by Byron York at Washington Examiner
HUNTER BIDEN INDICTMENT IS TOTAL VINDICATION FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS. Remember when two IRS whistleblowers came forward to charge that the Biden administration gave the president’s son, Hunter Biden, special treatment in the tax investigation into his business affairs? The two — Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, both of whom were deeply involved in the Hunter Biden investigation — offered proof that the IRS had an open-and-shut case that Hunter Biden evaded taxes on large amounts of money he had made from foreign sources. But the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware, and the larger Justice Department, would not pursue it, and both men were removed from the case in retaliation for having the temerity to point out the inaction.
Capitol Hill Democrats sought to dismiss the whistleblowers’ allegations. Investigators are often gung-ho, they said, while Justice Department prosecutors have to measure carefully whether a criminal case is warranted. And in this case, Democrats maintained, no charges were warranted against Hunter Biden.
But the facts were the facts. Shapley’s and Ziegler’s testimonies supported the Republican charge that Justice Department officials stifled and slow-walked the investigation. GOP agitation forced the U.S. attorney leading the inquiry, David Weiss, to seek special counsel status, giving him the freedom to resume the investigation.
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Now Hunter Biden has been indicted on tax charges, and the indictment is a complete vindication of the IRS whistleblowers. The indictment largely follows the lines that Shapley and Ziegler set out. It says Hunter Biden avoided paying at least $1.4 million in taxes he owed from 2016 to 2019, when he was receiving large amounts of money from Ukraine, Romania, and China. The indictment alleges that Biden “subverted the payroll and tax withholding process” of his company and then withdrew millions from the company without paying taxes on it. And then, Hunter Biden, quoting from the indictment:…
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