Comer Subpoenas Secret Service, Mayorkas Over Allegations They Tipped Off Hunter Biden About IRS Probe, Leading Him To Dodge Surprise Interview

The House Oversight Committee is subpoenaing the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, and two Secret Service employees, alleging that they tipped off the president’s son, Hunter Biden, the night before IRS investigators planned to interview him about his taxes without prior notice. As a result of the tip, the Republican committee members claim, the interview never happened, allowing Mr. Biden “to avoid accountability and answering difficult questions about the source of his income, the legality of his actions, and the people who worked with and benefitted from his worldwide efforts to peddle access to his father,” a letter sent by the committee chairman, Congressman James Comer, to Mr. Majorkas on Tuesday says.“Investigators were never able to interview Hunter Biden during the criminal investigation because Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team were tipped off about the planned interview,” Mr. Comer said.A letter from Mr. Comer seeks to compel Mr. Mayorkas and two unnamed Secret Service officers to produce documents regarding the alleged tip-off.In a separate letter to the Secret Service director, Kim Cheatle, Mr. Comer recounts claims made by an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower, Gary Shapley, that Secret Service headquarters had been notified by the FBI that the IRS would be seeking to interview Mr. Biden, who had Secret Service protection, the next day, December 8, 2020.The alleged tip-off would have happened under the previous Secret Service director, Jame Murray, who was appointed by President Trump and served through 2022.At the time, the IRS was investigating the younger Mr. Biden for unpaid taxes, an investigation that later resulted in two misdemeanor counts to which Mr. Biden agreed to plead guilty in what Speaker McCarthy has called “a sweetheart deal.” The deal collapsed under scrutiny from a federal judge and prosecutors are expected to file felony charges against Mr. Biden in the coming weeks.Mr. Shapley said that when the FBI allegedly told the Secret Service headquarters and President Biden’s transition team that the IRS was planning the surprise interview of the younger Mr. Biden, that this “gave this group an opportunity to obstruct the approach on the witnesses.”Now Mr. Comer says that the “Secret Service has provided uncharacteristic delay and opacity responding to this request” for information on the alleged tip-off, and claims that the homeland security department has “instructed the Secret Service to withhold a response the Secret Service had prepared for the Committees.”While the information concerning the alleged tip-off is based on Mr. Shapley’s testimony, the committee did not say how it had come to the conclusion that the Department of Homeland Security had told the Secret Service to withhold a response, which the committee claims is an “obstruction of a Congressional investigation.”A homeland security department official tells the Sun that the department is working to respond to the inquiry “appropriately, including identifying the relevant information and individuals.”“The claim that we obstructed or withheld a response is categorically false and these subpoenas are entirely without basis,” a department official tells the Sun. The official added that the department was “following standard procedures for the review and submission of materials to Congress, which have been utilized across multiple Congresses.”“These reviews are a normal and necessary step in the process to ensure protection of law enforcement sensitivities, matters relating to ongoing investigations, privacy and privilege issues, consistency in our responses, and more,” the official says.The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Sun. Mr. Jordan also penned a letter focused on Mr. Mayorkas on Tuesday, claiming that the homeland security secretary perjured himself in his testimony before the Judiciary Committee, the Daily Caller reported.

Comer Subpoenas Secret Service, Mayorkas Over Allegations They Tipped Off Hunter Biden About IRS Probe, Leading Him To Dodge Surprise Interview

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