NYT confirms IRS whistleblower claim about Hunter Biden probe, buries in 21st paragraph of report

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Time for Congress to subpoena Hunter Biden: Jonathan Turley

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley responds to Joe Biden denying that he lied about his talks with Hunter Biden on ‘America Reports.’

The New York Times confirmed one of the bombshell claims made about the Department of Justice's mishandling of its probe into Hunter Biden but buried it deep in its Tuesday report. 

After Biden pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax violations and entered a pretrial diversion agreement regarding the felony gun registration charge, the House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged that President Biden's son received preferential treatment by the Justice Department. 

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley claimed that U.S. Attorney David Weiss alleged to multiple witnesses that he was told by the DOJ that he could not bring charges against Hunter Biden in California and Washington D.C. Attorney General Merrick Garland denied there being any interference in the probe.

However, the Times is now confirming that Weiss did in fact make such claims about the DOJ. 

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Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, arrives with wife Melissa Cohen Biden prior to President Biden awarding Presidential Medals of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 7, 2022.    (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

"But in mid-2022, Mr. Weiss reached out to the top federal prosecutor in Washington, Matthew Graves, to ask his office to pursue charges and was rebuffed, according to Mr. Shapley’s testimony," The Times wrote Tuesday. "A similar request to prosecutors in the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles, was also rejected, Mr. Shapley testified. A second former I.R.S. official, who has not been identified, told House Republicans the same story. That episode was confirmed independently to The New York Times by a person with knowledge of the situation."

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Notably, that confirmation wasn't mentioned until the 21st paragraph of the Times' lengthy report, titled "Competing Accounts of Justice Dept.’s Handling of Hunter Biden Case."

The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment. 

The New York Times building on 8th Avenue in New York City.  (DON EMMERT/AFP via Getty Images)

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Garland denied any wrongdoing by the DOJ last week.

"As I said at the outset, Mr. Weiss, who was appointed by President Trump as the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration, would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to. Mr. Weiss has since sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee confirming that he had that authority," the attorney general told reporters at the time, later adding, "He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own behalf." 

The IRS whistleblowers made damning accusations against the DOJ but perhaps their biggest claim implicates the president.

As part of their testimony to Congress, a WhatsApp text message Hunter Biden allegedly sent to a Chinese business associate invoked his father as part of what Republicans say was an illicit extortion scheme.

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a meeting with all the U.S. Attorneys in Washington, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)

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"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight," Hunter Biden allegedly wrote. 

An attorney for Hunter Biden did not deny the message's authenticity, telling Fox News Digital in part, "Any verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family." The White House Counsel's Office repeated its claim that President Biden "was not in business with his son."