Hunter Biden investigation: Whistleblower lawyer condemns ‘attacks’ by president’s son
Jerry Dunleavy
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The lawyer for an IRS whistleblower who alleged that “politics” infected the federal investigation into Hunter Biden has condemned “attacks” on his client by an attorney for President Joe Biden’s son.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer accused the IRS whistleblower of breaking the law by informing Congress this week, through his attorney, of examples of “preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions and protocols that would normally be followed” had the subject not been politically connected.
EX-CIA CHIEF SAYS BLINKEN “TRIGGERED” HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP LETTER
One of Hunter Biden’s lawyers, Chris Clark, told multiple outlets on Wednesday that “it appears this IRS agent has committed a crime, and has denied my client protections that are his right.”
Mark Lytle, the lawyer for the unnamed IRS whistleblower, criticized Clark’s remarks on Thursday.
“It’s really unfortunate that that statement was made. … My client wrestled with whether or not to come forward. He had a lot of sleepless nights about coming forward with this. At the end of the day, he decided that he could not live with himself if he stayed quiet and said nothing,” Lytle told Bret Baier on Fox News. “So he’s coming forward, but he knows that he is going to be attacked. Attacks like this are kind of what he was worried about, but he wants to come forward and tell the truth.”
Clark had said the day prior that “it is a felony for an IRS agent to improperly disclose information about an ongoing tax investigation” and that “the IRS has incredible power, and abusing that power by targeting, embarrassing, or disclosing information about a private citizen’s tax matters undermines Americans’ faith in the federal government.”
Clark continued: “Unfortunately, that is what has happened and is happening here in an attempt to harm my client.”
Lytle retorted that Hunter Biden’s lawyer’s statements are not helpful for “whistleblowers as a whole” who should be able to come forward without being threatened. “My client wants to specifically follow those laws,” he said.
The attorney said his client, a veteran criminal supervisory special agent, has been a “trusted” investigator with the IRS for more than ten years and that he “is not a political person, he is not a social media person, he is not coming here with a political agenda.”
Republicans have long contended that Hunter Biden’s lucrative business dealings in Ukraine and China indicate he may have committed crimes related to foreign lobbying or money laundering, although recent reports have indicated federal investigators may have narrowed the focus to Hunter Biden’s potentially committing tax fraud in 2016 and 2017 and lying on a federal form when purchasing a handgun in 2018.
The IRS agent’s allegations also “involve failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case” against Hunter Biden and “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.” A source familiar with the whistleblower letter confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Thursday that Attorney General Merrick Garland is the unnamed senior Biden official whose testimony before Congress is being challenged.
Lytle said Thursday that when his client “hears a senior politically-appointed official at the Department of Justice under sworn testimony say something … directly contradictory to what he knows is going on with the investigation — and what he can prove with documents — he wants to come forward.”
It is allegedly up to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-appointed holdover and the Delaware prosecutor overseeing the case, to decide whether to indict the president’s son. In February 2021, Joe Biden asked all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys appointed by Trump for their resignations, with Weiss a rare exception.
Garland has repeatedly vowed to ensure that Weiss would be insulated from any political interference.
“He has been advised that he should get anything he needs,” Garland said of Weiss during Senate testimony in March. “I have not heard anything from that office that suggests they are not able to do anything that the U.S. attorney wants them to do.”
Another Hunter Biden lawyer, Abbe Lowell, has also been engaging in a newly aggressive legal strategy on behalf of Joe Biden’s son, including asking the Justice Department to investigate those involved in the infamous laptop saga.
Lowell sent letters to DOJ’s National Security Division and the Delaware attorney general in February, pressuring them to launch investigations into a number of figures involved in helping disseminate the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop hard drive, including Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Hunter Biden himself has been largely silent on the laptop saga following his 2021 book tour about his memoir Beautiful Things.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Washington Examiner reported in June 2022 that Hunter Biden spent over $30,000 on escorts, many of whom were linked to “.ru” Russian email addresses, and worked with an “exclusive model agency” called UberGFE during a three-and-a-half month period between November 2018 and March 2019. He managed to do so thanks in part to Joe Biden’s committing to wiring him a total of $100,000 to help pay his bills from December 2018 through January 2019.
“What’s wrong with you?” Hunter Biden told the Washington Examiner in a statement after that story was published.