hmmm… 2 systems of justice? https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-hu...rm-felony-jail-9d114e5f?mod=opinion_lead_pos8 The Whistle Blows on Hunter Biden’s Plea Deal - WSJ Kimberley A. Strassel The Beltway press corps spent the week quoting “experts” assuring the public that Hunter Biden’s plea deal didn’t amount to special treatment. You can believe that, or you can read the sworn testimony of Internal Revenue Service investigators who say the opposite. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith on Thursday released the testimony of Gary Shapley and another, anonymous IRS whistleblower. They tell a story of blocked search warrants, tip-offs to Mr. Biden’s team, squelched avenues of investigation, downgraded charges, and interference by Joe Biden’s appointees. Mr. Shapley, a 14-year IRS veteran, said the Justice Department, its Tax Division and the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office “provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest.” The president’s son on Tuesday scored a sweet deal, pleading guilty to two misdemeanors for “failure” to pay taxes, and a pretrial “diversion” agreement to avoid a felony firearms charge. He’ll likely avoid jail time. We now have a better idea of how this wrist-slap came about. Mr. Shapley, leader of an elite team of agents specializing in international tax investigations, was brought in as supervisor of the Hunter case in January 2020. He says he quickly was stopped from taking normal investigatory steps. One example: He says his team was told in September 2020 by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that they couldn’t pursue a search warrant of Joe Biden’s guest house (Hunter’s onetime residence) because of the “optics” and because “there is no way we will get that approved.” In December 2020 the team wanted to search a storage unit in Virginia where Hunter had moved business documents. Ms. Wolf again objected, then tipped off Hunter’s defense counsel, “ruining our chance to get to evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed,” Mr. Shapley said. Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters also tipped Hunter’s Secret Service team to a proposed “day of action” in which members of U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s team intended to conduct surprise interviews of witnesses—including Hunter. This gave a group “close to Hunter” the opportunity to “obstruct the approach,” and of the “12 interviews we hoped to conduct on our day of action, we only got one substantive interview.” Hunter lawyered up. Along the way, according to Mr. Shapley’s testimony, Ms. Wolf told investigators not to ask any questions about “dad” or “the big guy.” They were blocked from pursuing leads about the financial transactions of Hunter’s children, since she said they’d get “into hot water if we interview the president’s grandchildren.” They were ordered not to look into evidence of campaign-finance violations. They were told to take Hunter’s name off official document requests, which Mr. Shapley said was “absolutely absurd.” The second whistleblower told the committee that he became “sick of fighting to do what’s right.” The IRS team nonetheless prepared a document in late 2021 covering tax years 2014-19, in which it recommended charging Hunter with felony tax evasion, felony false tax returns, and failures to pay tax. Mr. Shapley says this was partially based on Hunter’s “textbook” tax evasion of declaring his income from the Ukrainian firm Burisma as a “loan.” Mr. Shapley says the team was also looking into a Foreign Agents Registration Act case. According to Mr. Shapley, the Weiss team was prepared to pursue these charges but was blocked by Biden appointees—despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s public claim of Mr. Weiss’s independence. Mr. Shapley notes that the proper venue for a tax case is where a subject resides or a return is filed; in Hunter’s case, the District of Columbia or California. But he says the U.S. attorney in the capital, Matthew Graves, refused to bring charges, and when Mr. Weiss asked for authority to bring charges there, he “was denied.” Mr. Shapley said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of California’s Central District, similarly declined to bring charges. Messrs. Graves and Estrada were both appointed by Joe Biden. The Justice Department told the Journal on Thursday: “As both the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney David Weiss have said, U.S. Attorney Weiss has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate.” These actions, and the lapsing of the statute of limitations, spared Hunter the gravest charges—those relating to his 2014 and 2015 tax returns, which Mr. Shapley says showed his “scheme to evade” taxes and possible FARA violation: “The purposeful exclusion of the 2014 and 2015 years sanitized the most substantive criminal conduct and concealed material facts.” Mr. Shapley says that Hunter still hasn’t reported or paid tax on some $400,000 of Burisma income. Mr. Shapley provided further evidence of influence peddling. He gave the committee a 2017 WhatsApp message in which Hunter tells a Chinese businessman “I am sitting here with my father” and pushes the businessman to fulfill a “commitment.” He warns the businessman to personally resolve the issue that night, or “I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.” Mr. Shapley also says that Hunter’s partner, Rob Walker, admitted to investigators that a Joe Biden appearance (while out of office) at a Hunter business meeting with the Chinese was “orchestrated” to “bolster” the “chances at making a deal work out.” Mr. Shapley says Hunter’s attorney warned prosecutors that any charges would be “career suicide.” There’s plenty more—including Mr. Shapley’s evidence of intimidation and retaliation against his team. But even this glimpse turns this week’s Hunter plea into a joke. The Justice Department needs to provide answers. Write to [email protected]. Correction Because of an editing error, an earlier version misstated the president who appointed David Weiss.
Two systems of justice? Imagine for a moment that donald trump would have allowed an Obama-appointed prosecutor to investigate his children. Can't imagine that? Well, neither can I. The TRUTH of the matter is that Joe Biden did not interfere with an investigation of his son by a Trump-appointed prosecutor, and then Hunter Biden was slapped with charges that usually go unpunished, just because he's a Biden. Two systems of justice? Reality Winner and other private citizens were prosecuted almost immediately upon discovery of their crimes; Merrick Garland let donald trump skate for over a year before Rachel Maddow finally embarrassed him into doing something. Ms. Winner and now at least two Navy officers are in prison for crimes less than what donald trump committed. Two systems of justice? Have you seen mug shots of donald trump, as other private citizens have had to suffer? No, I don't think so. Have you seen mention of bail, as other private citizens have had to suffer? No, I don't think so. The TRUTH of the matter is that donald trump was treated with kid gloves until the obviousness and seriousness of his crimes became too much to ignore, and even then the processing he was granted was far less intrusive than customary. Two systems of justice? Damn straight.
Except that it was Biden’s son and a whistleblower. And it’s not a hypothetical. But honestly, pretending like any politician’s, especially a sitting President’s, son would see anything major is kind of dumb. Also, pretending like it’s nothing and that he barely did anything because of his charges are equally as dumb.
Guess who was vice president at the time of that text? MIKE PENCE. So how on Earth could Joe Biden have pressured the Chinese as vice president? And, once again, it was a trump-appointed prosecutor who led this investigation. So sorry that a trump-appointed prosecutor let you down. You LOSE yet another point. You know... of the type that you keep calling "proof" but keep getting your ass handed to you. And, oh, by the way... it hasn't escaped notice that you're still defending a piece of shit who stole nuclear secrets that in the wrong hands could be fatal to American soldiers and intelligence agents and would harm our country's ability to defend itself. "Hunter Biden", "Hunter Biden", "Hunter Biden", "Hunter Biden", "Hunter Biden" WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?
I'm sure you wish I would, because you keep getting embarrassed. Why didn't you answer my questions, coward?
were not secret, and were his, and produced purely for him. only reason the copies of this document were ever at his house was to give to him. also "stolen" implies the thing was taken from another person who no longer has it and needs it and doesnt really apply to copied info. worst case sceenarrio he owes govt for copy paper, maybe 99 cents total
Man. Sounds like Hunter is quite the deal maker. They should give him a job. Drug’s with your dead brothers daughter. Impregnating strippers, making Chinese deals. Sitting in the board of Ukrainian gas companies. Making porn videos. Possessing guns illegally. Man of many talents.
