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Thursday 20 July 2023

IRS whistleblowers airing claims to Congress about ‘slow-walking’

of the Hunter Biden case

Continued from Front Ziegler told the committee Republicans have also
thatl he decided to come sought testimony from
The second agent, whose forward publicly “not as other agents involved in
name was withheld in a hero or a victim,” but as the case, and held a tran-
closed-door interview tran- a married, gay Democrat scribed interview this week
scripts released earlier by “compelled to disclose the with an FBI agent, now re-
Republicans and who was truth.” tired, who they said was in-
referred to by the commit- Democrats on the commit- volved. But other witnesses
tee as “whistleblower X,” tee pushed back on the have declined to appear
was disclosed at the hear- whistleblower claims that before the panel.
ing as Joe Ziegler, an IRS Hunter Biden received spe- White House press secre-
agent since 2010. cial treatment because his tary Karine Jean-Pierre,
“We will continue to follow father was the nominee for speaking while the hear-
the money trail,” said Rep. president in the upcoming ing was underway, said
James Comer, chairman 2020 election. Republicans were focusing
of the House Oversight and IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, left, and IRS Criminal Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, on “political stunts” and the
Accountability Committee, Investigator Joseph Ziegler, are sworn in at a House Oversight D-Ill., made the point that president “on how we con-
as he opened the session. and Accountability Committee hearing with IRS whistleblowers, Donald Trump was presi- tinue to do the work of the
The Justice Department has Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in Washington. dent during the 2020 time American people.”
denied the whistleblowers’ Associated Press frame when the whistle- Before the hearing, Comer,
allegations. voted to disclose hundreds states. blowers allege there was R-Ky., acknowledged it has
The top Democrat on the of pages of testimony from But Shapley testified under interference. been difficult for Republi-
committee, Maryland Rep. the IRS employees in which questioning during an ex- Trump’s Justice Depart- cans to succinctly outline
Jamie Raskin, called the they described roadblocks change with Rep. Jim Jor- ment, he noted, issued a Hunter Biden’s tangled fi-
hearing “a theater of the faced by agents on the dan, R-Ohio, that he wrote memorandum in February nancial affairs or to provide
absurd.” case. an email later that day to 2020 telling prosecutors to convincing evidence of
The GOP inquiry got under- One of Shapley’s most ex- memorialize the October “exercise particular care any specific wrongdoing
way last month, days after plosive claims was that U.S. 2022 meeting with Weiss regarding sensitive investi- by the president or his fam-
the announcement that Attorney David Weiss in and five others. Shapley in- gations and prosecutions ily.
Hunter Biden would plead Delaware, the federal pros- sisted on Wednesday on his that relate to political can- “It’s so hard to explain,”
guilty to misdemeanor ecutor who led the inves- own recollection of what didates, campaigns and Comer told reporters.
tax offenses as part of an tigation, asked for special was said. other politically sensitive “Hopefully these IRS agents
agreement with federal counsel status in order to The second IRS whistle- individuals and organi- can do a better job ex-
prosecutors. bring the tax cases against blower, Ziegler, described zations,” his voice rising. plaining than I can,” he
The IRS employees claim Hunter Biden in jurisdictions his frustrations with the way “Especially in an election said.
there was a pattern of outside Delaware, includ- the case was handled, year!” Justice Department offi-
“slow-walking investigative ing the District of Columbia dating to the Trump ad- Democrats have pointed cials have countered these
steps” into Hunter Biden, and California, but was de- ministration under Attorney out that Weiss was appoint- claims by pointing to the
including delayed enforce- nied. General William Barr. The ed to his post by Trump and extraordinary set of cir-
ment actions in the months Weiss and the Justice De- tax agency employee said the federal investigation cumstances surrounding a
before the 2020 election partment have denied he started the investigation into Hunter Biden was initi- criminal case into a subject
that Joe Biden won. that, saying he had “full au- into Hunter Biden in 2015 ated under Trump. Biden who at the time was the
The House Ways and thority” and never sought and began to delve deep- kept Weiss on the case son of a leading presiden-
Means Committee recently to bring charges in other ly into his life and finances. when he won the election. tial candidate.q

State Department sanctions dozens of

officials in Central America

ingly engaged in actions with the gangs and six years tion cycle as the political
that undermine democrat- for tax evasion. Funes’ suc- establishment attempts to
ic processes or institutions, cessor, former president quash competition, and it
significant corruption or ob- Salvador Sánchez Cerén, frequents the discourse of
struction of investigations” was also sanctioned for populist El Salvador Presi-
into corruption in El Salva- “significant corruption by dent Nayib Bukele, who has
dor, Guatemala, Honduras laundering money” while adopted the catchphrase
and Nicaragua. he held the position as vice “there’s enough money
The extensive list, which also president. Corruption has when no one steals it.”
includes heads of banks, been a hot button issue in Despite accusations by the
judges and high ranking Central America for years, Biden administration that
El Salvador’s President Mauricio Funes listens to a question during
a joint news conference, in Guatemala City, Feb. 13, 2012. officials, underscores the fueling distrust in institutions Bukele also negotiated
Associated Press depth of corruption across and regularly cited as one with gangs, and civil soci-
the region. Chief among of the root causes of migra- ety raising alarms that the
the names on the list was tion to the United States, millennial leader has been
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The presidents and dozens of Mauricio Funes, president something President Joe taking steps that eat away
State Department an- other officials and judges in of El Salvador between Biden has sought to stem. at the country’s democra-
nounced Wednesday it Central America. 2009 and 2014 who was re- It has become a key talk- cy, Bukele’s name was not
was imposing sanctions The report said that those cently sentenced to prison ing point in Guatemala’s on the list of those sanc-
on two former Salvadoran sanctioned “have know- for 14 years for negotiating current tumultuous elec- tioned. q