WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The House Oversight Committee will hear from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Wednesday, one of them anonymous and only known as “Whistleblower X.”
The two of them alleged the president’s son, Hunter Biden, received preferential treatment during the tax and gun case against him.
IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley was named as one of the two whistleblowers who will testify before the committee about alleged meddling in the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden.
This hearing will revolve around the plea deal Biden accepted earlier this year as he faced charges for failing to pay his taxes and for lying on a gun permit about prior drug use.
The investigation lasted years and led to what some Republicans called a “sweetheart deal,” where Biden paid back the taxes and agreed to what’s known as a pre-trial diversion program.
The whistleblowers testifying accuse investigators of slow-walking through the process, even going as far as to say President Joe Biden’s team received advance warning about investigators wanting to interview his son.
Just this week, Republicans on the committee said an FBI agent confirmed those allegations.
“We’re going to have two of the highest ranking, most credible IRS employees come before our committee under oath and answer questions about potential crimes committed by the Biden family. As well as stories about how their investigation into these crimes by the Biden family was obstructed by the FBI and the Department of Justice,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said.
Republicans on the committee confirmed in a tweet they interviewed an FBI agent who allegedly confirmed those accusations.
“The agent’s testimony is sickening and reveals the lengths to which the DOJ is willing to go to cover up for the Bidens,” the tweet said.
“We are currently at a pivotal moment in our investigation. The American people deserve to hear from these whistleblowers and other witnesses about this weaponization of federal law enforcement power,” Comer said.
The House Oversight Committee then said that interview never happened.
Comer said the reason nothing happened was the whistleblowers were obstructed, they were told to stand down. He said they were forced to let the Statue of Limitations run out on many of these crimes.
The hearing will last six hours, Comer said, and 50% of the time will be given to the “credible” whistleblowers to answer questions.
In response to the hearing, a Democratic source familiar with the interview conducted with the FBI agent told NewsNation, “Based on a decade of experience with the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI agent never knew the assistant U.S. attorneys in the office or U.S. Attorney Weiss to allow any political considerations to influence their prosecutorial decisions in any case.”
The source added details like this undercut the argument from Republicans.
The president continues to stand by his son, saying he remains proud of him. Democrats on the committee are expected to push back against these accusations, possibly going after the credibility of the whistleblowers.
The lead U.S. attorney in the Hunter Biden case is David Weiss, a former President Donald Trump appointee. Weiss said he had full control over the investigation.