A federal prosecutor accused of protecting President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden is no longer with the Department of Justice (DOJ), a source familiar confirmed to the Daily Caller.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have accused Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware Lesley Wolf of preventing a search of Joe Biden’s guest residence and stonewalling a planned search of Hunter Biden’s storage locker. Wolf is no longer with the DOJ and left her post weeks ago, Fox News first reported. (RELATED: Comer, Jordan To Begin Contempt Of Congress Proceedings Against Hunter Biden After He Defies Subpoena)
“Communications like these made it clear we needed to search the guest house at the Bidens’ Delaware residence where Hunter Biden stayed for a time. In a September 3rd, 2023 [2020], pros meeting, the Assistant United States Attorney, Lesley Wolf, told us there was more than enough probable cause for the physical search warrant there, but the question was whether the juice was worth the squeeze,” Shapley testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in May.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 19: (L-R) Supervisory IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler talk with each other as they arrive for a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden, on Capitol Hill July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony from two whistleblowers from the Internal Revenue Service who allege that the Hunter Biden criminal probe was mishandled by the Department of Justice. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
He was referring to a threatening text message Hunter Biden appeared to send his Chinese business associate in July 2017 where he repeatedly invoked his father’s presence. Joe Biden’s vice presidency ended in January 2017 when the Obama administration concluded. (RELATED: Hunter Biden’s Drug Addiction Defense Shattered By New California Indictment)
Shapley also discussed a search warrant for lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies that once worked with Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings during the Obama administration. Most notably, Blue Star sent Burisma Joe Biden’s talking points ahead of his December 2015 trip to Ukraine, a memo released by the Ways and Means Committee shows. The lobbying firm disclosed on a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) form $60,000 it hauled in from Burisma. Blue Star received $540,000 from the Ukrainian energy firm, Ziegler testified.
Burisma paid Hunter Biden as much as $83,333.33 per month during his father’s vice presidency, bank records show. Hunter Biden’s salary from Burisma fell dramatically after former President Donald Trump took office, according to an indictment leveled against him by a federal grand jury in California.
“On September 3rd, 2020, the slow-walking of process continued when AUSA Wolf stated that a search warrant for the emails for Blue Star Strategies was being sat on by OEO. That’s the Department of Justice Office — actually, I’m sorry. I don’t know what it means, the acronym. She indicated it would likely not get approved. This was a significant blow to the Foreign Agents Registration Act piece of the investigation,” Shapley stated.
An email from Wolf released by the Ways and Means Committee in September appears to show her instructing investigators not to include “political figure 1” on the Blue Star search warrant.
“As a priority, someone needs to redraft attachment B. I am not sure what this is cut and pasted from but other than the attribution, location and identity stuff at the end, none if it is appropriate and within the scope of this warrant. Please focus on FARA evidence only. There should be nothing about Political Figure 1 in here,” Wolf ordered in August 2020.
A draft copy of the search warrant released by the Ways and Means Committee shows “political figure 1” was then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden (RELATED: DOJ Blocking Testimony From Key Officials Involved With Hunter Biden Investigation, House Report Says)
READ THE EMAIL:
“Even though the legal requirements were met and the investigative team knew evidence would be in these locations, AUSA Wolf stated that they would not allow a physical search warrant on Hunter Biden,” Shapley continued.
“His documents all went into a storage unit in northern Virginia. The IRS prepared an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the unit, but AUSA Wolf once again objected,” he said later in his testimony. Emails and notes released by the Ways and Means Committee seem to confirm Wolf’s alleged interventions to shut down the storage locker search.
Shapley also recalled Wolf tipping off Hunter Biden’s defense team of the plan to search his locker, thwarting investigators’ chance to gather evidence.
“No sooner had we gotten off the call then we heard AUSA Wolf had simply reached out to Hunter Biden’s defense counsel and told him about the storage unit, once again ruining our chance to get to evidence before being destroyed, manipulated, or concealed,” Shapley explained.
Ziegler delivered nearly identical testimony about Wolf to the Ways and Means Committee in early June and recalled her preventing Hunter Biden’s children from being interviewed as part of the investigation.
“On October 21st, 2021, AUSA Lesley Wolf told us it will get us into hot water if we interview the President’s grandchildren. That was completely abnormal, out of the question. And it’s a part of our normal process that we go and interview people, especially people who are receiving money or receiving payments related to a case like this,” Ziegler testified.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden embraces First Lady Dr. Jill Biden as son Hunter Biden, daughter Ashley Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris look on after Biden was sworn in during his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today’s inauguration ceremony Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A memo written by Shapley in May 2021 appears to demonstrate Wolf shutting down investigative steps related to potential campaign finance violations involving Kevin Morris, an entertainment lawyer identified as the third party responsible for paying roughly $2 million of Hunter Biden’s overdue taxes.
“And, then ultimately, in late 2019-2020, a Kevin Patrick Morris comes into the picture. And he was described as meeting Hunter Biden at a campaign finance event. And he paid off several different tranches of tax due and owing, to include Federal and D.C. tax due and owing,” Shapley testified. (RELATED: ‘On Behalf Of The Family’: Hunter Biden’s Uncle Thanked Lawyer Who Allegedly Paid $2 Million Of Hunter’s Taxes)
In addition, Wolf limited the ability of IRS and FBI investigators to ask questions related to Joe Biden, including an infamous exchange where Joe Biden was referred to as “the big guy” by one of Hunter Biden’s former business associates, Shapley testified.
“But AUSA Wolf interjected and said she did not want to ask about the big guy and stated she did not want to ask questions about ‘dad.’ When multiple people in the room spoke up and objected that we had to ask, she responded, there’s no specific criminality to that line of questioning. This upset the FBI too,” Shapley stated.
The FBI tried to disobey Wolf’s orders and ask Hunter Biden’s former business associate Rob Walker about “the big guy” reference made by former business associate James Gilliar during a May 2017 email thread, Shapley recalled.
“10 held by H for the big guy?” Gilliar asked Walker, Hunter Biden and Tony Bobulinski, another former business associate, emails on Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive show.
FBI agents interviewed Walker in December 2020 and he recalled a meeting Joe Biden held with his son’s Chinese business associates at Chinese infrastructure company CEFC after Joe Biden’s vice presidency, according to a transcript of the interview released in September by the Ways and Means Committee.
In March 2017, Walker received $3 million from State Energy HK, a CEFC account, and distributed roughly $1 million of the funds to Biden family members and another $1 million to Gilliar, bank records show. The California indictment confirms the State Energy HK payments. (RELATED: Chinese Business Associate Paid Hunter Biden $1,000,000 For Non-Existent Legal Services, Docs Show)
The IRS whistleblowers testified to the House Ways and Means Committee on Dec. 5 and made similar remarks detailing how IRS investigators were not allowed to pursue Joe Biden as part of the Hunter Biden case. Shapley specifically referenced the “10 held by H for the big guy” comment as a potential lead that was never followed up on.
New emails released on Dec. 5 by the House Ways and Means Committee revealed Morris feared the political “risk” of Hunter Biden’s overdue taxes. Morris paid $4.9 million in total of Hunter Biden’s personal expenses and delinquent taxes, Ziegler testified. The IRS whistleblower also said Morris was believed to be in communication with the 2020 Biden presidential campaign.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss, special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation, testified before the House Judiciary Committee in November and defended Wolf’s integrity, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Shapley and Ziegler’s testimony centered around the alleged special treatment the DOJ gave Hunter Biden during the investigation prior to Weiss’ special counsel appointment. Witness testimony by Weiss and additional DOJ, FBI and IRS officials confirmed key allegations brought forward by the IRS whistleblowers, House Republicans laid out in a Dec. 5 report.
House Judiciary Committee lawmakers subpoenaed Wolf in late November to have her testify about her role in the Hunter Biden investigation.
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 20: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on September 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee is holding an oversight hearing on the U.S. Department of Justice. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Attorney General Merrick Garland testified publicly before the Judiciary Committee in September and refused to answer questions about Wolf, citing alleged threats to her physical safety. He appointed Weiss special counsel in August after the IRS whistleblowers came forward and Hunter Biden’s proposed guilty plea with the DOJ fell apart in court.
Wolf played a major role in negotiating the initial plea agreement for two tax misdemeanors in Delaware, Hunter Biden’s former defense attorney Christopher J. Clark confirmed in a Monday court filing. The guilty plea was attached to a pretrial diversion agreement for a single felony gun offense that contained a broad prosecutorial immunity provision for Hunter Biden’s past behavior.
The proposed plea deal and diversion agreement collapsed in a July court session when Judge Maryellen Noreika scrutinized the prosecutorial immunity provision. As a result, Biden pleaded not guilty to the two tax offenses. Clark subsequently withdrew from the case because of his role in the failed guilty plea negotiations.
After he became special counsel, Weiss withdrew the Delaware tax charges in order to charge Hunter Biden elsewhere. Hunter Biden is now facing nine tax related charges in California and three gun charges in Delaware. He pleaded not guilty to the gun charges and his attorneys are seeking to have them dismissed.
Wolf’s name is not on any of the court documents for Hunter Biden’s Delaware gun charges or the guilty plea deal. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Henry Rodgers contributed to this report