WASHINGTON: A United States tax special agent has information about how a criminal probe into the US President Joe Biden’s son has been impeded by “political considerations”, claimed his lawyer.
The anonymous agent’s attorney claims that to come out, his client is asking Congress for whistleblower protection. He says the agent alleges “politics and preferential treatment improperly infecting decisions” in the investigation.
A White House official rejected Biden’s interference in the investigation of his son. Republicans in Congress are investigating whether Hunter Biden unlawfully leveraged family connections in his business activities.
On Wednesday, a lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee, Mark Lytle, wrote to a bipartisan group of lawmakers. A “career IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent, overseeing the ongoing and sensitive prob of a high profile and controversial subject since early 2020,” he claimed to represent, was the focus of the claim.
According to the letter, the employee is prepared to “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee” and reveal “clear conflicts of interest.”
According to Lytle, the client wants to address Congress. “He is prepared to be questioned about what he has experienced and knows under the proper legal protections.” The attorney continued by saying that his client was prohibited from publicly discussing anyone else’s tax returns and that he would need protection from Congress to disclose any insights. According to NBC News, a lawyer for Biden, the IRS agent “appeared to have committed a crime.”
“It is a felony for an IRS agent to inappropriately reveal information about an ongoing tax investigation,” the lawyer, Chris Clark, declared. According to a US source who spoke to the media in October, the FBI had gathered enough proof to accuse Hunter Biden of tax offences that go back to 2019. Since 2018, a federal grand jury in Delaware overseen by a state attorney general chosen by Trump has looked into the younger Biden’s taxes and involvement in overseas businesses.
Last month, US Attorney General Merrick Garland told a Senate hearing that he would not interfere with the probe. President Biden has said he has never spoken to his son about his business dealings.
White House spokesman Ian Sams on Thursday said Biden had vowed to allow the prob into his son “free from any political interference by the White House”.
“He has upheld that commitment,” added Sams.
