives, in what experts interpreted as a sign that an indictment decision was imminent.

Shapley’s legal team attempted to negotiate a deal with the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee that would include either bicameral testimony or two back-to-back hearings on the same day, but after more than a month of talks they were unable to reach an agreement and decided to go ahead You’re just moving forward with the questioning by the House of Representatives.

Shapley said in a CBS Evening News interview on Wednesday, “I don’t want to do any of that,” but he felt compelled to do so after a controversial meeting in October between Justice Department tax attorneys and an unnamed US attorney.

Because he was put on the case, “I immediately saw deviations from the norm.” It was way outside of the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past,” Shapley told CBS.

One of the whistleblower’s lawyers, Mark Lytle, said last month: “It really doesn’t depend on his credibility whether you believe him or not, because the things he went through are very well documented in emails and other communications .” the Department of Justice.”

Hunter Biden reaped millions of dollars from operations abroad during and immediately after his father’s vice presidency, which Republicans describe as influence activities.

Hunter’s past clients and partners include wealthy figures from China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. Many of the deals remain unclear, although details are captured in files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop and bank filings acquired by the House Oversight Committee earlier this year.

Hunter wrote in emails retrieved from his former laptop that he had to share “half” his income with Joe Biden, and records show that the elder Biden met with many of his son’s partners, and apparently even for one A 10% cut was envisaged for proceeds from a Chinese government-linked partnership being negotiated in 2017.

Delaware Attorney David Weiss is in charge of the Hunter Biden case. Weiss is a holdover from the Trump administration, recommended for his post by the state’s Democratic senators, who are close Biden allies.

Shapley claims Garland misled Congress about Weiss’ ability to make fee decisions without the approval of Biden officers.

In addition to tax fraud, prosecutors have also reportedly been dealing with charges against Hunter for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, money laundering and lying about his drug use on a gun purchase form.

The IRS overseer testified before the Ways and Means Committee a day after the House Judiciary Committee requested documents from the Justice Department into the fall of its investigative team.

The House Oversight Committee, which is leading an investigation into President Biden’s role in his family’s lucrative overseas operations, meanwhile, has given FBI Director Christopher Wray a deadline Tuesday to produce an whistleblower file alleging Joe Biden with a “criminal plot” in Link brings $5 million in bribes in return for US policy decisions during his vice presidency.