Federal criminal investigation Hunter Biden focuses on his business dealings (Update: DOJ appoints special counsel) (1 Viewer)

[SaintForLife]

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their report on the younger Biden’s work in Ukraine.

Baturina is referenced in the 87-page report, which was released Wednesday, addressing her payment to Biden’s investment firm in early 2014.

“Baturina became Russia’s only female billionaire when her plastics company, Inteko, received a series of Moscow municipal contracts while her husband was mayor,” it said in providing background on the businesswoman.

The report described her involvement with Biden as “a financial relationship,” but declined to delve deeper into why the wire transfer was made.

The probe also found that Baturina sent 11 wires transfers between May and December 2015 to a bank account belonging to BAK USA, a tech startup that filed for bankruptcy in March 2019.

Nine of those 11 wire transfers were first sent to Rosemont Seneca Partners, the investment firm founded by Biden and Chris Heinz, stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, before being transferred to BAK USA.

Hunter Biden received $3.5M wire transfer from Russian billionaire: Senate report

Hunter Biden received a $3.5 million wire transfer from Elena Baturina, the richest woman in Russia and the widow of Yury Luzhkov, the former mayor of Moscow, Senate Republicans revealed in their r…

nypost.com

We all know their is massive corruption on both sides of the aisle. Here is an alleged allegation against Hunter Biden who was allegedly enriching himself because his Dad was Vice President.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

So much for Shapley’s testimony:

Yeah, he was brought in by Republicans to lie and then when others didn't back up his bs claims, the brought him back to file a weak CYA addendum to his testimony.

Most recently, former Attorney General Bill Barr provided an interview in which he stated that information provided by a Confidential Human Source ("CHS") concerning an alleged bribery scheme by President Joe Biden was received through the Pittsburgh USAO and was determined it was not likely to have been disinformation. According to Attorney General Barr:"... it was provided to the ongoing investigation in Delaware to follow up on and to check out."

Neither I nor the line IRS-CI agents acting under my supervision, nor the FBI agents working with IRS-Cl, were ever provided the CHS information that Attorney General Barr recently referenced was sent to Delaware to have it "checked out." Prosecutors never provided such information to IRS-Cl.

As such, neither IRS-CI nor the FBI agents working with them were provided the opportunity to conduct a proper investigation into the allegations presented by this CHS. I, along with other IRS-CI investigators, requested to be a part of briefings that the Delaware USAO and DOJ were having with the Pittsburgh USAO during the investigation, but our requests were denied.

https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WB-1-Affadavit_Redacted.pdf

So, AG Barr and the FBI covered up the investigation from the IRS-CI and the FBI???

 

[MT15]

 

[J-DONK]

So what? Have you heard of FARA? FARA was never enforced until Trump came along. You can violate FARA as a private citizen. I'm laughing as you highlight this guy while Hunter got money and gifts from the same person this guy was dealing with.

You are very confused about the soft corruption of having relative of a powerful person on a board, or giving them a loan to influence them vs lobbying on behalf of that entity.

If I decided to give you a seat on my foreign owned company board because you are a high level c-suite exec at the biggest corporation in my city. Is that illegal? No, it happens all the time.

What is illegal is if you take money from my corporation that is owned by a foreign power, and try to get the local city board to vote for X proposal.

It's obviously corruption, but it's legal. In the exact same way SC justices take lavish trips on billionaire yachts, planes, and Manson's.

Btw, for such a ardent crusader against corruption. I don't see you posting much in the SC corruption thread. I wonder why?

 

[MT15]

So, payments to the “whistleblowers”?

 

[SaintForLife]

So much for Shapley’s testimony:

A senior IRS official corroborated a whistleblower's bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.

Whistleblower Gary Shapley's boss confirmed Shapley's account of a key meeting that occurred on October 7, 2022, between IRS agents and DOJ prosecutors handling the Biden probe. After the meeting, Shapley wrote to his boss, Darrell Waldon, that U.S. attorney David Weiss indicated he was prohibited from bringing charges against Biden in Washington, D.C. Weiss said that he requested special counsel status but that Justice Department headquarters had denied that request.

"Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," Shapley wrote.

Waldon, who attended the meeting with Shapley, signed off on his subordinate's characterization of the meeting. "Thanks, Gary. You covered it all," Waldon wrote.

This IRS Email Corroborates Whistleblower's Claims About Biden DOJ Interference in Hunter Probe

A senior IRS official corroborated a whistleblower's bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.

freebeacon.com

 

[MT15]

A senior IRS official corroborated a whistleblower's bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.

Whistleblower Gary Shapley's boss confirmed Shapley's account of a key meeting that occurred on October 7, 2022, between IRS agents and DOJ prosecutors handling the Biden probe. After the meeting, Shapley wrote to his boss, Darrell Waldon, that U.S. attorney David Weiss indicated he was prohibited from bringing charges against Biden in Washington, D.C. Weiss said that he requested special counsel status but that Justice Department headquarters had denied that request.

"Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," Shapley wrote.

Waldon, who attended the meeting with Shapley, signed off on his subordinate's characterization of the meeting. "Thanks, Gary. You covered it all," Waldon wrote.

This IRS Email Corroborates Whistleblower's Claims About Biden DOJ Interference in Hunter Probe

A senior IRS official corroborated a whistleblower's bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.

freebeacon.com

Okay, I know this is difficult for you - but all that proves is that Shapley wrote it in an email. Surely you can see that? Weiss himself and Garland have stated the opposite consistently and over time. Anyone can write that “someone said something” in an email. You’re going to have to have actual proof here for such a crazy assertion.

‘’Thanks, Gary” is not the “sign off” you seem to think it is. That’s what someone would say when they want the crazy person to stop emailing them with conspiracy theories.

 

[SaintForLife]

Okay, I know this is difficult for you - but all that proves is that Shapley wrote it in an email. Surely you can see that? Weiss himself and Garland have stated the opposite consistently and over time. Anyone can write that “someone said something” in an email. You’re going to have to have actual proof here for such a crazy assertion.

‘’Thanks, Gary” is not the “sign off” you seem to think it is. That’s what someone would say when they want the crazy person to stop emailing them with conspiracy theories.

Are you claiming he lied to his boss in the email?

I know from your history that you will deny that anything is evidence if it reflects badly on any Democrat.

 

[SaintForLife]

Nothing to see here. The DOJ only removed the entire team that was investigating Hunter Biden for 5 years.

 

[MT15]

Are you claiming he lied to his boss in the email?

I know from your history that you will deny that anything is evidence if it reflects badly on any Democrat.

No, that’s a lie, and you know it. If I see actual proof I will gladly acknowledge it. You just don’t like the fact that you believe outright lies and this thin gruel of propaganda and I won’t be fooled by that.

But, yes, saying it in an email is NOT proof of anything. And his boss saying Thanks, Gary, isn’t his boss agreeing with him, it’s just his boss acknowledging that he got the email. Agreeing with him should require a little more substance than that, don’t you think? It’s just being polite to acknowledge receiving his email. How do you get “I believe everything you said, OMG” out of “thanks, Gary”?

As for the whole team being dismissed - according to DOJ people, that is standard protocol. Once the investigative stage is over, the investigators get dismissed. Almost always as a team. Duh!

Plus: They. Had. Five. Years. Shapley is either being sensational or dishonest-take your pick. It’s not Shapley’s role to decide what they can prosecute for or not, that’s a prosecutor’s role. He has his own issues within the department, you know.

Are you saying that Weiss and Garland are lying? And the whole team at the US Attorney’s office in Delaware is also complicit? As well as leadership at the IRS? Even though Weiss is a lifelong Republican? And Garland has an impeccable reputation for being non-partisan?

Or is it more likely that Shapley is a disgruntled partisan who has been consuming the same outrage porn you have about Hunter? When he started leaking to the press, he became a pariah, that’s when he got into trouble. His entire testimony is so very self-serving.

You really need to resist this urge to make everything a huge conspiracy. It makes zero sense.

 

[FullMonte]

Are you claiming he lied to his boss in the email?

If he did lie to his boss in the email, what would have happened to him? Suspension? Firing?

If he told the truth, and Garland and Weiss lied to Congress, what would happen to them? Jail?

 

[MT15]

If he did lie to his boss in the email, what would have happened to him? Suspension? Firing?

If he told the truth, and Garland and Weiss lied to Congress, what would happen to them? Jail?

You can’t use logic here! That’s not fair!

Probably nothing would happen to him because he rants about something that didn’t happen. People would roll their eyes and move on.

 

[MT15]

Guess what? Shapley admits he just made up that infamous “WhatsApp” message, he supposedly combined several messages from memory. Yet the GOP mocked it up to make it look like they have the actual message. Hunter’s lawyer says that the other person in the conversation was misidentified by Shapley. Shapley looks like a partisan hack.



The hearing today looks to be as much of a joke as all the others. They are having two more IRS investigators come to testify.

People who have been prosecutors for the Justice Department in the past have pointed out that investigators very often think that people are undercharged and disagree with prosecutorial decisions on all sorts of cases. It’s not their job to prosecute, they investigate, and they often don’t have any idea what it would take to actually prove an allegation in court. They want prosecution on every allegation when that isn’t always wise or possible.

It’s not a huge conspiracy, but they are turning it into one. This indicates to me that a fair number of IRS investigators could be MAGA, they are certainly allowing their testimony to be used by MAGA Rs in the House. But tell us again how all the federal agencies are left-leaning and “woke”. Clownish, obvious propaganda IMO.

 

[SaintForLife]

Okay, I know this is difficult for you - but all that proves is that Shapley wrote it in an email. Surely you can see that? Weiss himself and Garland have stated the opposite consistently and over time. Anyone can write that “someone said something” in an email. You’re going to have to have actual proof here for such a crazy assertion.

‘’Thanks, Gary” is not the “sign off” you seem to think it is. That’s what someone would say when they want the crazy person to stop emailing them with conspiracy theories.

Shapely's boss was also at the same meeting and he confirmed that Shapely "covered it all."

It's not just him saying thanks to the email. His boss was at the meeting as well and witnessed what Shapely summarized in the email.

Shapley's boss confirmed that: "Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," Shapley wrote.

 

[MT15]

Shapely's boss was also at the same meeting and he confirmed that Shapely "covered it all."

It's not just him saying thanks to the email. His boss was at the meeting as well and witnessed what Shapely summarized in the email.

Shapley's boss confirmed that: "Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed," Shapley wrote.

No, nobody confirmed that except for Shapley. Weiss himself has disputed that more than once.

What his boss confirmed is that Shapley summarized what he (Shapley) said in the meeting in totality. That’s it.

 

[SaintForLife]

Guess what? Shapley admits he just made up that infamous “WhatsApp” message, he supposedly combined several messages from memory. Yet the GOP mocked it up to make it look like they have the actual message. Hunter’s lawyer says that the other person in the conversation was misidentified by Shapley. Shapley looks like a partisan hack.



The hearing today looks to be as much of a joke as all the others. They are having two more IRS investigators come to testify.

People who have been prosecutors for the Justice Department in the past have pointed out that investigators very often think that people are undercharged and disagree with prosecutorial decisions on all sorts of cases. It’s not their job to prosecute, they investigate, and they often don’t have any idea what it would take to actually prove an allegation in court. They want prosecution on every allegation when that isn’t always wise or possible.

It’s not a huge conspiracy, but they are turning it into one. This indicates to me that a fair number of IRS investigators could be MAGA, they are certainly allowing their testimony to be used by MAGA Rs in the House. But tell us again how all the federal agencies are left-leaning and “woke”. Clownish, obvious propaganda IMO.

Summarize doesnt mean it was made up, but you know that. The Republicans made a graphic that showed what the Whats app Hunter Biden messages said. The only thing the Democrats could do is act like the Republicans claimed it was a screenshot of the exact message rather than talk about what was in the message. Classic political misdirection, but it was a weak attempt.

The message was summarized to include the relevant information. I doubt we needed to hear about him looking for some crack or cocaine or whatever else was in his whatsapp messages. Whatsapp in encrypted so I don’t think someone could have taken a screenshot of the actual message.

Which former prosecutors are you referring to?

 

[brandon]

Summarize doesnt mean it was made up, but you know that. The Republicans made a graphic that showed what the Whats app Hunter Biden messages said. The only thing the Democrats could do is act like the Republicans claimed it was a screenshot of the exact message rather than talk about what was in the message. Classic political misdirection, but it was a weak attempt.

The message was summarized to include the relevant information. I doubt we needed to hear about him looking for some crack or cocaine or whatever else was in his whatsapp messages. Whatsapp in encrypted so I don’t think someone could have taken a screenshot of the actual message.

Which former prosecutors are you referring to?

Have you considered the possibility that even if the text messages weren't made up, that Hunter himself lied in the messages and Joe was never there?

I mean surely you'd agree that Hunter is a liar, right?

 

[SaintForLife]

No, nobody confirmed that except for Shapley. Weiss himself has disputed that more than once.

What his boss confirmed is that Shapley summarized what he (Shapley) said in the meeting in totality. That’s it.

Shapely's boss was at the meeting. He heard Weiss say that he isn't the deciding person on whether charges are filed. Shapely's boss confirmed that when he said Shapely's email had covered everything.

How are you saying nobody else confirmed it besides Shapely? Are you claiming his boss wasn't also at the meeting?

 

[MT15]

Summarize doesnt mean it was made up, but you know that. The Republicans made a graphic that showed what the Whats app Hunter Biden messages said. The only thing the Democrats could do is act like the Republicans claimed it was a screenshot of the exact message rather than talk about what was in the message. Classic political misdirection, but it was a weak attempt.

The message was summarized to include the relevant information. I doubt we needed to hear about him looking for some crack or cocaine or whatever else was in his whatsapp messages. Whatsapp in encrypted so I don’t think someone could have taken a screenshot of the actual message.

Which former prosecutors are you referring to?

Why did they try (and fail) to make it look like it was a “word-for-word” of an actual message? Why not disclose that it was just a mash-up of what Shapley remembers? That’s dishonest and you know that.

Hunter’s lawyer says the recipient of the message was misidentified by Shapley - care to address that? He’s going from memory - how do we know he didn’t get a lot of other things wrong?

I don’t remember who - but I have read that same thing multiple times from many former prosecutors. Investigators and prosecutors often clash about charges. They have different perspectives. Do you doubt that this is true?