‘Democrat’ Hunter Biden whistleblower Joseph Ziegler comes forward

WASHINGTON — IRS agent Joseph Ziegler stepped forward Wednesday as the second whistleblower alleging a coverup in the criminal investigation of President Biden’s son Hunter — calling himself a Democrat who wanted “to do what is right.”

Ziegler worked on the investigation since it opened in 2018 and was joined by his supervisory agent Gary Shapley, who oversaw the probe since January 2020, at a House Oversight Committee hearing.

“I was the lead IRS case agent on the Hunter Biden investigation. I recently discovered that people are saying that I must be more credible because I’m a Democrat who happens to be married to a man,” Ziegler said.

“I’m no more credible than this man sitting next to me due to my sexual orientation or my political beliefs. The truth is my credibility comes today from my job experience with the IRS and my intimate knowledge of the agency’s standards and procedures.”

“I was raised and have always strived to do what is right,” the IRS agent added.

“Although I do have my supporters, others have said that I am a traitor to the Democratic Party and that I am causing more division in our society. I implore you to consider that if you were put in my position with the facts as I have stated them, ask yourself if you would be doing the exact same thing.”

Ziegler added: “I hope I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there who are questioning whether to do the right thing at the potential cost to themselves and others. We should always do the right thing no matter how painful the process might be.”

“I kind of equate this to the feelings and experiences I encountered when coming out,” he said. “It was honestly one of the hardest things I ever had to go through… but I did what is right and I’m sitting before you today.”

Shapley and the case agent say that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss was not able to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes in Southern California and Washington, DC, because of the opposition of Biden-appointed US attorneys — directly contradicting Attorney General Merrick Garland’s claim that Weiss had unilateral authority to bring charges even outside of Delaware.

Both men say investigative steps were slow-walked or blocked and that authorities tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team about interest in searching a northern Virginia storage locker that may have contained evidence and about an attempt to interview Hunter in late 2020 — wrecking both attempts.

They also say that a proposal to interview other Biden family members was rejected and efforts to analyze President Biden’s role in his son’s lucrative consulting work in countries where he held sway as vice president were barred by prosecutors at the US Attorney’s Office in Delaware.

Shapley, who has worked at the IRS for 14 years, and his subordinate, who has 13 years of experience, previously were interviewed privately on May 26 and June 1 by the House Ways and Means Committee — weeks before the Justice Department announced a probation-only plea deal for Hunter Biden featuring two tax-crime misdemeanors and a felony gun charge that will be expunged after two years.

Weiss has issued written statements that give the impression he denies the IRS agents’ claims that he lacked independent prosecutorial authority, though subtle differences in terminology mean the question is still open.

The Ways and Means Committee last month released a WhatsApp text message provided by Shapley that Hunter sent to a Chinese business associate on July 30, 2017, invoking his father and threatening retribution if an agreement was not fulfilled — reportedly prompting the flow of about $5 million within 10 days from the Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy.

The case agent says in his prepared statement that another WhatsApp message sent on Aug. 3, 2017, from a Chinese business associate to Hunter also hints at Joe Biden’s involvement because he offered his “best regards to you, Jim and VP.”

“Jim” is a reference to first brother James Biden, who worked with Hunter on the deal, which at one point had Joe Biden — referred to as the “big guy” — penciled in for a 10% cut. Former Hunter Biden business partner Tony Bobulinski says he met with Joe Biden in 2017 about the CEFC deal.

“I have outlined for you some instances in which assigned prosecutors did not appear to follow the normal investigative process, slow-walked the investigation and put in place unnecessary approvals and roadblocks,” Ziegler said.

“A number of times, we were not able to follow the facts.”

In total, Hunter Biden allegedly bilked Uncle Sam of about $2.2 million in taxes on roughly $8.3 million in foreign income from 2014 to 2019, the tax investigators say.

His guilty plea only references failing to pay more than $100,000 in 2017 and 2018.

Shapley, a registered Republican who says he has voted for Democrats in the past, including President Bill Clinton, initially contacted Congress in April about his concerns.

Exactly one week later, Hunter Biden’s legal team visited the Justice Department headquarters in Washington in a sign that a charging decision was close.

The tax agents say they prepared a raft of felony and misdemeanor charges against Hunter Biden, but were confronted by reticent Biden appointees, as well as Weiss’ own qualms about charges for the years 2014 and 2015, which he allegedly viewed as more difficult to win a conviction due to potential jury sympathy over Hunter grieving the death of his brother, Beau, at the time those tax bills were due.

“On February 25th, 2022, the IRS sent the prosecution report forward to DOJ Tax and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In my report, proper venue for the case was in the District of D.C. and the Central District of California. We had no venue in Delaware whatsoever for the tax charges, and we had known this for at least a year prior to this,” the case agent says.

“For the failure to file charges, venue would be where the subject lives. For the false return charge, venue would be where the return is prepared or sent from. For the tax evasion charge, venue would be where the overt acts occurred. For the recommended 2014, 2015 and 2016 felony and misdemeanor tax charges, the believed venue was in Washington D.C. and for the recommended 2017, 2018, and 2019 felony and misdemeanor charges, the believed venue was in the Central District of California.”

There were a series of roadblocks, according to the IRS agents.

“In late August/early September of 2022, Gary Shapley and I [had] one last meeting with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss and leadership from the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, to talk about the misdemeanor and felony tax charges for 2014 and 2015,” the case agent intends to say.

“At that meeting, from what I recall, David agreed with us regarding the potential charges for the 2014 and 2015 tax years. He said they were great and that we had thoroughly investigated it. But David had been getting concerns from DOJ Tax regarding charging the 2014 and 2015 tax years. He further said that they viewed at a trial, that evidence brought forward related to these tax years could affect the charges brought for the later years, which he stated were much more clear and stronger. He cited information regarding the subject’s brother’s death, Hunter Biden’s substance abuse and that could cause the jury to have sympathy for Hunter Biden and to potentially acquit on all of the charges. At this meeting David told us that he was still weighing the evidence and the charges. At that meeting, we ask David when he plans on charging the case out in California and he says, hopefully by the end of September.”

Later, the agent’s prepared testimony says, “In and around January/February of 2022, I had learned from my IRS-CI leadership as well as investigators with the FBI that they had been told that the California U.S. Attorney’s Office [President Biden Appointed U.S. Attorney E Martin Estrada] had also said no to bringing the tax case in the Central District of California.”

Also in early 2022, “I get a phone call from DOJ-Tax Attorney Mark Daly, Mark Daly had said that now that the U.S. Attorney in the District of DC (believed to be President Biden Appointed U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves) looked at the case, and that he didn’t want to move forward with the charges,” the agent will say.

“In early August of 2022, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice Tax Division drafted a 99-page memorandum. This memorandum recommended approving felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 tax years. If the Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss followed DOJ Policy as he stated in his most recent letter, Hunter Biden should have been charged with a tax felony, and not only the tax misdemeanor charge. We need to treat each taxpayer the same under the law,” he also will say.

“In early August of 2022, we had a phone call with the assigned prosecutors and the investigative team, to include my Supervisor Gary Shapley. On this call, the assigned prosecutors had said that the U.S. Attorneys assigned (AUSA Lesley Wolf and Carly Hudson) and the DOJ-Tax Attorneys assigned (Mark Daly and Jack Morgan), were going to recommend for approval the misdemeanor and felony charges for 2017, 2018, and 2019 tax years and that the appropriate venue would be in the Central District of California which was written up in a 99-page prosecution memo.”

The charges were never brought.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the White House does not intend to focus on the hearing, though exchanges — including between the whistleblowers and House Democrats — are likely to command significant national attention.