Hunter Biden has finally been indicted, though on the firearms charge rather than on the numerous tax charges that could have been charged with. Now, the IRS agent looking into Hunter Biden’s conduct is explaining how the Hunter tax investigation is being stonewalled by those who won’t work together to bring about justice.
Such was revealed in the transcript of director of field operations Michael Batdorf, describing how federal prosecutors in California and Washington, D.C. declined to assist in charging the president’s son by helping out U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware.
In that testimony, obtained by Politico and from his appearance before the House Ways and Means Committee, Batdorf was asked, “And did you learn — did you ever learn why the Central District of 2 California U.S. attorney would not partner with Mr. Weiss?”
He said, “No,” and then, when asked if Weiss was frustrated, said, “I don’t know if he was frustrated or if he — I mean, I was frustrated. So was it me just feeling the — he was probably a little frustrated. I would assume he had — because he now had to make some decisions on what he was going to do. And that’s what we talked about in that phone call.”
That point came up again multiple times in the interview. For example, at one point Batdorf was asked, “Did you ever discuss — you talked about the December 22nd phone call with Mr. Weiss. He had to — you discussed California declining to partner. Here we know D.C. had declined to partner and he had to think of next steps. Presumably special counsel was one of those potential options. Is that fair?” Replying, he said, “I mean, that’s my understanding, yes.”
At another point, Batdorf echoed Weiss’ concerns about the problems with trying to prosecute Hunter in California, rhetorically asking, “Can he and his team prosecute in central California without the help of the U.S. attorney’s office, without knowing judges out there? Could he and his team do that?”
POLITICO, adding context as to why that is important, notes that though AG Garland claims Weiss has all he needs to investigate Hunter, IRS whistleblowers have claimed that Weiss has been hamstrung in his operation.
Expanding on that, POLITICO notes, “Batdorf’s interview supports the two agents’ contention that Weiss worried about the probe’s future when federal prosecutors in California and Washington, D.C., didn’t want to team up with him. Their cooperation was important because tax charges needed to be brought in California or D.C., where the president’s son was living when he allegedly failed to pay his taxes on time. To work on their turf without cooperation from those U.S. attorneys, Weiss would have to receive special authorization from the highest levels of the Justice Department.”
Batdorf also spoke about the removal of Gary Shapley, one of the IRS whistleblowers, saying that Weiss had asked for him to be off the case. Shaplye’s legal team pushed back on that characterization of what happened, saying, “Mr. Batdorf claimed the IRS removed Gary from the case in the interest of seeing the Justice Department bring the felony and misdemeanor tax charges, but the evidence is clear that the Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in California and D.C. blocked those charges, contrary to the attorney general’s public testimony that only Weiss would decide — which is why Gary had to blow the whistle to Congress as well,”
Featured image credit: President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)
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