CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said Friday the IRS whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden case raised legitimate “concerns” that should be taken seriously.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testified Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee that the Department of Justice (DOJ) pressured prosecutors not to charge Hunter Biden with felony tax charges, and that U.S. Attorney David Weiss did not have full control over the investigation. Ziegler also testified that the Biden family and its associates took roughly $17 million from foreign business interests in Ukraine, Romania and China.
“Yeah, I think both of the whistleblowers who we’ve seen here, I don’t question their motives, and I think they’re to be taken seriously. I think some of the things they’re saying are a concern to me. Some are not,” Honig said. “This question over what was the scope of David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney’s, authority — both David Weiss and Merrick Garland have said he was given complete blank check. He could have gone wherever he wanted.”
“To me, those are two very credible people. David Weiss was a Trump appointee, he had Democratic support. Merrick Garland, for all the criticisms I’ve lodged against him, has been an absolute truth-teller and absolute straight shooter,” Honig continued. (RELATED: ‘God Help Us’: Turley Stunned After Dem Rep. Tried To Downplay Whistleblower’s Testimony)
“But I think the most interesting allegation that does need to be looked into further is this claim that certain avenues of investigation were cut off,” Honig added. “Because as a prosecutor, you’re supposed to take your leads wherever they go, and you’re supposed to follow them wherever they may go. And if it’s the case that somebody said, ‘No, no, no, let’s not look there. Let’s not push too strongly on that,’ then we need to know that, and I think the whistleblowers need to be heard on that.”
Democrats repeatedly brought up former President Donald Trump and his aides during the hearing, arguing Trump politically interfered with the DOJ. They mentioned the pardons of former advisers Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn as examples.