As the nation focused on the bombshell revelations in the final Durham report, the Department of Justice removed the “entire investigative team” from its tax fraud probe into Hunter Biden, according to an IRS whistleblower.
The purge was done on the orders of the DOJ, the whistleblower’s attorneys told congressional leaders in a letter.
The whistleblower says the move was in retaliation for coming forward to Congress.
Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote: “Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent we represent was informed that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress.
“He was informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.
“On April 27, 2023, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel appeared before the House Committee on Ways and Means.
“He testified: ‘I can say without any hesitation there will be no retaliation for anyone making an allegation or a call to a whistleblower hotline.’
“However, this move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry.
“Our client has a right to make disclosures to Congress.
“He is protected by 5 U.S.C. § 2302 from retaliatory personnel actions—including receiving a ‘significant change in duties, responsibilities, or working conditions’ (which this clearly is) because of his disclosures to Congress.
“Any attempt by any government official to prevent a federal employee from furnishing information to Congress is also a direct violation of longstanding appropriations restriction.
“Furthermore, 18 U.S.C. § 1505 makes it a crime to obstruct an investigation of Congress.
“We respectfully request that you give this matter your prompt attention.
“Removing the experienced investigators who have worked this case for years and are now the subject-matter experts is exactly the sort of issue our client intended to blow the whistle on to begin with,” the lawyers said.
BREAKING: A Biden administration whistleblower informed Congress today that the “entire investigative team” working on the Hunter Biden case at the IRS was removed from the case today, and that that their removal was specifically requested by DOJ.
Developing…
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 16, 2023
Report: IRS removes ‘entire investigative team’ from Hunter Biden tax-fraud probehttps://t.co/llW6nCE3so pic.twitter.com/WOJn3o75a3
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) May 16, 2023
The whistleblower supervised the Hunter Biden probe since early 2020.
