WASHINGTON – The former federal prosecutor who allegedly protected President Biden and his son Hunter during a criminal investigation testified 79 times before Congress that she was “not authorized” by the Justice Department to answer questions about the case, according to a transcript reviewed by The Post . .
Former Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf repeatedly cited a five-page authorization letter from Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer when she declined to answer questions during a House Judiciary Committee statement last week.
Weinsheimer’s Dec. 12 letter, also reviewed by The Post, says: “[T]The Department generally does not authorize congressional testimony by senior-level personnel, especially in connection with an ongoing investigation with charges pending in court. “The Department has declined to do so in relation to this matter.”
Wolf’s dozens of refusals to answer questions, just a day after the full House voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, thwarted attempts to reaffirm the story involving what whistleblowers say was an extensive cover-up by Wolf and his colleagues to protect Biden. family.
A former federal prosecutor who allegedly protected President Biden and his son Hunter during a criminal investigation testified that she was “not authorized” to answer questions about her actions, according to a transcript. AP
The near-total rejection of the questions stems from pressure from House Republicans on the administration to allow witness testimony and could bolster Republican arguments that the White House is obstructing the investigation, which in turn could constitute an article of impeachment.
Two IRS agents who worked on the long-running tax fraud investigation into Hunter Biden, which focused on his foreign income from countries including China and Ukraine, alleged in previous testimony before House committees that Wolf tipped off lawyers for the first son on investigative measures and prohibited investigations into Joe Biden, even when communications mentioned him.
Wolf was part of the team of prosecutors that signed a probation-only deal in June for the first child on tax and gun charges, which collapsed the following month under scrutiny by a federal judge.
Lesley Wolf (above) repeatedly cited a five-page authorization letter from Bradley Weinsheimer as she refused to answer questions during a House Judiciary Committee statement. Fedbar.org
IRS Supervisor Gary Shapley, who oversaw the Hunter Biden investigation for three years, and case agent Joseph Ziegler, who worked on the investigation for five years, made a series of specific claims against Wolf, which he did not refute in his testimony.
Tax investigators learned in December 2020 that Wolf “contacted Hunter Biden’s defense attorney and told them” about investigators’ plans to search a storage unit in Northern Virginia that contained business records, “avoiding our opportunity to obtain evidence to prevent its possible destruction and manipulation.” or hidden,” Ziegler testified in July.
Shapley testified that months earlier investigators were prohibited from searching a guesthouse at Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, where Hunter often stayed.
Wolf’s refusal to answer questions comes a day after the full House voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. REUTERS
Shapley said that on Sept. 3, 2020, “Wolf told us there was more than enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.”
Wolf also allegedly objected during a meeting on December 3, 2020, to questioning a key Biden family associate, Rob Walker, about the president.
“Wolf stepped in and said he didn’t want to ask about the big guy and stated he didn’t want to ask questions about ‘dad,’” he said.
“When several people in the room spoke up and objected that we had to ask, she responded that there is no specific crime in that line of questioning. This also upset the FBI,” Shapley testified.
Wolf served as a point person for the investigation, under the direction of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss.
The whistleblowers accused Weiss’s office of giving Hunter Biden’s legal team advance knowledge of a planned interview attempt in late 2020, thwarting a planned approach, and said prosecutors failed to pass along the tip of a paid FBI informant from that Joe and Hunter Biden received $10 million in bribes from the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, which paid Hunter a salary of up to $1 million to serve on its board of directors starting in 2014, when his vice president father ran American politics towards the country.
Wolf allegedly ordered FBI agents in August 2020 to remove references to Joe Biden from a search warrant affidavit, writing: “Someone needs to redraft [the affidavit] … There should be nothing about Political Figure 1 here,” according to an email released by the Ways and Means Committee.
“I think that email is very important because it is a unique example in writing of the constant concern to follow investigative leads that could lead to Joe Biden,” Ziegler said last week in an interview with Fox News.
“The FBI agents who drafted that affidavit believed they had sufficient evidence (probable cause) to support the inclusion of Political Figure 1 in that affidavit,” the self-identified Democrat said.
IRS Supervisor Gary Shapley (not pictured) oversaw the Hunter Biden investigation for three years. REUTERS
“That related to [Ukrainian energy company] Burisma, access to Joe Biden and access to the administration and there was ample evidence that was included in that affidavit that is supported, including Political Figure 1. That has a cascading effect on the investigation because it is possible that those emails that we are searching do not arrive. to the team”.
Shapley and Ziegler said they were not allowed to obtain cell phone geolocation data that could have shown that Joe Biden was with his son in July 2017, when Hunter sent a threatening text message to a businessman with ties to the Chinese government that said: “I’m sitting here with my father.” ”, and warning of retaliation.
Ten days after that message, $5.1 million flowed into accounts linked to Hunter and his first brother James Biden at CEFC China Energy, following a $1 million tranche earlier that year, less than two months later. after Biden left the position of vice president.
Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley testify at the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on alleged meddling in the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden. REUTERS
A May 2017 email asked Joe Biden, known as the “big guy,” for a 10% cut in transactions with CEFC.
IRS whistleblowers say that in addition to preferential treatment for Joe and Hunter Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland misled Congress under oath about Weiss’s ability to independently bring criminal charges against Hunter Biden.
Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in Los Angeles and Washington have confirmed in testimony that they declined to partner with Weiss, who in August was promoted by Garland to special prosecutor, allowing him to independently pursue charges out of Delaware.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wolf’s testimony.
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