Biden probes won’t go anywhere without special prosecutor: IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler

WASHINGTON — IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler insisted Friday that any ongoing investigations into the Biden family are unlikely to result in criminal charges unless a special prosecutor is named to look into the allegations.

Ziegler, the primary case agent for about five years on the tax fraud investigation of Hunter Biden, publicly revealed his identity at a Wednesday congressional hearing alongside his supervisor Gary Shapley, where the men said Biden-appointed US attorneys blocked tax fraud charges against Hunter in California and DC despite significant evidence.

In a Fox News interview, Ziegler was asked about Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who oversaw the Hunter case, saying in a July 10 letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that an allegation that Joe and Hunter Biden received $10 million in bribes was part of “an ongoing investigation.”

“[Weiss] said in that [letter] he couldn’t speak to the 1023 forum because there was an ongoing investigation. Do you know if there’s still an investigation going on involving Hunter Biden?” asked host Shannon Bream.

“I was removed from that team May 15, 2023. I have no idea what’s going on as far as that investigation goes,” Ziegler replied.

“I have stated multiple times that I don’t want to see other agents — FBI, IRS — go through the same thing we went through,” he added.

“If there is other charges that are venued outside the district of Delaware, David Weiss is going to run into the same problem again and again. And that’s why we need to have an independent attorney assigned who has authority who can go in there, bring the proper charges so that there can be some faith restored in our justice system.”

Ziegler, a Democrat who has worked at the tax agency for 13 years, said, “the reason why we’re getting this information out there is that we have to treat taxpayers the same.”

The tax fraud investigation into Hunter, 53, ended last month with a probation-only plea deal for two tax-crime misdemeanors for 2017 and 2018.

He also agreed to plead guilty to a gun possession felony that will be expunged after two years.

The deal still must be approved by a judge.

The two IRS whistleblowers testified that standard investigative steps were blocked during their tax-fraud probe of about $2.2 million in tax evasion on $8.3 million in foreign income from 2014-2019.

The natural venues for charging the crimes would have been California and DC, where Hunter lived, they said.

The whistleblowers said they were not given full access to files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop and that the first son’s representatives were tipped off by prosecutors of an interest in searching a northern Virginia storage locker and approaching him for an interview, scuttling both attempts.

The IRS investigators said they were unable to acquire text message location data to verify whether or not Hunter actually was sitting with his father when he sent a threatening July 30, 2017, WhatsApp message to a Chinese government-linked business associate — immediately preceding the transfer of more than $5 million to Hunter-linked accounts.

The tax agents said they also were blocked from interviewing other members of Biden’s family and from searching a guest house at the president’s home where the first son was believed to have stayed.

Weiss was nominated to his position by President Donald Trump on the recommendation of Delaware’s two Democratic senators, who are close Biden allies.

In written statements he has given the appearance that he denies the whistleblowers’ claims that he lacked independence to bring charges, which would contradict sworn testimony to Congress from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Three Republican-led House committees on Friday sent a letter to Garland demanding interviews with 11 Justice Department officials to vet the whistleblower claims — threatening to issue a legally binding subpoena if there’s not progress by Monday.

It’s unclear what potential criminality Weiss’ office may still be investigating.

Hunter’s legal team say that they believe their client’s legal exposure was resolved with the plea deal.

The president’s son thus far has avoided money laundering charges and counts for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act— despite FARA charges being leveled this month against another US citizen, Gal Luft, who earned less money than the first son while representing the same Chinese government-linked energy company.