Biden officials negotiating with House GOP about Hunter case

Senior officials at the Department of Justice, Internal Revenue Service and Secret Service are in talks with House Republicans about sitting down for interviews regarding alleged political interference over the five-year federal investigation into first son Hunter Biden.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle declined to formally answer letters from GOP committee leaders asking whether roughly a dozen employees of their respective agencies would speak about any cover-ups they may have observed in the probe.

But representatives for the Judiciary and Oversight committees confirmed to The Post that the officials were cooperating to schedule the interviews.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) made their initial requests June 29, after IRS whistleblowers alleged in bombshell testimony to Congress that President Biden’s Justice Department blocked efforts to fully prosecute Hunter Biden.

The troubled first son agreed June 20 to plead guilty to tax misdemeanors and entered into a pre-trial diversion program for a felony charge of possessing a firearm while addicted to crack cocaine.

If approved by federal judge Maryellen Noreika at a July 26 hearing, Hunter will likely serve two years probation for failing to pay approximately $1.2 million in taxes for the years 2017 and 2018.

IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley and another soon-to-be-identified investigator told the House Ways and Means Committee that the Justice Department waved off federal investigators from pursuing an additional $2.2 million in missed tax payments and that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who was overseeing Hunter’s case, was barred from bringing charges outside his jurisdiction.

The whistleblowers said Biden-appointed US Attorneys Martin Estrada and Matthew Graves denied Weiss last year from charging the first son in Southern California and Washington, DC, respectively — despite sworn congressional testimony from Garland that the Delaware US Attorney had “full authority” to bring charges.

Weiss was also twice denied special counsel authority when he requested it, according to Shapley, which Garland had promised would be available if needed.

Weiss in a July 10 letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) denied the allegations about requesting special-counsel status for the investigation and claimed he was not “denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction.” Garland has also denied the whistleblowers’ allegations of a cover-up.

Shapley also singled out one of Weiss’ underlings, Assistant US Attorney Lesley Wolf, for having thrown investigators off of leads related to the president, saying there was “no specific criminality” in pursuing them.

The order was given even as a 2017 WhatsApp message Hunter sent to a Chinese business associate implicated his father as part of his overseas business dealings.

The first son raked in $8.3 million between 2014 and 2019 from entities in China, Ukraine and Romania, according to the second whistleblower.

At other points, searches of a guest house at the president’s home in Wilmington, Del., and a Virginia storage unit full of Hunter’s possessions were called off.

The IRS investigators made the stunning admissions in transcripts released by the House panel on June 22 after having sat for interviews May 26 and June 1.

“The federal government is supposed to work for the American people, but whistleblower evidence shows that several federal employees were working overtime to cover up for the Bidens,” Jordan, Smith and Comer wrote to Garland, Werfle and Cheatle in a statement announcing their other interview requests.

“We need to hear from these federal employees and other witnesses about this weaponization of federal law enforcement power. Americans are counting on us to ensure bad actors are held accountable and restore the equal enforcement of the law,” they said.

The chairman had asked for interviews with Weiss, Wolf and other members of the Delaware prosecutorial team, including Shawn Weede, Shannon Hudson. Graves and Estrada were also called in by the committees.

Other requests were made of Justice Department attorneys Jack Morgan, Mark Daly and acting Assistant Deputy Attorney General Stuart Goldberg.

Additionally, lawmakers called in IRS Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon and FBI agents Tom Sobocinski and Ryeshia Holley — who were allegedly witnesses to Weiss’ Oct. 7, 2022 admission that he could not charge Hunter outside Delaware.

IRS investigator Michael Batdorf and several Secret Service employees with alleged knowledge of the Biden probe were also requested.