Throughout the six-hour hearing, Democrats poked holes in some of the whistleblowers’ claims and repeatedly noted that the Hunter Biden probe began under then-President Donald Trump and was overseen by a Trump-appointed prosecutor. These allegations are consistent with their previous closed-door testimony, which was made public last month.īiden has said he wasn’t involved in his son’s business deals. The Justice Department and the White House have previously denied the whistleblowers’ claims that there was any political interference in the Hunter Biden criminal probe. But a Justice Department prosecutor said that would “get us into hot water” and it didn’t happen, Ziegler wrote. Ziegler, who is Shapley’s deputy, also told the panel in his written testimony that he wanted to interview Hunter Biden’s adult children after uncovering potentially illegal deductions in Hunter Biden’s tax returns, related to payments to his children. “When the subject’s father is somehow related to the finances of the subject, in the normal course of any Investigation, we would have to get that information, to properly vet the financial flows of money, and determine what we end up charging,” Shapley said, adding that his team was blocked from running down leads related to the president. The whistleblowers also told lawmakers Wednesday that Justice Department officials stopped their investigators from scrutinizing President Joe Biden and his grandchildren, after finding evidence potentially linking them to Hunter Biden’s troubled finances. “It appeared to me, based on what I experienced, that the US attorney in Delaware in our investigation was constantly hamstrung, limited, and marginalized by DOJ officials as well as other US attorneys,” Ziegler said.

In his testimony, Ziegler said he witnessed federal prosecutors deviating from normal procedures, and echoed fellow whistleblower Gary Shapley’s claims that IRS investigators recommended charging Hunter Biden with far more serious crimes than what the president’s son has agreed to plead guilty to. One of the two whistleblowers identified himself publicly for the first time at the hearing: Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year IRS special agent with the Criminal Investigation Division. The House Oversight Committee heard Wednesday from two IRS whistleblowers whose claims that the Justice Department politicized the Hunter Biden criminal probe have ignited a firestorm among Republicans.

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