The IRS whistleblower hearing in front of the House Oversight Committee today did not go well for Democrats, who looked disorganized and misinformed. The line of questioning for some was quickly smacked down merely because they couldn’t get the timelines right. The identity of “Mr. X” or “Agent X” was revealed to be Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year veteran of the Internal Revenue Service. He’s also a gay Democrat, so the Republican operative smear doesn’t work. IRS Special Agent Greg Shapley has already come forward with allegations of interference in their investigation of Hunter Biden from the Justice Department.
Both men offered mountains of evidence and testimony about how this administration appears to be doing everything it can to protect the cracked-out son of the president. These men aren’t Michael Cohen, whose testimony against Trump years ago was viewed with rightful skepticism; he’s a rat. Shapley and Ziegler are credible professionals, offering damning accounts of the reported wrongdoing during the probe into Hunter. Democrats couldn’t smear them, though they tried before the hearing. Shapley was accused of leaking sensitive information to the press, a provable lie. That allegation reared its ugly head during the hearings when he was pressed to reveal if anyone else had leaked anything to the media.
All Democrats could do was run around like chickens with their heads cut off for hours and ignore the facts from these respectable officials who hammered home the felonies that could be slapped against the Biden family. That couldn’t be ignored or swept away. And now, as you know, Shapley’s account has placed Attorney General Merrick Garland in jeopardy of being impeached for perjury. Garland claimed US Attorney David Weiss had magical prosecutorial powers to go after Hunter. At the very least, he could charge him, which wasn’t the case since he was denied multiple times in 2022. Garland also said no one from the DOJ interfered with this case.
So far, the Democrats have largely avoided any specific questions on the specific allegations. However, the "look squirrel, squirrel" tactic is hard to maintain as a distraction. That is particularly when you have two respected experts saying "felony, felony."
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
...The Democrats are usually well prepared and orchestrated in these hearings. That is not the case today. The continual effort to change the subject and to avoid the specific allegations is obvious. It is about a subtle as bringing in a seal bouncing a ball in hearing room.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
But Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) deserves the dunce award today because he said the quiet part out loud, corroborating what Shapley alleged weeks ago: that the investigation into Hunter endured severe interference from DOJ because the roads could’ve led to Joe. Goldman opened the door during his questioning, which could have been worse if his time hadn’t expired. Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University Law School law professor, live-tweeted the hearing, adding that Goldman might have sealed the deal concerning whether a special counsel should be appointed to investigate the Biden family. It's painful to watch:
YIKES: Rep. Dan Goldman was trying to prove that Joe Biden was not implicated in the IRS Whistleblowers' allegations, but instead accidentally showed that Joe Biden did discuss foreign business dealings with his son Hunter. pic.twitter.com/6nyEhfm36G
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 19, 2023
Rep. Goldman just tripped the wire on Joe Biden. In trying to grill the whistleblowers to show that there is no evidence that Joe Biden was involved, he elicited an answer that the witnesses established that Joe Biden did discuss business deals of Hunter with the Chinese.
Goldman was trying to show that the witnesses did not mention a substantive role of Joe Biden; Shapley immediately noted that it did mean that he came to discuss one of the Hunter's deals. The President continues to deny that fact.
Goldman prompted a sworn statement from the investigator that Biden did indeed discuss his son's business deals. In doing so, Goldman may have delivered one of the most damaging moments in the hearing for the Bidens.
Unfortunately, time ran out. With a few more minutes along this line, Goldman could well have sealed the case for the appointment of a Special Counsel.
Rep. Goldman just tripped the wire on Joe Biden. In trying to grill the whistleblowers to show that there is no evidence that Joe Biden was involved, he elicited an answer that the witnesses established that Joe Biden did discuss business deals of Hunter with the Chinese...
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
...Unfortunately, time ran out. With a few more minutes along this line, Goldman could well have sealed the case for the appointment of a Special Counsel.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
Repeated Democratic members have now used their time to object to the term "two-tiered justice system" for anything other than systemic racism. Rep. Lee is currently renewing that objection to the term while avoiding the testimony of the whistleblowers.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
Shapley just said that he had been retaliated against by the Administration. This includes being shunned by his immediate supervisor who has not spoken to him since June 1, 2023.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
After a hearing detailing memos and transactions supporting the claims of interference. Rep. Garcia just declared that there has been no evidence put forward in the hearing. Just two respected whistleblowers and hundreds of pages of documents and testimony.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
Shapley just confirmed that the transition team was told before he and his team were going to approach Hunter Biden for an interview. The interview never occurred.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 19, 2023
Just brutal. Goldman was lead counsel during the first Trump impeachment effort. Before the hearing, he and others tried to gaslight us that Hunter Biden was a victim of this two-tiered justice system. You cannot make this up.
SUPERCUT!
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) June 27, 2023
Regime gaslighters: Actually, the DoJ's "tilted against" privileged white heirs of the president pic.twitter.com/GvT3bah24s
Rep. @danielsgoldman: Our "two-tiered system of justice" unfairly forced Hunter Biden to accept plea deal pic.twitter.com/JE1bnhwA5q
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 19, 2023
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