Global Courant
A lawyer for Hunter Biden sent a sharp and compelling letter Friday to a powerful Republican lawmaker condemning his handling of an IRS whistleblower who accused Justice Department officials of undermining the DOJ’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s son .
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for Hunter Biden, accused Rep. Jason Smith, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, used comments from an IRS regulator as “an obvious ploy to fuel the disinformation campaign to harm our client, Hunter. Biden, as a means of attacking his father.”
Smith released transcripts last week of the commission’s interviews with two IRS whistleblowers who in April accused the Justice Department of granting Hunter Biden “preferential treatment” during the DOJ’s years-long investigation into his tax affairs.
The move came just days after the youngster Biden agreed to plead guilty to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors and enter into a pre-trial diversion agreement that would allow him to avoid prosecution on one misdemeanor charge, allowing the investigation of the DOJ might be terminated.
Lowell, in his letter to Smith, accused the IRS agent, Gary Shapley, of being “disgruntled” and seeking whistleblower status “in an effort to sidestep their own wrongdoing.” the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden.
“Mr. Shapley may be reaping the ‘reward’ of the cover you’ve given him, given the penalties for officers who illegally leak this kind of information,” Lowell wrote.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has said Trump-appointed US attorney David Weiss has “ultimate authority” over the investigation, and both Garland and the White House have denied any interference in Weiss’s investigation.
Hunter Biden arrives at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, DC on June 25, 2023.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Lowell also questioned the authenticity of a July 2017 WhatsApp message in which the younger Biden allegedly threatened a Chinese business partner by invoking his father’s political connections.
In the message, Hunter Biden reportedly wrote that he was “sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the promise made has not been fulfilled” – a statement Lowell denied in his letter.
“The facts … are that President Biden and our client were not together that day … and no transaction took place,” Lowell wrote. “More importantly, your own actions call into question the authenticity of that communication and your subsequent use of it.”
Lowell reserved equally harsh language for Smith, accusing the Republican chairman of “violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the tax laws and federal rules governing government investigations.”
“Chairman Smith, it is easy for a committee not to be honest, thorough, and follow rules and procedures to advance a false political narrative,” Lowell wrote. “You did, and it looks like you…will continue to do so.”
“We can only hope that the deceptive methods you use, some of which are outlined in this letter, will educate the public about the proper way things should be done,” Lowell wrote.
Smith defended Shapley in a statement to ABC News, saying he “gallantly came forward with allegations of misconduct and preferential treatment for Hunter Biden — and is now even being attacked by an army of attorneys he hired.”
“Worse, this letter misleads the public about the lawful actions of the Ways and Means Committee, which has taken appropriate legal action to share this information with the rest of Congress,” Smith said.
Shapley representatives did not respond to an ABC News request for comment.
