Former Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf has landed on her feet after leaving the Department of Justice (DOJ) amid scrutiny over her role in the Hunter Biden investigation.
Wolf joined Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based corporate law firm Ballard Spahr LLP after she left the DOJ following IRS whistleblower accusations that she protected Joe and Hunter Biden during the DOJ’s criminal investigation into the first son, her Pennsylvania bar profile indicates. (RELATED: FBI Investigators Found Cocaine On Firearm Pouch Hunter Biden Used, Prosecutors Say)
NEW: @MarcoPolo501c3 discovered that Lesley Wolf’s PA Bar info changed within the last 24 hours. LinkedIn, too. The Democrat DOJ operative who covered for @JoeBiden has landed softly at @BallardSpahrLLP, unsurprisingly, given the firm’s donation history.@LinkedIn:… pic.twitter.com/6Aw1gBVLBI
— Marco Polo (@MarcoPolo501c3) January 17, 2024
Her LinkedIn profile and Ballard Spahr page confirm she is Of Counsel for the firm and working out of its Philadelphia office as of November 2023. Wolf’s new position was first reported by nonprofit research firm Marco Polo, the group that created a public database of the emails from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop archive. She was previously an associate at the firm from 2005-07 until she left for the DOJ.
Wolf testified before the House Judiciary Committee in December and refused to answer specific questions about why she had Joe Biden’s name removed from a search warrant and the scope of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ authority prior to his special counsel designation, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller. (RELATED: House Republicans Release Report Detailing How DOJ Gave Hunter Biden ‘Special Treatment’ During Investigation)
READ THE EMAIL:
“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 emailed FBI Agent Joshua Wilson in August 2020.
A draft copy of the search warrant for lobbying firm Blue Star Strategies indicates “political figure 1” was then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Blue Star worked for Ukrainian Energy Firm Burisma in late 2015 through 2016 while Hunter Biden served on the company’s board and then-Vice President Joe Biden oversaw the Obama administration’s Ukraine strategy. The firm belatedly submitted Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings to the DOJ in May 2022 disclosing some of its work for Burisma.
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler first brought to light Wolf’s conduct when they testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in May and June.
The committee released in September a trove of documents provided by the IRS whistleblowers to support their testimony, including the email Wolf sent to Wilson. (RELATED: IRS Whistleblowers Unable To ‘Verify’ Loans White House Claims Joe Biden Sent To Family Members, Testimony Shows)
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 05: Internal Revenue Service Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley (L) and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler (R), who both worked on the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, testify before the House Ways and Means Committee in the Longworth House Office Building on December 5, 2023 in Washington, DC. The Ways and Means Committee is hearing testimony from Internal Revenue whistleblowers Service Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, who both claim they were blocked from pursuing leads that would lead to more serious charges during their five-year investigation into Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Shapley and Ziegler also alleged Wolf slow-walked and shut down investigative steps such as searching Hunter Biden’s northern Virginia storage locker to gather further evidence and ignoring potential campaign finance issues surrounding Hunter Biden’s relationship with Hollywood attorney Kevin Morris.
Weiss defended Wolf and his team of prosecutors when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee in November, according to a transcript reviewed by the Caller. Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to answer questions about Wolf when he testified publicly in September.
Wolf played an integral role in negotiating the failed guilty plea agreement between the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office and Hunter Biden for two tax misdemeanor charges, Biden’s former defense attorney Christopher J. Clark confirmed in a December court filing. Her role in the negotiations was previously reported by Politico.
The failed plea deal was tied to a pretrial diversion agreement for a single felony gun charge that contained a prosecutorial immunity provision for Biden’s past behavior.
Delaware U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika scrutinized the immunity provision in the diversion agreement, causing Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal to collapse in July, soon after the IRS whistleblowers testified publicly.
Garland appointed Weiss special counsel shortly after the plea deal collapsed and Hunter Biden was indicted in September on three federal gun charges in Delaware.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to the gun charges in October and faces up to 25 years in prison.