The FBI never interviewed Hunter Biden over the course of its investigation into the first son’s business dealings, according to a senior agent who worked on the probe.
The supervisory special agent’s testimony to the House Oversight Committee in a closed-door interview on Monday corroborates key claims from IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley about the peculiarities surrounding the bureau’s investigation. According to the agent, who was identified by Shapley as Joe Gordon, the two planned to interview Hunter Biden in Los Angeles on Dec. 8, 2020, but were stymied at the last minute after FBI headquarters notified the Secret Service and the Biden transition team about their plans.
Gordon said that intervention meant Biden, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to misdemeanor tax charges, avoided ever having to meet face-to-face with law enforcement. Such an intervention from FBI headquarters was unprecedented in the course of Gordon’s career, he testified.
Those claims match with what Shapley told lawmakers in an interview in May. Shapley, an IRS supervisory special agent, said that the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware took unusual steps to slow down or block certain aspects of the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes and his foreign business dealings. Shapley also said that prosecutors prohibited investigators from inquiring into Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s business affairs.
Gordon’s testimony is the first time an employee of the Department of Justice has corroborated some of Shapley’s claims, fueling Republican criticism that Hunter Biden received special treatment from prosecutors. Senior Republican lawmakers previously blasted Hunter Biden’s charges—none of which will result in jail time—as a "sweetheart deal."
"The Justice Department’s efforts to cover up for the Bidens reveals a two-tiered system of justice that sickens the American people," said Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
Hunter Biden’s attorneys have tried to discredit Shapley as a disgruntled IRS employee. Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter Biden’s attorneys, called Shapley "biased" and "aggrieved." Chris Clark, who also serves on Hunter Biden’s legal team, has suggested that Shapley "committed a crime" by discussing Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Shapley, who will testify at a public hearing on Wednesday, alleged in his House testimony that prosecutors initially approved of felony tax charges against Biden, although those were never filed. He also called the case against Biden for tax evasion related to millions of dollars of income from foreign sources a "slam dunk." One of the ways Hunter Biden tried to evade taxes, Shapley said, was deducting payments he made to prostitutes and sex clubs from his taxes.
But those charges never came. Shapley testified that he and Gordon developed plans to interview Hunter Biden on Dec. 8, 2020. FBI agents planned to interview other Biden associates as part of their investigation as well, but Shapley said he was informed the night before the interview that someone at FBI headquarters "had notified Secret Service headquarters and the transition team about the planned actions the following day."
"This essentially tipped off a group of people very close to President Biden and Hunter Biden and gave this group an opportunity to obstruct the approach on the witnesses," Shapley said.
Shapley said Gordon was "clearly dejected" that someone had "interfered" with their plan to interview Biden. The two, according to Shapley, were later instructed to wait in a car outside Biden’s home until he called, but only heard from an FBI official who said that Biden’s lawyers refused to allow him to speak with the agents.
"We received a telephone call later that morning from Hunter Biden's attorneys, who said he would accept service for any document requests, but we couldn't talk to his client."
As a physician-psychiatrist I was the medical director of a substance abuse unit at a US Naval hospital. After my military service, I worked at a VA Hospital working with substance abuse patients. In my private practice I also did psychodrama treatments with substance abuse inpatients and outpatients. I have observed during clinical work successful recoveries from cocaine, opiate, and alcohol addiction and abuse. Many of these success narratives involved the long-valued Twelve Step AA approach.
I have never examined Hunter Biden, but I have reviewed video tapes of his behaviors, his writings and observed the media reports about his and his immediate family’s behavior and his family of origins behaviors. In my opinion, Hunter’s behaviors and those of the Biden families’ do not look like those of a successful recovery treatment result, especially twelve step treatments.
When Hunter Biden had overseas business dealings in Ukraine, China, and other countries, it is not clear why he would travel on Air Force II with his father, VP Biden, during those trips. Joe Biden claims he never talked to his son, Hunter, about his business dealings. But was Joe Biden in denial about Hunter’s substance abuse or his questionable business practices? Obama administration officials raised such concerns about Hunter’s business role. While it certainly is private medical information, it would be helpful to know what means Hunter used in his apparent recovery from cocaine addiction. And what about his ongoing sobriety maintenance?
The current high stress, high society atmosphere of the White House social domain and travel with a busy American president is not in my opinion a very good recovery sobriety maintenance program. Has the Secret Service been employed to help supervise Hunter’s recovery?
Hunter’s artwork is certainly a potential “art therapy” aid to his recovery from cocaine, but politically oriented financial remuneration could take away from Hunter’s independent vocational efforts and genuine self-esteem.
Hunter Biden’s behavior toward his out of wedlock daughter Navy and her mother raise questions about Hunter’s genuine recovery from cocaine addiction. Not only have no apparent amends been offered to Navy and her mother, but Hunter Biden is making every effort not to appropriately support his little daughter financially and emotionally. Apparently, Hunter’s father Joe and his stepmother Jill are also seeking to deny the family connection to little Navy and embrace her with family love. All of these would accompany a successful recovery from cocaine abuse by Hunter.
In my work with persons seeking cure of substance addictions, it has been rewarding to observe their recoveries. I have also seen the too frequent and often painful relapses. In the situation of Hunter Biden’s “cure” or clean-up, I see elements of denial and possible enabling of his addiction.
The House Oversight Committee released an official timeline that details key dates of its investigation into the Biden business schemes that earned the family millions.
The timeline’s scope includes four main points of its business ventures in Romania, China, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The timeline records 14 years of the Bidens’ business, beginning with then-Vice President Joe Biden entering the White House during the Barack Obama Administration in 2009.
After four years as vice president, the timeline records the Biden family creating Bohai Harvest RST Equity Investment Fund Management Co. (BHR) in 2013 with associates and Chinese investors. The fund is bankrolled by the Bank of China, a state-owned bank that controls BHR Partners. BHR Partners’s website boasts 15 billion Chinese Yuan (RMB) in various portfolio companies, translating to more than two billion USD.
Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, held a ten percent interest in BHR with the entity Skaneateles, LLC. Hunter Biden controlled Skaneateles, according to Chinese public records from Baidu, as the sole governor until its dissolution in September 2021, a Washington, DC, registration indicated. Documents obtained by Breitbart News, first revealed by nonprofit Marco Polo, show the control of Skaneateles, LLC is held by Kevin Morris, Hunter Biden’s top attorney, who also paid Hunter Biden’s IRS debts.
Starting in April 2014, the timeline records the family’s work with Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company. The timeline catalogs payments and meetings to and with the Bidens.
It details Joe Biden’s official visit to Ukraine in 2015 under the auspices of an anti-corruption initiative. Joe Biden met with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv about Ukraine’s corruption. Four months after the meeting, Poroshenko fired Viktor Shokin, a prosecutor investigating Burisma, which paid Hunter Biden $83,000 a month to sit on its board. Joe Biden bragged in 2018 about the firing of Shokin.
Then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and then-US Vice President Joe Biden shake hands during a press conference to discuss the outcome of official talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 16, 2017. (Vitaliy Holovin/Corbis via Getty Images)
According to an FBI informant file reviewed by the committee, Joe and Hunter Biden each received $5 million from Mykola Zlochevsky , the founder of Burisma, after Joe Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine until President Poroshenko fired the prosecutor.
Related — Grassley: Foreign National in Alleged Biden Bribery Scheme Has “Insurance Policy” Recordings of Joe and Hunter
C-SPAN The family’s work in Kazakhstan first appears on the timeline in February 2014 with a photo of Joe and Hunter Biden meeting with Kenes Rakishev, a Kazakhstani businessman. A few months later, Rakishev’s Singaporean company wired $142,300 to a Hunter Biden-linked shell company, a Rosemont entity. A few days later, the Rosemont entity wired $142,300 to a car dealership in New Jersey for a new sports car for Hunter Biden.
In December of the same year, the timeline shows Kenes Rakishev’s Kazakhstani oil company and Burisma joined with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked company and announced a transnational financial arrangement.
During the business with Ukrainian, Kazakhstani, and Chinese entities, the family also conducted business with Romanian entities. The timeline shows the first Romanian mention in April 2014, when then-Vice President Biden visited Romania and delivered a speech to the Romanian prime minister, judges, prosecutors, and leaders of the Romanian Parliament.
In the years following, shell companies linked to the Biden business received millions from entities in Romania. One of the largest payouts came in 2015 from Gabriel Popoviciu, who worked with CEFC, the committee reported:
Romanian businessman, Gabriel Popoviciu, begins making deposits into Robinson Walker, LLC’s bank account. Robinson Walker, LLC is an entity owned by a Biden associate, Rob Walker. Popoviciu’s company sent Robinson Walker the first wire for $179,836.86. From November 2015 to May 2017, Popoviciu’s company paid Robinson Walker, LLC over $3 million. Biden family accounts received approximately $1.038 million from the Robinson Walker, LLC account after Popoviciu’s deposits. Sixteen of the seventeen payments from Popoviciu’s company to Robinson Walker, LLC were made while Joe Biden was Vice President.
In December 2015, CEFC China Energy Co. first appears on the timeline. CEFC is most known for its association with “10 held by H for the big guy.”
Watch — Joe Biden Snaps at Reporter over “Big Guy” Question: “Why’d You Ask Such a Dumb Question?”
The CEFC chairman was Ye Jianming, who paid Hunter a $1 million retainer fee for legal services in 2017. Hunter also received a large diamond from Ye in February 2017 worth an estimated $80,000. Ye “had direct abiding and deep ties to Chinese intelligence when they were arranging these deals for the Bidens,” according to Breitbart News Senior Contributor and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer.
“The Bidens are the best I know at doing exactly what the chairman wants from this partnership,” Hunter Biden told a CEFC associate in a 2017 WhatsApp exchange.
A few days prior, Hunter told a second CEFC associate in another WhatsApp message:
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. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.
Watch: “No!” Biden SNAPS at Reporter Asking About Involvement with Hunter’s “Shake Down” Text
C-SPAN Many Biden family members accepted money from a deal with CEFC. The House Oversight Committee revealed in March that CEFC controlled State Energy HK Limited, a company linked to the $1.3 million collective payments to the Biden family members.
Through the Biden family’s suspicious activity reports (SARs), the committee discovered a Biden associate, Rob Walker, received a $3 million wire transfer from CEFC. In turn, four Biden family members — Hunter, James, Hallie, and an unidentified “Biden” — received a collective $1.3 million cut from the $3 million wire transfer.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality .
The Biden family opened more than 20 shell companies to hide payments and launder money, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said Sunday.
After reviewing Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) at the Treasury and subpoenaing banks and individuals, Comer posted on Twitter that the Biden family created more than 20 entities to accept, forward, and collect payment from a wide range of business associates.
“We found all these shell companies that make absolutely no sense,” Comer told Fox News. “I don’t believe they have paid a penny of revenue, a penny of taxes on most of the millions of dollars they received from our adversaries around the world.”
In March, the committee revealed the Biden family business over the course of several years received over $10 million from business schemes in Romania and China in return for what appears to be influence peddling.
For instance, SARs obtained by the committee revealed a Biden associate, Rob Walker, received a $3 million wire transfer from CEFC China Energy Co. In turn, four Biden family members — Hunter, James, Hallie, and an unidentified “Biden” — received a collective $1.3 million cut from the $3 million wire transfer.
Breitbart News reported the Biden family business received a total of $5.1 million within days of Hunter Biden’s messages to CEFC through multiple accounts, including Owasco and Hudson West III LLC.
“How did they list this on their taxes?” Comer questioned. “Is it a service they provided?”
Moving forward, Comer’s committee is set to begin deposing Biden family business associates in the coming weeks and months. Comer said in early July that Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s top associates, will be the first member deposed to unravel the family’s international business schemes.
Archer was Hunter Biden’s “best friend in business ” and got in legal trouble in 2022 for defrauding a Native American tribal entity. The court ordered him to pay a $43,954,416.75 judgment to the victims. Prior to his arrest, Archer served in 2014 with Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma , a Ukraine-based energy company, whose executive, Mykola Zlochevsky, allegedly bribed Hunter and Joe Biden with $5 million each.
Comer said the future depositions will be bolstered by Wednesday’s public testimony of IRS whistleblowers, who revealed at least 13 serious allegations against Hunter Biden, the Justice Department, and President Joe Biden.
“We’re now at the phase of the investigation where we’ve accumulated enough bank records to where we can ask these IRS employees specific substantive questions,” Comer said.
Among the allegations, the IRS whistleblowers alleged Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf refused to allow investigators to ask about Joe Biden being “the big guy.” Wolf also allegedly blocked questions about “the big guy” to limit where the investigation could go despite evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement. They also claimed Rob Walker said Joe Biden showed up at a meeting with CEFC and family associates.
“This should be a good substantive committee hearing that will allow us to move forward in the deposition process when we bring these individuals that were helping the Bidens funnel and launder this money,” Comer explained. “We will be able to ask them specific questions about specific transactions.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality .
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