A senior IRS official has corroborated a whistleblower’s bombshell allegation that Biden Justice Department officials meddled in the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to internal IRS emails released this week.
The internal IRS emails also showed that Waldon verified Shapley’s claim that he was instructed by IRS officials to ignore potentially incriminating evidence related to Hunter Biden’s business dealings while conducting a review of his tax returns. Shapley had previously alleged that he was told to “back off” from any scrutiny of Hunter Biden’s finances.
The revelations raise further questions about the Biden administration’s involvement in the investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, which has been ongoing since 2018. The emails suggest that DOJ officials were actively interfering with the investigation and may have played a role in preventing charges from being brought against the president’s son.
The Biden Justice Department has denied any wrongdoing, and Hunter Biden has maintained that he has done nothing illegal. However, the latest developments are likely to fuel Republican claims that the Biden administration is engaging in a cover-up and shielding the president’s family from scrutiny.
“Weiss stated that he is not the deciding person on whether charges are filed,” Shapley wrote.
Waldon, who attended the meeting with Shapley, signed off on his subordinate’s characterization of the meeting. “Thanks, Gary. You covered it all,” Waldon wrote.
The email bolsters Shapley’s allegations that the Biden Justice Department intervened with the probe of the troubled first son and that, in contrast to assertions made by Attorney General Merrick Garland and others, Weiss was unable to work independently.
In relation to two misdemeanor accusations of failing to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018, Hunter Biden consented to a plea agreement this week. However, Shapley claimed that Weiss’s office and IRS investigators first wanted to prosecute Biden with criminal tax evasion for the years 2014 through 2018.
Shapley went into detail about Biden’s tax-evasion strategies, which included taking deductions for payments he paid to prostitutes and a sex club in Los Angeles. Garland is now subject to congressional inquiry because of Shapley’s email. Shapley, a 10-year IRS veteran, informed Congress that Weiss’s assertions were inconsistent with Garland’s testimony, according to which the prosecutor had complete control over the Biden probe.
“The Hunter Biden investigation … is being run by and supervised by the United States attorney for the District of Delaware,” Garland testified at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on April 26, 2022, referring to Weiss. “He is in charge of that investigation. There will not be interference of any political or improper kind.”
“I believe this to be a huge problem—inconsistent with DOJ public position and Merrick Garland testimony,” Shapley wrote in his Oct. 7, 2022, memo.
According to Shapley, Weiss disclosed that he went to Matthew Graves, the Joe Biden-appointed U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., in early summer 2022 to request to file charges in that jurisdiction. But according to Shapley, Weiss said the request was rejected. “Biden-appointed [U.S. attorney] said they could not charge in his district,” Shapley wrote.
Weiss said that he had requested special counsel authority to charge a case in Washington but that “Main DOJ denied his request and told him to follow the process,” according to Shapley.
According to Shapley, Weiss requested newly appointed prosecutor E. Martin Estrada to indict Biden in California in the middle of September 2022. Despite the fact that Estrada, another Biden appointment, eventually denied the request, the decision was still being made at the time.
The Weiss administration chose not to respond to Shapley’s claims. Requests for comment from the U.S. attorneys’ offices in California and Washington went unanswered.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Weiss “has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate.”
In a disturbing twist to last week’s targeted violence against Minnesota officials, sources reveal that a conspiratorial letter left behind by shooting suspect Vance Boelter accuses Governor Tim Walz of orchestrating a political assassination plot. The letter, addressed to the FBI, allegedly claims Walz instructed Boelter to kill U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could seek her Senate seat—a position he has not expressed any intent to pursue.
Two individuals with direct knowledge of the letter described it as incoherent, one and a half pages long, and filled with paranoid ramblings. The letter allegedly outlines unsubstantiated claims that Boelter was trained “off the books” by the U.S. military, and that Walz had enlisted him to assassinate Klobuchar and potentially other politicians, including a veiled reference to Sen. Tina Smith.
Federal prosecutors say Boelter left the letter in a Buick abandoned near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota. It is believed to include a confession to the killings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Boelter, 57, now faces federal charges including:
Two counts of stalking Rep. Hortman and Sen. Hoffman using interstate facilities;
Two counts of murder in the deaths of the Hortmans;
Two counts of firearm use in the shootings of the Hortmans and Hoffmans.
While federal authorities declined to comment on the letter’s contents, local officials addressed the severity of the situation. Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping stated they could not comment on an open investigation, but added, “We have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”
Gov. Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, called the events “deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans” and praised law enforcement and prosecutors for their swift actions.
Sen. Klobuchar issued a strong response, saying, “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
Documents obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune also reveal that Boelter held a valid carry license as recently as 2020, issued while he was still affiliated with his family’s private security firm.
With more details likely to surface as the investigation unfolds, the letter marks a chilling insight into Boelter’s delusions—and highlights the growing threats facing public officials.
A new study from the MIT Media Lab has raised concerns about the long-term effects of using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT on human cognition. The research, released this month, suggests that relying on large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT could impair an individual’s critical thinking abilities, especially with prolonged use.
Researchers observed participants over several months as they completed SAT-style essay assignments. The subjects were divided into three groups: one using ChatGPT, another using Google’s search engine, and a third group relying solely on their own thinking—dubbed the “brain-only” group.
To analyze brain activity during the writing tasks, researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor neural engagement across different regions of the brain. The results showed a stark difference in cognitive involvement among the groups.
According to the study, those using ChatGPT demonstrated the lowest level of brain engagement. Over time, these participants began to rely more heavily on the AI, eventually moving from asking structural questions to simply copying and pasting complete essays. The researchers noted that this group “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.”
Participants who used Google showed moderate brain activity, while the “brain-only” group displayed the strongest and most widespread neural activity, indicating deeper cognitive involvement throughout the writing process.
The study’s lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, emphasized the urgency of the findings, particularly as AI tools become more integrated into education.
“What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6–8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, ‘let’s do GPT kindergarten.’ I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” Kosmyna told Time
magazine. “Developing brains are at the highest risk.”
The study highlights growing concerns among educators about how easily accessible AI tools are enabling academic dishonesty and changing how students learn. Despite these concerns, AI integration in classrooms appears to be accelerating.
In April, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order promoting the use of AI in American schools. The policy aims to prepare young students for a future economy shaped by AI advancements.
“The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said at the time.
As the debate over AI’s role in education continues, this new research may fuel broader discussions on how to balance technological innovation with cognitive development—especially for younger generations.
SACRAMENTO, CA — Former Los Angeles Mayor and current California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has publicly alleged that Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra were involved in concealing former President Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline during his time in office.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, made the claim amid a heated California gubernatorial race. Becerra, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, is also a candidate, while speculation continues over a potential Harris bid. The race comes as current Governor Gavin Newsom reaches the end of his second and final term, per California’s two-term limit.
In a statement referencing recent reporting and excerpts from the book Original Sin, Villaraigosa stated:
“What I’ve seen in news coverage and excerpts from the new book ‘Original Sin’ is deeply troubling. At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover up to keep Joe Biden’s mental decline from the public.”
Both Harris and Becerra previously served as California Attorney General. Villaraigosa emphasized their past leadership roles, stating:
“Now, we have come to learn this cover up includes two prominent California politicians who served as California Attorney General – one who is running for Governor and another who is thinking about running for Governor.”
He added:
“Those who were complicit in the cover up should take responsibility for the part they played in this debacle, hold themselves accountable, and apologize to the American people. I call on Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra to do just that – and make themselves available to voters and the free press because there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Becerra responded in a statement, saying:
“It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered.”
Kamala Harris has not issued a public response. Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to the offices of Harris and the Bidens but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
The allegations come as discussions about Biden’s cognitive and physical health continue. Earlier this month, during an appearance on The View, Biden dismissed claims of cognitive decline during his presidency.
In related developments, Biden’s personal office recently confirmed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer characterized by a high Gleason score and metastasis to the bone.
Villaraigosa’s comments are the latest in a growing list of concerns raised within the Democratic Party about leadership transparency and accountability in the final years of the Biden administration.
Nancy van der Raay
June 24, 2023 at 8:45 pm
I don’t believe a word of this. The old, fat, orange guy is behind it.