by Charlotte Hazard and John Solomon
The chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee tells Just the News he plans to soon make public new testimony that corroborates IRS whistleblowers’ accounts of interference in the Hunter Biden probe and new evidence to support the nascent impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said Thursday his panel will hold a vote to make the new information available, including testimonies from two IRS agents who back the accounts of whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler about slow-walking and interference in the Hunter Biden tax case.
“We had witnesses that we subpoenaed in the last two weeks that we’ve interviewed – two IRS whistleblowers that came forward,” Smith told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “And guess what? They confirmed what Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler had said. These witnesses have not denied anything that our two IRS whistleblowers have said.”
Shapley, a decorated supervisory criminal investigative agent, initially came forward alleging that political officials had intervened to prevent the bringing of charges against Hunter Biden and that Special Counsel David Weiss lacked sufficient authority to do so on his own. After Shapley came forward, the Department of Justice removed his entire team from the case.
Ziegler, another veteran IRS agent, came forward later and alleged misconduct occurred during the Hunter Biden investigation.
He previously gave closed door testimony before his identity was revealed to the House Ways and Means Committee that was publicly released in late June.
Smith added that he was provided with a lot of new documents in relation to the ongoing GOP House-led investigation into the first son.
“The only way that this can come public is if it is a vote of an executive session through the House Ways and Means Committee,” he explained. “And they said they would provide those documents to us at the House Ways and Means Committee. And in fact, they did. And it’s a lot of stuff. We’re pouring through that and we plan to release it very soon.”
Congressional officials told Just the News the vote could come as early as next Wednesday, which could allow the evidence to emerge before House Republicans hold their first hearing in the Biden impeachment inquiry.
Smith, who will participate in that impeachment inquiry, said the first hearing will serve as a primer on what is now known about the Biden family’s foreign business dealings and an alleged coverup, and a rebuttal to media and Democratic figures who claim there is no evidence of wrongdoing. He said he hopes the presentation will change some doubters’ minds.
“What it will take is them to actually read the transcripts, look at the facts, look at their testimony, look at all the additional individuals that have came forward for you whether through a subpoena or voluntarily where we have been able to interview them,” he said. “I don’t think any reasonable person when they look at these facts, they don’t see that there’s a huge issue.
“We know clearly that Joe Biden lied. Joe Biden said all along that he knew nothing of his son’s business dealings. But yet, when the whistleblower testimony was released in June, the next day, the White House started saying the President was not involved in his son’s business dealings. And just based on the testimony of Devon Archer, it shows that Joe Biden was the critical player, that critical person considered to be the brand,” he added.
The chairman also warned he will not let recent efforts to attack the IRS whistleblowers, including a lawsuit by Hunter Biden alleging the IRS leaked information in violation of a tax statute known as 6103, to intimidate any witnesses coming forward to provide evidence. He noted the evidence released from the whistleblowers was made public in compliance with the law through a vote of his committee.
“Let me just say this, the same Hunter Biden lawyers that are suing the IRS under 6103, or whatever they’re suing under, are the same ones that the IRS whistleblowers highlighted that there were instances where those lawyers told Department of Justice employees that if they brought charges against the president’s son, it would be career suicide,” Smith said. “So that is according to the IRS whistleblowers that they highlighted. And so that should tell you what we’re working with right now.”
As for the whistleblowers, he added: “These are two individuals who love their job. They love their country. And what they have seen in the course of their investigation, for the last five years since 2018, has been quite disturbing, and they just didn’t like it. And that’s why they came forward,” he said.
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Charlotte Hazard is a 2022 Liberty University alumni who graduated with a major in journalism and a minor in government. John Solomon is an award-winning investigative journalist, author and digital media entrepreneur who serves as Chief Executive Officer and Editor in Chief of Just the News.
Photo “Joe and Hunter Biden” by Ben Stanfield CC2.0.
