Attorneys for the IRS whistleblower who claimed that Hunter Biden is being given preferential treatment in the investigation into his taxes notified key lawmakers on Monday that their client and his team have been removed from the probe in what appears to be an act of retaliation, The New York Post reported.
In a letter to key lawmakers in Congress, attorneys Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt said their client and his “entire investigative team” at the IRS were removed from the investigation at the behest of the Department of Justice.
The lawyers note that in his April 27 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel assured lawmakers that there would be “no retaliation” against anyone who makes an allegation using the whistleblower hotline.
However, the attorneys note that removing their client and his team from the probe was “clearly retaliatory” and could “constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry.”
Last month, the attorneys notified Congress that their client wished to make disclosures to Congress as a protected whistleblower. The attorneys alleged that the Justice Department was mishandling the case and that the president’s son was receiving preferential treatment. The letter also suggested that Attorney General Merrick Garland may have lied under oath when he testified to Congress about the investigation into Hunter Biden.
While neither Monday’s letter nor the previous letter sent in April named Hunter Biden, Congress later confirmed that the “ongoing and sensitive investigation” to which the attorneys referred pertained to Delaware US Attorney David Weiss’s probe into the president’s son.
In a statement to ABC News, a Justice Department spokesperson refused to comment on the claims in the letter. The spokesperson referred ABC News to US Attorney Weiss’s office for questions on the investigation, saying that Weiss has “full authority to make investigative decisions” and bring charges “as he deems appropriate.”
The unnamed whistleblower, a criminal supervisory special agent with the IRS, has been overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes since 2020.
