Impeachment Day 1: House Democrats’ Plan to Refute Hunter Biden IRS Whistleblowers (Exclusive)

On the eve of Thursday's first impeachment hearing, House Democrats circulated talking points to counter claims that the Biden administration interfered in the federal tax probe of Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

Democrats have been circulating a 43-page memo, shared with The Messenger, that undercuts testimony of two IRS whistleblowers who alleged the Biden Justice Department muddied the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.

The memo was sent to Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight and Judiciary panels Wednesday evening, soon after House Republicans released even more information on the IRS whistleblowers' previously private testimony.

“Republicans on these committees continued to repeat false claims of political interference even after five witnesses called by the Republican chairs … squarely debunked and refuted these claims,” the memo said.

In the memo, Democrats seek to undermine GOP claims that President Joe Biden interfered in the investigation and prosecution of his son, Hunter Biden. And they rebuff some of the most explosive allegations made by Gary Shapley and Jospeh Ziegler, the two IRS whistleblowers who testified publicly to Congress earlier this year.

The memo highlights testimony from Thomas Sobocinski, the FBI special agent in charge of the agency's Baltimore field office and Darrell Waldon, who was the IRS special agent in charge of the Washington field office. The memo also points to the testimony of three other IRS and FBI agents, two of which had their names redacted in transcripts released by the House Oversight and Judiciary panels.

Hunter Biden and prosecutors, led by Special Counsel David Weiss, reached a now-defunct plea deal on tax and gun charges which would have spared the president’s son jail time. Republicans slammed the deal as a “sweetheart” agreement, arguing it showed prosecutors operated out of political bias for the Bidens.

FBI agent Sobocinski told the Judiciary Committee earlier this month that Weiss did not made decisions in the probe because of political considerations. He also pushed back against the idea that Weiss was blocked from bringing charges against Hunter Biden, saying he has no “reason to believe” that Attorney General Merrick Garland stopped Weiss from any investigative steps.

Waldon, who served as Shapley’s supervisor, told the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month he didn’t feel as though the Hunter Biden investigation had been “politicized.” Democratic aides also pointed to the part of IRS agent Waldon’s testimony to lawmakers in which he disputed Shapley’s recollection of an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting with Weiss.

Shapley told lawmakers that Weiss claimed he was “not the deciding person” on whether charges would be filed against Hunter Biden — a claim that set off alarm bells in conservative circles, viewing the allegation as evidence that higher ups at the Justice Department were interfering in the probe. But Waldon told lawmakers that he didn’t recall Weiss making such a comment.

“In my recollection, if he would have said that, I would have remembered it,” Waldon said.

A spokesman for Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, argued the IRS whistleblowers have been “wholly consistent.”

“Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have been wholly consistent throughout their disclosures to Congress, and the only people who haven’t are people like David Weiss, Merrick Garland and their liberal cronies,” Russell Dye, the Jordan spokesman, told The Messenger.

A spokesperson for Comer and the House Oversight Committee said the memo from Democrats smeared “hardworking, honest Americans.”

“Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have been consistent in their testimony about misconduct that occurred during the Biden criminal investigation,” the Oversight spokesperson told The Messenger. “Democrats would rather smear hardworking, honest Americans than face the facts about the Bidens' corruption and the DOJ's coverup."

The memo was circulated to Democratic lawmakers on the eve of the GOP’s first impeachment hearing on Thursday.