via jonathanturley:
Below is my column in the New York Post on the new allegations from whistleblowers of interference with the Hunter Biden investigation. This weekend, there are reports that, after the threatening WhatsApp message allegedly from Hunter Biden, a Chinese businessman with close ties to Chinese intelligence sent $5 million to his account.
In the meantime, the demand from figures like former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) for people to “back off” on the story is being heeded by some in the media, in again blacking out or downplaying the story . While many of us have stressed the need to authenticate these statements, Hunter Biden has notably not denied that he sent the message and the allegations from the investigation have self-verifying elements. The news blackout again raises concerns over a de facto state media in the United States that operates by consent rather than coercion. This is a major story either way it turns out but networks and newspapers are again showing a distinct lack of curiosity.
Here is the column:
This week, former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) went on MSNBC to issue a furious warning to everyone looking into Hunter Biden and the influence peddling scandal: “Everybody needs to back off!”
Newly released evidence from the investigation indicates that McCaskill was not the only powerful figure issuing that warning. Two whistleblowers reportedly detailed highly disturbing actions from top officials to slow walk and undermine the investigation.
Many of us have already noted the absence of certain charges in the plea deal given to Hunter Biden. In addition to the lack of any charge as an unregistered foreign agent, there is no evidence that the Justice Department seriously investigated the influence-peddling efforts of the Biden family despite allegations of millions generated from foreign sources.
Now these whistleblowers are reportedly telling Congress that they were actively frustrated in their efforts to investigate as Merrick Garland was insisting that there was no interference or limitations.
This included preventing an effort to search a guest house of President Joe Biden. IRS official Gary Shapley allegedly recalled that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf agreed that there was “more than enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze.”
‘Merrick Garland caught lying to congress’…
“I’m not the deciding official.”
Those five words, allegedly from Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, shocked IRS and FBI investigators in a meeting on October 22, 2022. This is because, in refusing to appoint a special counsel, Attorney Garland Merrick Garland had repeatedly assured the public and Congress that Weiss had total authority over his investigation.
IRS supervisory agent Gary A. Shapley Jr. told Congress he was so dismayed by Weiss’s statement and other admissions that he memorialized them in a communication to other team members.
Shapley and another whistleblower detail what they describe as a pattern of interference with their investigation of Hunter Biden, including the denial of searches, lines of questioning, and even attempted indictments.
The only thing abundantly clear is that someone is lying. Either these whistleblowers are lying to Congress, or these Justice Department officials (including Garland) are lying.
The response from both Hunter Biden’s counsel and the attorney general himself only deepened the concerns.
Christopher Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, responded to a shocking Whatsapp message that the president’s son had allegedly sent to a Chinese official with foreign intelligence contacts who was funneling millions to him.