Hunter Biden’s lawyer asserted that the Justice Department was on the cusp of a “non-prosecution resolution” with his client had it not been for the two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers.
IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler had alleged the Justice Department slow-walked the probe of the 46th president’s son. Shortly after going public with their concern, attorney Abbe Lowell said federal prosecutors changed course.
The Daily Signal obtained documents from the Justice Department about the prosecution of Hunter Biden for tax and gun charges through a Freedom of Information Act request. A Delaware jury convicted Hunter, but his father, President Joe Biden, pardoned him shortly before leaving office.
In an Aug. 14, 2023, letter to special counsel David Weiss, Lowell complained that prosecutors made a complete reversal.
“Before the May 2023 leaks, discussions with your Office involved a consensual non-prosecution resolution to all conduct under investigation, where the resolution proposed by both sides did not include any guilty plea,” Lowell wrote.
But he wrote that changed after Shapley was interviewed by CBS News.
“Approximately one day later, the government withdrew its own initial settlement proposal (a diversion agreement as to both the tax and firearm charges), and instead said it would require a misdemeanor guilty plea on the tax charges,” said the letter from Lowell.
After both sides agreed to a misdemeanor guilty plea on June 20 of that year, the deal was met with more disclosures and criticism.
Lowell quipped, “The deal was met with yet more illegal and biased disclosures by the Government’s investigating agents, which were facilitated and then amplified by partisan foes of Mr. Biden’s father-the agents and their enablers acted in concert to put unrelenting political pressure on your Office to renege on the deal.”
The special counsel had withdrawn the deal and eventually proceeded with a prosecution.
He added, “Their efforts unfortunately paid off.”
Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, which represented Shapley and Ziegler, said Lowell is wrong and is smearing the IRS agents. But he agrees the Justice Department would have likely let the case go had it not been for the whistleblowers.
“They were vindicated that the conduct was worthy of a prosecution. We know that because he was found guilty by a jury on one count and pleaded guilty on another,” Leavitt told the Daily Signal. “But Abbe Lowell may be right to say the charges wouldn’t have been brought but for the whistleblowers. Should they have been brought even without the whistleblowers? Absolutely.”
The Lowell letter to Weiss repeatedly accused the two whistleblowers of providing information beyond what is protected under whistleblower laws. Lowell publicized a Feb. 8, 2023, letter he wrote to the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General that accused the whistleblowers of “criminal acts” for disclosures.
The two whistleblowers sued Lowell for defamation. The lawsuit was ultimately settled, with Lowell agreeing that the disclosures were protected by law.
Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland have denied the investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden was compromised.
At the time Lowell represented Hunter Biden, he was with the firm of Winston and Strawn. Now he has his own firm. The Daily Signal contacted both firms for comment for this story. No one from either firm responded.
