David Weiss, the U.S. attorney who has led the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, did not plan to indict the president’s son until IRS whistleblowers came forward over his alleged tax fraud, according to a report.
Weiss was ready to conclude the investigation without even a plea deal before agents accused the Justice Department of interfering, according to private correspondence between Weiss and Biden’s legal team obtained by the New York Times.
After the whistleblowers spoke, Weiss suddenly demanded that Mr. Biden plead guilty to tax crimes.
“It appears that if not for the courageous actions of these whistleblowers, who had nothing to gain and everything to lose, Hunter Biden would never have been charged,” said a team of lawyers for one of the agents IRS he told the newspaper in a statement.
Weiss was first appointed to investigate troubling allegations about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, particularly while his father was in office, in 2018.
Four years later, Weiss found evidence of wrongdoing, but determined he did not have enough evidence to charge the younger Biden, sources familiar with the case told The Times.
Mr. Weiss told an associate that he did not want to press any charges, even misdemeanors, against Hunter Biden because the average American would not be prosecuted by them, the newspaper reported.
Negotiations between Weiss and Biden’s legal team began in January. In May, Biden’s team proposed a deal in which Biden would not have to plead guilty but would accept what is known as a deferred prosecution agreement, which typically includes conditions such as enrolling in drug treatment programs or against violence or giving up firearms. .
Meanwhile, IRS investigator Gary Shapley, who had been blocked from pursuing leads on Biden, told the DOJ watchdog that Weiss had told him that federal prosecutors in Washington and California had refused to press charges against Mr. Biden, despite evidence of crimes.
Lawyers for a second tax investigator sent a letter to the IRS commissioner alleging that the investigative team in the case had been fired after raising concerns about political interference from the Justice Department, fueling even more the indignation of the Republican legislators.
Days later, Weiss informed Biden’s attorney, Chris Clark, that he was demanding that Hunter plead guilty to two misdemeanor prosecutorial charges.
A plea deal, under which Biden would serve no prison time, collapsed dramatically last month in federal court in Delaware after a judge expressed concern that ongoing investigations into the president’s son could lead to future charges.
Biden pleaded guilty to the two misdemeanor charges, which were dropped Thursday, and the weapons charges.
Weiss was elevated to special counsel in the federal investigation by Attorney General Merrick Garland, allowing him to expand the scope of his investigation to other districts around the country.
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