CIA Blocked IRS from Investigating Hunter Biden Patron Kevin Morris, Whistleblower Claims
Hunter Biden follows his attorney Abbe Lowell as they depart the House Rayburn Office Building following a surprise appearance at a House Oversight Committee markup and meeting to vote on whether to hold Biden in contempt of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., January 10, 2024.
An IRS agent who came forward last year with allegations of misconduct in the Hunter Biden case is now accusing the CIA of protecting Hunter Biden’s financial patron.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley provided an affidavit to the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday alleging the CIA gave federal prosecutors a classified briefing on Kevin Morris, Hunter Biden’s friend and patrol, prompting his IRS superiors to cancel a planned interview with Morris that was to be conducted as part of the Hunter Biden tax case.
Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf told Shapley around August 2021 that Morris would not be a witness in the investigation after she and another Justice Department official received a classified CIA briefing on Morris, Shapley said.
“AUSA Wolf stated that they were provided a classified briefing in relation to Mr. Morris and as a result we could no longer pursue him as a witness,” the affidavit reads.
“Investigators probed AUSA Wolf, but since her briefing was classified and she was apparently sanitizing it to an unclassified form to share over an open phone line, she did not elaborate with more information. She reiterated more than once that they were summoned to the CIA in Langley concerning Mr. Morris, and that because of the information provided there, he could not be a witness for the investigation.”
Wolf allegedly bragged about a CIA mug she purchased when she went to Langley for the briefing.
Wolf “proudly referenced a CIA mug and stated that she purchased some CIA ‘swag’ at the gift shop while she was there,” Shapley testified.
After the CIA briefing, Shapley tried to set up a classified briefing with Wolf to discuss the Morris situation. Wolf asked an official from the Justice Department’s national-security division to schedule the briefing but the meeting never materialized, according to the affidavit and emails turned over by Shapley.
It’s unclear how the CIA found out Morris would be a witness in the investigation, Shapley said. The CIA denied interfering in the IRS investigation in a statement to Fox News. Last month, the CIA denied allegations from a whistleblower the agency shut down an attempt by federal investigators to interview Morris.
Shapley’s account was backed up by an affidavit from his colleague, IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, who recalled hearing about the Morris situation after discussions with prosecutors and FBI investigators, Ziegler said in an affidavit.
“Wolf had indicated that after reviewing that information, Kevin Patrick Morris (‘Morris’) could not be used as a potential witness in our investigation related to [Hunter Biden] and that we would be further unable to conduct an interview of him.”
Ziegler turned over a trove of documents on Wednesday casting doubt on major details from Hunter Biden’s congressional testimony earlier this year for the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden.
Based on those documents, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R., Mo.) accused the younger Biden of lying under oath.
“New documents provided by the whistleblowers show that Hunter Biden repeatedly lied to Congress in his February deposition to distance his involvement in what should be considered a clear scheme to enrich the Biden family,” Smith said.
Shapley and Ziegler first came forward last year with allegations the Justice Department slow-walked and obstructed investigative steps throughout the lengthy Hunter Biden tax probe.
Wolf was a recurring figure in their congressional testimony for allegedly protecting Joe and Hunter Biden at various stages of the investigation. She left the Justice Department last year and returned to practicing corporate law.
Morris has provided Hunter Biden at least $6.5 million of financial support to help pay his overdue taxes, buy his art, and fund his lavish lifestyle, according to Morris’s attorney, Morris’s congressional testimony, Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment, and exhibits and testimony previously given by the IRS whistleblowers.
For the tax investigation, Morris could have been an important witness, because his financial relationship with Biden began in January 2020, and Morris repeatedly discussed Biden’s tax situation with his accountants, documents and emails show.
Morris vaguely recalled a brief interview with federal investigators in December 2020, and said he did not recall speaking to the IRS agent at the scene. Special counsel David Weiss had not contacted Morris to be a witnesses, Morris testified in January 2020. But Morris could end up testifying for Biden’s criminal tax trial.
Ahead of Hunter Biden’s gun trial, Morris is reportedly cutting off funding, leaving Biden scrambling to find a new way to pay his legal bills. The trial is set to begin on June 3, and Biden’s tax trial is scheduled to start in September.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the federal charges against him.
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