Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Daniel Werfel has denied to Congress that he retaliated in opposition to a whistleblower who accused federal prosecutors of defending Hunter Biden in an investigation of tax evasion.

Mr. Werfel defended himself forward of the whistleblower IRS agent’s closed-door testimony to Congress about “irregularities” in a Justice Department probe of the president’s son.

Mr. Werfel advised lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee in a letter on May 17 that he had no position in altering the work project of the IRS whistleblower who voiced issues concerning the probe into Hunter Biden’s enterprise dealings. He famous that the whistleblower is asserting that the reassignment got here on the path of the Justice Department.  

“I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened – and will not intervene – in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower,” Mr. Werfel stated.

“As a general matter and not in reference to any specific case, I believe it is important to emphasize that in any matter involving federal judicial proceedings, the IRS follows the direction of the Justice Department.”

Fox News first reported on the letter.

The IRS supervisory agent will likely be interviewed Friday behind closed doorways by members of the Ways and Means Committee. Republicans stated the developments are indicators of an try and protect the president’s son from potential legal prosecution.

“IRS removed an entire team investigating Hunter,” tweeted Rep. Lance Gooden, Texas Republican. “Democrats seek to thwart whistleblowers. 51 ‘intelligence officials’ lied about Hunter’s laptop. What are they trying to hide?”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to remark for this story.

Last week, attorneys for the IRS supervisory particular agent advised Congress that the Justice Department had retaliated in opposition to him by eradicating the supervisory agent and his total workforce from the investigation. The supervisory agent alleges that federal prosecutors have been motivated by politics and have been defending Hunter Biden by stopping costs from being filed.

“He was informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice,” the whistleblower’s attorneys, Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt, wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.

The years-long investigation into Hunter Biden is targeted on his taxes and whether or not he made a false assertion a couple of gun buy in 2018. Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing.

In a separate letter to the Office of Special Counsel, Mr. Leavitt additionally disclosed the IRS supervisory agent advised federal prosecutors in a extremely charged assembly final October about investigators’ “longstanding concerns” of what they thought-about irregularities within the dealing with of the Justice Department’s legal probe of Hunter Biden. The letter doesn’t disclose the IRS supervisor’s particular issues, but it surely stated he started making “protected disclosures” concerning the probe in the summertime of 2020.

After the IRS supervisory agent raised the issues once more in a telephone name with prosecutors final October, he and his investigative workforce have been “no longer invited to any further prosecutorial team calls and meetings on the case, effectively excluding them from the case,” Mr. Leavitt wrote.

Going ahead, the IRS workforce was solely in a position to get updates on the investigation when one other agent sought out the U.S. legal professional overseeing the probe, in accordance with Mr. Leavitt. U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware, a Trump appointee, has been dealing with the Hunter Biden probe.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com