The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent who alleges the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden has been corrupted by lies and politics is being pulled from the inquiry in a possible act of retaliation, lawyers for the IRS official say.
These attorneys informed Congress on Monday that their client, identified as a criminal supervisory special agent, was told “that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress,” according to The New York Post.
Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt, the lawyers for the IRS agent, said their client was “informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.” They also said the “move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry.”
The Daily Wire reached out to the IRS as well as the Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking comment on the new claim.
FBI and IRS investigators have reportedly been looking into Hunter Biden’s business dealings, tax affairs, and more for years now. After Biden’s lawyers met with Department of Justice officials late last month, sources told The Washington Post that potential charges for tax- and gun-related crimes may soon follow from Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss.
Hunter Biden has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing, and his father, President Joe Biden, told MSNBC this month that his son has “done nothing wrong.”
The IRS supervisory agent, who has not been publicly identified, reached out to top lawmakers last month seeking to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress about a high-profile investigation which has since been identified as the Hunter Biden probe. Lawyers for the IRS agent then met with congressional investigators, laying the groundwork for what could be a formal disclosure involving sensitive tax information in the near future, CNN reported this month.
Lytle has revealed that his client already made disclosures to multiple inspectors general, including “examples of preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting decisions,” a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition of the case,” and claims that “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.” Lytle told CBS News that his client has emails and other communications to back up his disclosures.
The senior official referenced by Lytle in his letter to Congress has been identified as Attorney General Merrick Garland, who spoke briefly about the inquiry during congressional testimony in March. “I pledged not to interfere with that investigation and I have carried through on my pledge,” Garland testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Pressed about the IRS whistleblower and his testimony during a recent news conference, Garland said his statement under oath remains true. “Yes, it’s still the case,” Garland said. “I stand by my testimony and I refer you to the U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware, who is in charge of this case and capable of making any decisions that he feels are appropriate.”
Hunter Biden’s attorney, Chris Clark, told news outlets the IRS official “appears” to have committed a crime. “It is a felony for an IRS agent to improperly disclose information about an ongoing tax investigation,” Clark said in a statement reported by NBC News.
Lytle told Fox News the statement was “unfortunate” but stressed that his client is not backing down. “Attacks like this are kind of what he was worried about, but he wants to come forward and tell the truth,” he said.
In their letter to lawmakers on Monday, the IRS agent’s lawyers highlighted sections of U.S. Code outlining rules against blocking or retaliating against officials seeking to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress and noted that IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel vowed to the House Committee on Ways and Means last month that there would be “no retaliation” against whistleblowers.
“We respectfully request that you give this matter your prompt attention,” the IRS agent’s lawyers wrote. “Removing the experienced investigators who have worked this case for years and are now the subject-matter experts is exactly the sort of issue our client intended to blow the whistle on to begin with.”
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