When I was growing up, “I’m sorry,” was the requisite response to “you apologize to your sister right this minute” after you yanked out a handful of her hair or accidentally (on purpose) broke her favorite Barbie. There was no genuine remorse or promise of reform required. “I’m sorry” bought you half-hearted forgiveness, got you out of major trouble, or both.
It was basically BS.
As a mother and a career linguist, “I’m sorry” wasn’t an option if my daughters injured, outraged, or offended each other — whether carelessly or intentionally. The phrase was trite, I explained; meaningless. Instead, because I believe that words matter deeply, I chose to encourage this alternative: “I feel bad about what I did, and I’ll try not to do it again.” (Without the trying part, it would be almost as platitudinous as “I’m sorry.”)
It must suck to have a mom who’s a writer.
Like just about everything else in the world, words have gotten wonky since COVID came to town. Almost out of the gate, we were told to shelter in place, a phrase once employed only in life-or-death, bombs-are-falling, get-under-your-desks emergencies. Suddenly it meant, “You know, you should really probably stay at home unless you’re out of Pantene, your dog swallowed a sock, or someone in your circle needs a margarita to go.”
Some words saw their actual, official definitions altered to fit the emerging narrative. Merriam-Webster quietly decided that an “anti-vaxxer” was no longer simply a person who opposes the use of some or all vaccines, but henceforth would also describe those who oppose regulations mandating them. So basically, you can be quadruple-juiced and pro-medical freedom, and you might as well start making homemade granola and get yourself some nice bell-bottom jeans and a tie-dyed top, you dirty hippy.
It’s right there on the website!
Similarly, the CDC changed its definition of “vaccine” mid-pandemic from “a product that stimulates a person’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, protecting the person from that disease” to “a preparation that is used to stimulate the body’s immune response against diseases.” Convenient, right? They never said it protected you from anything. It’s right there on the website!
When I asked ChatGPT to tell me what a breakthrough case of COVID was, it described this unicorn-level occurrence as “when a person who has been fully vaccinated against the virus later becomes infected with the virus.” The AI chat platform nearly tripped over itself to add: “It is important to note, however, that breakthrough cases are still relatively rare. Vaccines have been shown to be highly effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19, even against new variants of the virus.” Never mind the countless analyses that have found that your risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death increases with each booster. It’s just those pesky breakthrough cases. (Oh, and you’re a domestic terrorist if you say or even think otherwise.)
By literal definition, disinformation is “false information deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.” And yet the Center for Countering Digital Hate (the irony!) boldly baptized 12 individuals the “Disinformation Dozen” for promoting proven therapeutics, acknowledging natural immunity, pointing out the abysmal failure of the so-called vaccines, and encouraging natural remedies. A proper logophile (or domestic terrorist) might dub them the “Inconvenient to Pharma Dozen.” But semantics.
There was no vaccine law.
Curiously, the definition of a mandate is “an authoritative command.” A law, on the other hand, is “any written or positive rule prescribed under the authority of [a] state or nation.” It’s essentially the difference between, “Hey, kid, get off my lawn,” and, “You’re under arrest for criminal trespassing.” There was no vaccine law, I’ll remind you. And yet students, pilots, travelers, teachers, frontline medical workers, and millions of employees from countless fields lined up for an experimental gene therapy injection because they were commanded authoritatively to do so.
Is anyone else as angry about this as I am?
At least 1,553,187 people: the current number of COVID vaccine injuries reported to VAERS.
Last but certainly not least, we have our two best pandemic friends, “safe” and “effective”. Synonyms for safe include harmless, risk-free, trustworthy, sound, and reliable; some recommended substitutes for effective are powerful, useful, successful, valuable, and potent. If it was a known, documented fact that at least 1,553,187 people — the current number of COVID vaccine injuries reported to VAERS — lost life or limb visiting a certain theme park, would you rush to purchase an annual pass? (And also, might you briefly question why it was still open to the public?) If you discovered that a specific type of birth control actually increased your odds of becoming pregnant, would you make it your go-to contraceptive or recommend it to your child-phobic friends? These are comical things to consider — and yet you can’t drive down the highway, scroll through social media, or peruse a single mainstream news site without encountering at least a handful of helpful reminders to get your safe and effective COVID booster.
If we hear something often enough, it becomes accepted as fact. To wit: If you swallow your gum, it takes seven years to digest. (Altogether untrue.) Sugar makes you hyper. (Zero studies support this.) Lightning never strikes twice. (Ask this guy who’s been zapped seven times.) Iraq was teeming with weapons of mass destruction. (Whoops.)
Rudyard Kipling said, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
Indeed, words and drugs can radically impact our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Let’s choose both wisely.
A common sentiment expressed by some voters on social media these days is the need to “move on.” This viewpoint seems to be particularly popular with those deeply desirous of a Republican candidate for president of the United States who is not Donald Trump.
They readily admit that Trump’s policies were far better for the economy and view Biden’s administration as disastrous. Some even acknowledge that social media censorship and changes to election procedures — many unlawful — cost Trump the 2020 presidential election.
Even so, they say, “It’s time to move on.”
It’s easy to chalk this up to “Trump fatigue” — weariness of Trump’s ego and combative personality. But an argument can also be made that this is the latest example of the public’s reluctance to confront corruption and the erosion of standards in American governance. What we’re watching transpire in U.S. politics right now should be galvanizing the country. But it doesn’t seem to be, and we need to ask ourselves why.
Joe Biden, the president of the United States, has just had Donald Trump — his primary political opponent in the 2024 presidential election — indicted and arrested. That may be a common occurrence in third-world countries, but it is unprecedented in the history of this nation.
Worse than the political targeting is the legal double standard. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents. But we now know that Biden has had classified documents in unsecured locations (including his garage) for years. And he acquired these documents when he was not the president with the constitutional power to declassify them.
Where is the indictment of President Biden?
While Biden was vice president, his son Hunter received millions of dollars from a Ukrainian natural gas company, Burisma, whose leadership was under investigation. Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid unless Viktor Shokin, the Ukrainian prosecutor conducting the investigations, was fired. “Well, son of a bitch,” Biden bragged on camera, “he got fired.”
After Trump was elected president, he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to look into the decision to fire Shokin. Democrats accused Trump of using the presidency to target a political opponent and impeached him for “abuse of power.”
Where are the articles of impeachment against Biden?
More information has come to light this week, suggesting not only that Joe and Hunter Biden received millions of dollars in bribes from Ukraine, but that the FBI has been covering up evidence of the bribery.
Why aren’t more of us demanding accountability? Perhaps it is because we have been dismissing government corruption for far too long.
Under former President Barack Obama, the IRS improperly held up the applications of conservative nonprofits for tax-exempt status — often for years — crippling their fundraising efforts and support for their candidates and policies. Lois Lerner, then-director of Exempt Organizations, pleaded the Fifth Amendment in response to a congressional subpoena. Lerner was held in contempt of Congress. What penalty? She retired from the IRS with a full pension.
Move on.
Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, was also held in contempt of Congress, after refusing to turn over information subpoenaed as part of a congressional investigation into failed “gunwalking” program Operation Fast and Furious. Guns ended up in the hands of criminals who killed dozens of Mexican citizens, as well as U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Contempt proceedings against Holder languished in the federal court system for years until Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives and dropped the matter.
Move on.
Hillary Clinton has had her share of corruption scandals. In 2012, when she was secretary of state, our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked and four Americans killed, including our ambassador, Christopher Stevens. Clinton knew it was a planned terrorist attack, but lied to the American public that it was a spontaneous uprising in response to a video made by an obscure filmmaker named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula (who was arrested and served a year in prison). When questioned about her lies during a congressional investigation, Clinton’s infamous response was, “What difference at this point does it make?”
Clinton also lied about having classified information on private, unsecured email servers and she destroyed evidence. But then-FBI Director James Comey declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring charges.
Move on.
Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign illegally funneled money through law firm Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS and then former British spy Christopher Steele, looking for dirt on opponent Donald Trump. The FBI knew the information they received thereafter was false, but lied to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get warrants to spy on Trump.
Clinton’s campaign paid a modest fine. No consequences for the FBI. Move on.
The unrest at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is supposedly another day that will live in infamy. But we don’t know why FBI brass refuse to answer straightforward questions about whether federal agents in the crowd incited or contributed to violence.
But let’s do “move on.”
This week, major news outlets are finally admitting what was obvious three years ago — that SARS-Cov-2 emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, where dangerous “gain-of-function” research was being conducted. The government lied to us about the origins of COVID-19 and locked down the country, crippling the economy and doing immeasurable damage to the education of millions of children. It demanded that social media censor physicians, scientists and researchers trying to expose the truth about the virus, available drug treatments, and the vaccines Americans were being forced to take.
But let’s not get into the blame game. We need to “move on.”
There is no “moving on” from corruption. To wave it away is to embolden the corrupt. If we as a people do not care enough about the integrity of our laws and the proper limits of our government to enforce both, those who flagrantly disregard those laws and those limits will not stop until they destroy everything we hold dear.
To find out more about Laura Hollis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Looking. Top Canadian politician apologizes to unvaccinated, “we were wrong…” she makes unprecedented promise.
Danielle Smith, the current premier of Alberta in Canada, has done something remarkable. She took the bold and unprecedented step of apologizing to unvaccinated Canadians who’ve faced unfair treatment from the government throughout the “pandemic.”
But Ms. Smith actually went beyond just issuing an apology, Danielle actually made a promise: anyone who was terminated from their job due to their refusal of the COVID-19 vaccine will be reinstated.
Wow. That’s not the type of humility you hear from politicians everyday, is it? Comedian and conservative podcaster Jimmy Dore was actually blown away by this apology and covered it at length.
This apology and promise form Ms. Smith sends a powerful message to globalist elites: you were all wrong, and everybody knows it. Thanks to her humility, Danielle Smith has set a new standard in political leadership. Her acknowledgement of the horrors faced by the unvaccinated and her willingness to take responsibility for the government’s disgusting actions during the pandemic show she has the potential to be a good leader.
However, the proof is in the pudding. The next time something like this happens — and you know it will — Danielle better be on the side of the people, not the government.
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden board Air Force
One, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del. President Biden is traveling to Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
More on that bad boy Hunter.
Breitbart, Gateway Pundit, NewsMax, and other conservative media have been doing an excellent job on the Biden Scandal. This from Breitbart.
The House Ways and Means Committee revealed at least 13 serious IRS whistleblowers allegations against the Biden family on Thursday.
While the establishment media ignored or downplayed the allegations, the whistleblowers revealed the following points in the now-public allegations leveled against Hunter Biden, the Justice Department, and President Joe Biden:
The Justice Department twice prevented United States Attorney David Weiss from bringing stronger charges against Hunter Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to name a special counsel in the tax investigation, which could have provided a degree of separation between Joe Biden and his Justice Department.
The IRS recommended charges against Hunter Biden that were not approved by Garland.
The investigation forewarned Hunter Biden of any future searches for materials that could be used as evidence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf refused to allow investigators to ask about Joe Biden being “the big guy.”
Wolf stopped questioning about “the big guy” to limit where the investigation could go despite evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement.
Wolf cautioned the investigation team from searching Joe Biden’s guest house in Delaware for evidence against Hunter Biden because of “optics.”
Rob Walker, a Biden Family business associate, said Joe Biden showed up at a meeting with CEFC, a Chinese energy company closely affiliated with the CCP. Based on the testimony, it appears Hunter Biden used Joe Biden to bolster his business dealings with CEFC, which funneled the family money.
Rob Walker showed the family’s business directly involved Joe Biden, including while still in office as vice president.
Hunter Biden demanded in 2017 to be paid by CCP-linked Chinese businessman Henry Zhao while Joe Biden was “sitting” next to him in a room.
Investigators wanted to obtain the location data to confirm Joe Biden was in the room. But there is no confidence the FBI obtained that data.
Hunter Biden deducted payments to prostitutes and sex clubs from his taxes.
The investigation into Hunter Biden began as an “offshoot” of inquiry into a foreign adult platform.
We also found out that the whistleblowers have collaboration on what they are reporting. Video below.
Looking. So why did Governor Newsom go on Hannity’s program? A week or so ago Governor Newsom appeared for an interview with Hannity. Why? I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about Newsom is looking to run for President. I guess like others he feels Biden may not run.
So why the interview? Like Biden before him, he’s trying to wipe away that look of a Progressive and show he can even lean right. Hell he even praised Trump for his good works when it came to COVID.
Newsom has a record that he can’t run away from. How can you explain 100 billion in the black, and the very next year you’re 30 billion in the red. And the folks fleeing the state?
One loon from Northern California claimed that only the white trash ( this person would know? ) was leaving and every single one was a Republican. Yeah poor white folk took over 20 billion with them. SMH.
News. DOJ Tipped Off Hunter Biden Before a Search of His Storage Unit, IRS Whistleblowers Say. In a article printed the other day, we touched on this. Here’s Gateway Pundit’s article.
A recent executive meeting of the Ways and Means Committee resulted in a decision to release to the public testimony from two whistleblowers. The whistleblowers, both IRS employees, made shocking revelations about misconduct and abuse of power by Biden’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) during the investigation of Hunter Biden’s tax evasion case.
The whistleblowers claim that the Department of Justice (DOJ) tipped off Hunter Biden prior to a federal search of his storage unit.
The information revealed during the Ways and Means Committee’s executive meeting shows that Hunter Biden appears to have received preferential treatment in the investigation of his tax crimes.
Despite IRS officials recommending that Hunter Biden be charged with criminal activity for attempts to evade or defeat taxes, fraud and false statements, and willful failures to file returns, supply information, or pay taxes for over $8.3 million in income, the testimony alleges that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment during the investigation.
Further allegations point to the DOJ interfering in the investigation, deploying a strategy of “Delay, Divulge, and Deny” to shield Hunter Biden, according to the news committee’s press release.
Delays in the investigation were allegedly unjustified and pervasive, the DOJ was accused of divulging information about the investigation to Hunter Biden’s lawyers in advance, and there were several denials of attempts to bring charges or achieve special counsel status from the DOJ.
The Department of Justice interfered in the investigation into Hunter Biden’s clear tax issues with a “Delay, Divulge, and Deny” campaign – that ultimately shielded him by allowing the statute of limitations to pass on his tax crimes.
DELAY: Recurring unjustified delays pervaded the investigation, including in authenticating the message between Hunter Biden and Chinese officials. Investigators were told by U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that “there is no way” a search warrant for evidence would get approved because the evidence of interest would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden.
DIVULGE: Investigators found out that attorneys for Hunter Biden were tipped off about actions relating to the investigation in advance. For example, even as investigators had probable cause to search a Northern Virginia storage unit in which Hunter Biden had stored files, attorneys for Biden were tipped off.
DENY: U.S. Attorney of Delaware David Weiss tried to bring charges in District of Columbia around March 2022 and was denied. Weiss sought special counsel status from DOJ in the Spring of 2022 and was denied. Weiss sought to bring charges in the Central District of California in the Fall of 2022 and had that request denied in January 2023.
The testimony also details the retaliation against IRS employees who blew the whistle on this misconduct. These employees reportedly faced hostility after raising concerns up their chain of command. Actions were taken to cut the IRS investigative team out of the process, and in some cases, unrelated investigations were hampered with limits and pauses. The whistleblowers and their entire team were eventually removed from the investigation on May 15, 2023, after blowing the whistle to Congress.
The testimony of two whistleblowers puts the DOJ and IRS under intense scrutiny and highlights the urgent need for investigation and accountability within these agencies.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1671942487185952768
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) released the following statement:
“Today, the Ways and Means Committee voted to make public the testimony of IRS employees blowing the whistle on misconduct at the IRS and the Biden Department of Justice regarding unequal enforcement of tax law, interference and government abuse in the handling of investigations into criminal activity by President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and retaliation against IRS employees blowing the whistle on this abuse.
“The American people deserve to know that when it comes to criminal enforcement, they are not on the same playing field as thewealthy and politically connected class. The preferential treatment Hunter Biden received would never have been granted to ordinary Americans.
“Whistleblowers describe how the Biden Justice Department intervened and overstepped in a campaign to protect the son of Joe Biden by delaying, divulging, and denying an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes. The testimony shows tactics used by the Justice Department to delay the investigation long enough to reach the statute of limitations, evidence they divulged sensitive actions by the investigative team to Biden’s attorneys, and denied requests by the U.S. Attorney to bring charges against Biden.
“IRS employees who blew the whistle on this abuse were retaliated against, despite a commitment IRS Commissioner Werfel made before the Ways and Means Committee to uphold their legal protections. They were removed from this investigation after they responsibly worked through the chain of command to raise these concerns.
“The Committee has acted in good faith with participation from both Democrats and Republicans, as the issues raised today ought to be a bipartisan concern. Hopefully we can find a path forward to continue to go where the facts lead us. If the federal government is not treating all taxpayers equally, or if it is changing the rules to engineer a preferred outcome, Congress has a duty to ask why and to hold agencies accountable and consider appropriate legislative action. The scales of justice must not be skewed in favor of the wealthy and the politically connected.”
The transcripts for the whistleblower testimony are posted below via Ways and Means Committee:
Looking. Dershowitz to Newsmax: 65 Project Un-American for Targeting Trump Lawyers.
Harvard professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Thursday that the 65 Project, a primarily left-leaning group of lawyers that is trying to intimidate lawyers representing former President Donald Trump in post-2020 election litigation or challenging those election results, “the most un-American group of people I have encountered in all my years of practicing law.”
David Brock, founder of Media Matters for America and a senior adviser to the group, told Axios in March 2022 the group’s method of intimidation is to “not only bring the grievances in the bar complaints, but shame them and make them toxic in their communities and in their firms.”
Such a move could violate the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees a right to “assistance of counsel for his defense.” There is a presumption the amendment provides defendants the right to retain counsel of their choice, although it is not absolute. Such intimidation by the 65 Project could thwart that right, according to Dershowitz.
“These are lawyers who ought to be themselves subject to bar association discipline,” Dershowitz, who was part of Trump’s legal team for his first impeachment, told “Carl Higbie FRONTLINE.”
Dershowitz said after he pledged to defend any lawyer pro bono who was targeted by the 65 Project for defending Trump or anyone in his circle, the group filed a complaint with the bar association in Massachusetts, where he lives. He said so far, nothing has come of it.
“I’ve now spoken to three lawyers who were asked to defend either Donald Trump or his co-defendants, and they all are reluctant to do it largely because of Project 65,” Dershowitz said. “This is McCarthyism, the worst form of McCarthyism. It violates the code of professional responsibility. And in numerous ways, it puts the profession in a bad light.”
Dershowitz said every American is at risk when there is a group of “distinguished lawyers, members of the bar, elite members of the bar, members of law firms, people who have held high office in bar associations, essentially threatening lawyers, threatening their careers, threatening their friendships if they continue to represent people this group doesn’t like.”
“It is the worst abuse of the legal profession I’ve seen in 60 years of practicing law, and this is one lawyer who’s fighting back,” he said.
Said Eddie Vale, communications director for the 65 Project, in an email to Newsmax: “Talk is cheap and if Mr. Dershowitz actually believes it he is more than welcome to file a complaint that we would be glad to litigate in addition to ours against him.”
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., are moving to expunge both the first and second impeachments of former President Donald Trump, respectively.
Greene’s resolution seeks to expunge Trump’s first impeachment, which came from an accusation that he had attempted to coerce Ukraine into announcing an investigation into the Biden family. It points to a recently revealed FD-1023, which includes confidential human source information accusing both Joe and Hunter Biden of being involved in an alleged bribery scheme, wherein a Ukrainian businessperson paid $5 million to Hunter Biden and another $5 million to Joe Biden in exchange for getting a prosecutor investigating his company fired.
“Resolved, That the December 18, 2019, impeachment of President Donald John Trump is expunged, as if such Articles had never passed the full House of Representatives, as the facts and circumstances upon which such Articles were based did not meet the burden of proving the commission of ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors’, as set forth in section 4 of article II of the Constitution,” the resolution reads.
In a statement, Greene said, “The first impeachment of President Trump was a politically motivated sham. The Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, weaponized a perfect phone call with Ukraine to interfere with the 2020 election. Meanwhile, the FBI had credible evidence of Joe and Hunter Biden’s corrupt dealings, confirming their involvement in a foreign bribery pay-to-play scheme and receipt of over $5 million each. All of this information was revealed to Congress by the FD-1023 form from the FBI’s most credible informant. The form vindicates President Trump and exposes the crimes of the Biden family. It’s clear that President Trump’s impeachment was nothing more than a witch hunt that needs to be expunged from our history. I’m proud to work with Chairwoman Elise Stefanik on our joint resolutions to correct the record and clear President Trump’s good name.”
Stefanik’s resolution seeks to expunge the second impeachment, which was related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. It reads, “Resolved, That the January 13, 2021, impeachment of President Donald John Trump is expunged, as if such Article had never passed the full House of Representatives, as the facts and circumstances upon which such Article was based met the burden of proving neither that President Trump committed ‘high Crimes and Misdemeanors’, as set forth in section 4 of article II of the Constitution, nor that President Trump engaged in ‘insurrection or rebellion against the United States’, such that he is forever precluded from ‘hold[ing] any office … under the United States’ pursuant to section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.”
Stefanik released a statement saying, “The American people know Democrats weaponized the power of impeachment against President Donald Trump to advance their own extreme political agenda. From the beginning of this sham process, I stood up against Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff’s blatant attempt to shred the Constitution as House Democrats ignored the Constitution and failed to follow the legislative process. President Donald Trump was rightfully acquitted, and it is past time to expunge Democrats’ sham smear against not only President Trump’s name, but against millions of patriots across the country.”
Below are links to two other stories that would be related to this one. If Trump does end up winning in 2024 and if the Democrats do take the House, they will try a third time to Impeach Trump. Hate is part of the lefts playbook. So hang on cause the next elections will be historic.
President Biden has snapped at reporters who have asked him about alleged corruption involving him and his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Looking. The Biden Investigation interfered with constantly. I’ve decided to post three different articles on the same Biden scandal. Fox goes first.
IRS decisions ‘at every stage’ of probe ‘had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation,’ a whistleblower said.
Justice Department investigators were “trying to limit”questioning related to President Biden as part of the investigation into Hunter Biden, despite objections from FBI and IRS officials, a whistleblower alleged.
The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who said officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with the investigation of the tax evasion case against Hunter Biden. The whistleblowers said decisions in the case seemed to be “influenced by politics.”
One whistleblower, Gary Shapley Jr., who was the supervisor of the investigation at the IRS, said that “at every stage” of the probe, decisions were made that “had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation.” He cited several examples involving apparent references to Hunter Biden’s father.
Shapley pointed to text messages and emails obtained from Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski, which Fox News Digital first reported before the 2020 presidential election and before it was known that Hunter was under federal investigation.
President Biden has snapped at reporters who have asked him about alleged corruption involving him and his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
In December 2020, Shapley said investigators were preparing to interview Biden business associate Rob Walker.
“Among other things, we wanted to question Walker about an email that said: ‘Ten held by H for the big guy,’” Shapley said. “We had obvious questions like who was H, who the big guy was, and why this percentage was to be held separately with the association hidden.”
But Shapley said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf “interjected and said she did not want to ask about the big guy and stated she did not want to ask questions about ‘dad.’”
It has been reported that Joe Biden is referred to as “the big guy.”
“When multiple people in the room spoke up and objected that we had to ask, she responded, there’s no specific criminality to that line of questioning,” Shapley said. “This upset the FBI, too.”
Shapley said that “basically everyone in the room except for the prosecutors had a big problem with” not asking questions about President Biden.
The “Ten held by H for the big guy” message is an email from May 13, 2017, which included a discussion of “remuneration packages” for six people in a business deal with a Chinese energy firm. The email appeared to identify Biden as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” in an apparent reference to now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co.
President Biden, left, and Hunter Biden (Getty Images)
The email includes a note that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.” A proposed equity split references “20” for “H” and “10 held by H for the big guy?” with no further details.
Shapley said that on Oct. 22, 2020, the team and Wolf stated that U.S. Attorney David Weiss had “reviewed the affidavit for search warrant of Hunter Biden’s residence and agreed that probable cause had been achieved.”
“Even though the legal requirements were met, and the investigative team knew evidence would be in these locations, AUSA Wolf stated that they would not allow a physical search warrant on Hunter Biden,” Shapley said.
Shapley said IRS and FBI agents conducting the Walker interview “tried to skirt AUSA Wolf’s direction” to avoid questions on “dad” and “the big guy.”
“And they were like, ‘How can we not ask?’ Like, that was wrong. We got to ask. We got to ask,” Shapley said. “And so they basically decided that they would ask the question without saying the words ‘big guy,’ and that then they would somehow be doing what they were asked to do.”
Shapley repeatedly testified that there were “multiple times where Lesley Wolf said that she didn’t want to ask questions about dad.”
“And dad was kind of how we referred to him,” Shapley said. “We referred to Hunter Biden’s father, you know, as dad.”
Shapley said Joe Biden was referred to in that way “so that we could speak more openly without yelling, ‘President Biden.’”
He also discussed an instance in December 2020 when Hunter Biden vacated the Washington, D.C., office of his Owasco firm and put all of his documents into a storage unit in northern Virginia.
“The IRS prepared an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the unit, but AUSA Wolf once again objected,” Shapley said.
According to Shapley, Weiss was leading the investigation into Hunter Biden and agreed that if the storage unit wasn’t accessed for 30 days, “we could execute a search warrant on it.”
“No sooner had we gotten off the call then we heard AUSA Wolf had simply reached out to Hunter Biden’s defense counsel and told him about the storage unit, once again ruining our chances to get evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed,” Shapley said.
He also said a message in which Hunter Biden refers to his father in a message to Chinese energy company CEFC executive Henry Zhao made it clear a search of the guesthouse at the Bidens’ Delaware home was needed. But he said Wolf said that the “optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute a search warrant.”
These revelations come just days after the Justice Department announced that Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a deal that is expected to keep him out of prison. The president’s son also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement with regard to a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
In response to the whistleblower allegations, the Justice Department said in a statement: “As both the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney David Weiss have said, U.S. Attorney Weiss has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate. He needs no further approval to do so. Questions about his investigation should be directed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Delaware.”
The White House has repeatedly said President Biden has never been involved in his son’s business dealings. They also maintain the president never discussed them with him.
Brooke Singman is a Fox News Digital politics reporter.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) told reporters Thursday that the Justice Department twice prevented United States Attorney David Weiss from bringing stronger charges against Hunter Biden.
Upon the committee’s vote to unseal IRS whistleblower evidence of alleged Justice Department political interference in the Hunter Biden tax probe, Smith said IRS whistleblowers allege that President Joe Biden’s DOJ twice prevented charges against Hunter Biden in Washington, DC, and California in 2022.
Attorney General Merrick Garland told Congress in March that he would have to personally authorize any potential charges levied against Hunter Biden by Weiss. Yet Garland also said Wednesday he gave Weiss “full authority to decide the matter as he decided was appropriate.”
On Tuesday, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to only two federal tax violation charges and one charge of violation of gun laws.
“Testimony shows that U.S. Attorney of Delaware David Weiss tried to bring charges in the District of Columbia around March of 2022 and was denied. Weiss sought Special Counsel status from the DOJ in the spring of 2022 and was denied,” Smith told reporters. “And Weiss once again sought to bring charges in the Central District of California in the fall of 2022 and had that request denied in January of 2023.”
Smith also said the IRS recommended charges against Hunter Biden that were not approved by Garland.
“The testimony we released today shows the IRS recommended charges against Hunter Biden that included attempt to evade or defeat tax, a felony; fraud or false statements, a felony; and willful failure to file returns, supply information, or pay tax,” Smith said. “These tax crimes cover an estimated $2.2 million and unreported tax on global income streams to Mr. Biden and his associates from Ukraine, Romania, and China totaling $17.3 million from 2014 to 2019.”
“Mr. Biden personally received $8.3 million,” Smith added. “Whistleblowers detail foreign payments to Mr. Biden, including $664,000 from the Chinese company, state energy HK, a large diamond worth $80,000, and a Porsche worth $142,000. These payments are just a fraction of the total, but they provide insight into a world of wealth and influence that no ordinary American would recognize.”
In addition, Smith told reporters the probe into the president’s son was afflicted with unusual problems, including whistleblower claims that Hunter Biden received special treatment because his father is the president:
IRS investigators say they found themselves hamstrung internally. The testimony we have just released details a lack of U.S. Attorney independence, recurring unjustified delays, unusual actions outside the normal course of any investigation, a lack of transparency across the investigation and prosecution teams, and bullying and threats from the defense counsel.
This was a campaign of delay, divulge, and deny. Whistleblowers say recurring unjustified delays pervaded the investigation, including authenticating a WhatsApp message in which Hunter Biden demands payment from Chinese officials, noting that his father is in the room.
The whistleblowers revealed IRS investigators were told by U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf that because the evidence would be found in the guest house of former Vice President Biden, “There is no way” a search warrant for evidence would ever get approved.
Smith also said the investigation forewarned Hunter Biden of any future searches for materials that could be used as evidence:
IRS whistleblowers told this committee that crucial information about the investigation was devolved to Hunter Biden’s attorneys. For example, even [when] investigators had probable cause to search a Northern Virginia storage unit in which Hunter Biden had stored files, attorneys for Biden were made aware prior to any search, providing them valuable time to remove any materials that could be useful evidence.
Throughout the investigation, Garland refused to name a special counsel in the tax investigation, which could have provided a degree of separation between President Joe Biden and his Justice Department, according to allegations revealed in April by an IRS whistleblower.
On July 26 Hunter Biden will appear before a judge, who will presumably accept the plea deal. If the judge accepts the plea deal, Hunter Biden’s lawyer claimed in an interview with MSNBC, no additional allegations of wrongdoing alleged by Republicans could ever be brought against the president’s son.
Wendell Husebø
Finally Gateway Pundit.
House Ways and Means Chair Details Multiple Felony Charges the IRS Recommended Against Hunter Biden – All Blocked By Biden’s DOJ (VIDEO)
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) on Thursday detailed MULTIPLE felony charges that whistleblowers said the IRS recommended against Hunter Biden.
The investigation into Hunter Biden opened in November 2018 as an off-shoot of a separate, corporate investigation by the IRS.
Rep. Smith said, “The investigation was in the ordinary course of work at the IRS. It was not ordered by any individual, any chairman or any political entity.”
The IRS recommended charges against Hunter Biden that included:
Attempt to evade or defeat tax – A FELONY
Fraud or false statements – A FELONY
Willful failure to file returns, supply information or pay tax
“These tax crimes cover an estimated $2.2 million in unreported tax on global income…from Ukraine, Romania, and China, totaling $17.3 million from 2014 to 2019.”
He added, “Mr. Biden personally received $8.3 million.”
WATCH:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1671937433334849536
Rather than charging Hunter Biden with felonies for evading taxes and providing false statements to the feds, Joe Biden’s corrupt DOJ gave him a sweetheart deal.
Hunter Biden was hit with two misdemeanors related to unpaid taxes from 2017 and 2018.
Joe Biden’s DOJ blocked two search warrants and multiple felony charges against Hunter Biden, according to an IRS whistleblower who spoke to lawmakers.
“I am blowing the whistle because the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, Department of Justice Tax, and Department of Justice provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest in an important and high-profile investigation of the President’s son, Hunter Biden,” IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley told lawmakers in a testimony obtained by Just The News.
According to Just the News, Shapley told lawmakers that an Assistant US Attorney in Delaware working on Hunter’s case REJECTED a search warrant for Joe Biden’s Delaware home in 2020.
A separate search warrant for Hunter Biden’s storage locker was also blocked by Joe Biden’s henchmen.
A supervisory IRS agent divulged to Congress widespread interference in the probe of Hunter Biden, including the blockage of two search warrants and more extensive criminal charges, while also confirming the government had evidence that Joe Biden met with his son’s Chinese business partners, according to testimony released Thursday,
Just the News obtained the testimony of IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley shortly after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to pierce Hunter Biden’s tax privacy and make the agent’s allegations of preferential treatment and political interference public.
