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Understanding 9/11tv IRS Whistleblowers Testify on Hunter Biden Investigation Part 3 CSPAN July 19, 2023 11:52pm-1:41am EDT
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this is not donald trump, these are facts. i yield back. >> thank you, great job and i will add we just got bank records from ukraine. will be going through that. >> at the request of the witnesses we are going to recess for ten minutes and then we will probably reconvene.
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>> oversight committee will reconvene were back in order, the chair recognizes ms. crockett for five it is. >> the probably late in the game is all over the place, first of all i want to get the fat out of the room just to be clear both the you provided deposition testimony. in your deposition neither would've you stated that president joe biden interfered with your investigation, correct? >> the transcript does not include that. >> nor does it include that
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merrick garland interfered with your investigation. >> the transcript does not say that. >> thank you. >> the reason i say that, the insinuation that this committee is trying to make or one side of the committee is trying to make some reason for interference or my colleagues continue to make sure that they outline the facts that this investigation started under the trump administration so that's who appointed and who comes up. at the end of the day we have no evidence whatsoever that the president nor the attorney general interfered. and we outlined legal principles so we have newfound prosecutors today on this committee. number one just to be clear just because you investigate something does not mean that you will have a conviction, correct. >> that is correct. >> infected or criminal justice system you are cloaked in a
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presumption of innocence, that's what happened after the constitution. so we all have a role to play your role as investigative. >> correct. >> then you have an ausa he was usually the one that is responsible for taking the evidence and they probably have it investigator in their office and usually investigator in their office that will review any documentation that you will provide in the sedona talk to the ausa office aboutic recommendation and what the charges will look like is that correct? >> if that is correct i have never seen that. >> there is a level after you get done with your investigation in which the u.s. attorney's office will look at the evidence that you provided and they will make the decision. >> yes. >> all for signed entries agreed with felony and misdemeanor tax charges. >> i heard you testimony before, i'm not going to dispute that.
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the differences i bid on the defense side so i'm concerned it sounds like a sweetheart deal i've never played anyone to any single count of a federal indictment in the first place unless i have one count. i've always negotiated and i do my negotiations before there's anti indictment because a lot of times my clients are turning evidence of her in all kinds of things they've never taken place but they always take place with the u.s. attorney. the point is you don't have the ultimate charging authority, the epeople that did they decided to do what they decided to do for whatever reason. >> in my experience i've always been a part at the table talkink to the ausa and the charging decisions. that is not accuratee to say tht the investigator is not involved. >> this time it was a little
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different. i would get to something else very quickly. i want to talk about what we should be prosecuting. we should look at the fact 2017r trump's first year end office he made $6.5 million from china from his tax returns the source of the china payments is not thclear and the payments were surprised and it's an outspoken critic of the 5.8 million the hunter biden made. the difference trump was our president when he made this money and i'm sure you would agree with me hunter biden has been a private citizen. we have a lot of other stuff and it's clear trump never paid $750 in taxes for two years of his taxes which is absolutely insane and we also know that it showed trump claimed large cash donations to charities in the reports of the irs did not
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verify that while trump's tax filings with large and complicated irises not appear to assign experts to work on them. that is shameful. in addition to that we heard testimony earlier that talked about whether or not you executed a search warrant under section 913.42 well of the d.o.j. justice manual and specifically states in searching the premises of an attorney in an investigation prosecutors are expected to take the least intrusive approach with vigor and law enforcement it's kind of what they did with four trump in the national secrets that he kept in the toilet. he shows not to and that's what he's facing federal charges. i will make sure that we clear up something about the central park. i don't think my colleagues from the other side of the aisle should understand not only found to be not guilty they were paid
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$41 million in 2014 settlement because the civil rights inn the lawsuit were violated in addition to that we know that one of the central park serves on city council. i ask a unanimous consent. maria: without objection the ladies time has expired will the lady yield a question. >> would you yield a question? >> you made the argument that trout received 6 million from china and hunter biden received the money from china. you know exactly what hunter biden did to receive the money from china that something we had a hard time trying to figure out. >> i think i know where trump's businessno was i'm not saying right or wrong i just know what they are and i don't know what the biden's businesses are and i don't know what it's not. >> you have no idea why or why
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not he received that money. >> you have no evidence about it. maria: can i submit the nbc article for the record as well. >> without objection. within the article iss specifically says the source of a number of trump monies was unclear to see that he had businesses in open bank account in china and the money paid to him from china. >> the chair recognizes mr. turner from kansas. >> thank you for being here today. >> there's a lot of information. quick answers how long have each of you worked for the irs, mr. shapley you for. >> 14 years, 13 years. >> is it fair to say yesca and successful careers and recognize for your achievement.
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>> i believe so. >> absolutely. >> are either of you overly partisan people. >> ieq am not. >> i made an effort. i made an effort to be partisan i apologize but give a burning desire to be a spectacle at a congressional hearing and on tv in your 15 minutes of fame. >> i would prefer not to be here. >> i never imagined that this would happen butd here i am. >> quickly for the american people why did you step forward. >> we needed to equal application of justice all other crimes are committed that are horrible and the equal application of justice to understand how we move forward and i to understand if i don't do what i can to ensure that it occurs there's 300 million taxpayers out there that they think this hearing is a big deal
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because they're paying their pack onto taxes and they see somebody who isn't.me mr. ziglar is a matter of accountability we need to hold those accountable who basically for the last five years has it been following proper procedure in the second part i think we need to havee some reform or somethingg built-in that this is a habit of people again. >> the biden family and their associates receive millions and global payments from companies linked to ukraine, romania following through various show companies. >> it is 17.3 million. >> quickly what is a special agent report. >> 's report that recommends prosecution for various charges each of which are proven in each element. >> how many of these over your career have you been a part of or prepared?
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>> hundreds. >> did you complete a special agent report for the hunter biden case. >> special agent ziegler. >> i completed the report. >> when it was set up the chain of command you've all been involved in hundreds of times the normal process that you've grown used to over the years? >> the criminal tax attorney is definitely inappropriate and out of the norm and after that the senior leadership quickly trumped ct counsel and they concurred withh the charges so e send it forward for further approval. >> mr. ziglar. >> everything he said was correct. >> he recommended felony charges. >> was hunter biden ultimately charged with felonies questioning. not. he was
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>> what role did leslie wolf play in the investigation. >> she was an assistant united a states attorney out of the district of delaware assigned to the investigation. >> you met with her and her team during hunter biden case. >> that is correct. >> in the ways and means you it describe month again overseeing the case out of delaware during a meeting that she did not want to ask about the big guy and stated she did not want to ask questions about dad is that accurate and i want to remind you you're under oath your testimony to the ways and means. >> in you as a warmer time. >> leslie wolf said during a meeting she did not want to ask about the big guy and she didn't want to ask questions about dad. >> there is a twofold to that the line in the e-mail ten held by agent for the bigeye that was something that came up as a part of us reviewing what we were to say to that day and she
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immediately said no we are not going tono ask that and we essentially had to argue her stance and it was ultimately that it was unknown. >> you stated in public interviews you and your team are stopped from taking investigative steps that you believe could have potentially connected the hunter biden case the president biden, is that correct. >> that is correct. >> i want to summarize as quickly as we can to credible irs investigators confirming millions of dollars in foreign payment shall companies to the biden administration. we have hunter biden who most would not hire to dog sit receiving a million dollars for services that they cannot come forward and tell us about and potentially link toal president biden but we don't know that for a fact because you were shut down. you were not allowed to pursue the investigative angle that you wanted to. this is something that we have to get to the bottom of.
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it's shameful what's happening. i want folks to mark my words we will not be stifled this committee will not be stifled by the departmentrt of justice or anyone in the bidenen administration we will pursue this and get to the bottom no matter what. thank you, mr. chairman i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. gomez for five minutes. >> thank you so much mr. chairman. whistleblower allegations should be taken seriously. i had a whistleblower approach my office during my first term but one of the things that i learned from that there is a clear fact-based process that needs to be followed to ensure the whistleblower investigation is executed properly without political interference. this is not what is happening here today and where this originated in the ways and means republicans to the process into the gutter. here's how. one more than 50 people identified in the ways and means committee deposition on the same
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topic that were not spoken to and not interviewed before the republican majority released obligations to the public. they did not take the time to check the fact in the republican submitted during questioning that they never interviewed or asked questions or sought to ask questions about the individuals. >> instead republicans cherry picked 13 people who agreed to collaborate their claims. why wouldn't they conduct a thorough investigation and interview all people identified who might have information in this case. there are more than 50 people who weren't given thee opportunity to defend their names, respond to allegations and the important contacts and facts. >> two the whistleblower transcript contains unauthenticated unverified documents from unknown searches knon the internet. the exhibit used from ohio in the early part of the hearing is in unverified document pulled from the internet.
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yet they treated as a smoking gun. you can find anything on the internet. that does not makett it true and republicans refuse to verify their sources. in trying to give the irs files provided by the whistleblower or a trusted source but in fact they are not. the documents are unauthenticated and we don't know the real source. what kind of basis is this for a serious investigation. the majority released the transcript with all the areas i cited to the public before verifying any of the allegations they put the cart far before the horse declining to speak to a dozen of valuable witnesses and refusing to verify the information that they push to the public knowing the whole process inescapably out the window. additionally this process has been tainted by the fact that one of thele whistleblowers attorneys has made substantial contributions to the republican
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waysbl and means as recently as february of thiss year. one of the whistleblowers did not come voluntarily he was asked to testify by his supervisor. none of this inspires confidence in the efforts of my colleagues across iowa or the process that's been taking. my colleagues were serious about the allegations they would've gone to the proper stepsou to ensure it was done correctly. but they did not. they would rather drag the investigation and the committee into the gutter. that was proof of the wogentlewoman from georgia. if the gutter is where they choose to live in all and purposed to drag them down with us i don't want any part of it. as for unanimous consent from the letter from the ranking member richard neal outlined an improper step taken by the majority in this investigation. >> without objection, so ordered. >> with that i would yield by remaining time to mr. goldman of
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new york. >> thank you, mr. gomez. >> i want to return to the washington post october 6 article in ascii unanimous consent to enter into the e record. in your testimony mr. shapley before the ways and means committee you stated there was a leak in the. to come from the agents level he was critical of the prosecutors were not charging theos case. what you testified earlier was a little different, which one do you stand by today? all. >> i'm to have you repeat that. >> a leak appeared to come from the agents level he was critical of the c prosecutors for notch charging the case. >> it appeared and said it came from the agents level but the source was a source familiar and it did not say aye law enforcement source. >> okay that seems to be a distinction that is different
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and then you understand the obviously leaks of involuntary information is a felony. >> investigative information would be a felony. >> that is true as well. >> would you agree there would be some skepticism from many prosecutors of which of the agents may be the source of a leak? >> feel free to answer the question. >> there were multiple leaks in this investigation and the one on december 8 or december 910, 2020 that appeared to have come from somebody like leslie wolf. >> i was talking about october 6, 2022. >> did cause anyone suspicion. >> if it comes at an agent level. >> that's what you said. >> the gentleman's time has expired you the next questioner after mr. pollan for five
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minutes. >> were talking about diverting and distracting and a whole lot of word vomit from the other side of the aisle make them a sense of what were here today. you hear trump, giuliani, giuliani. i wanted think most of the witnesses for being here. i think it's been established they are very credible and experience in the subject matter expert of what you do and you lead a team of 12 elite investigation how long were you investigating the sportsman of the hunter biden investigation. >> i started january 2020. >> 2 - 3 years. >> you both are aware what your hunter biden's lawyers accused you to having access in your disgruntled agents, are you a political activist? >> you are not. are you af part of the maga
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movement. >> i am not. >> have to ask you a direct question. you to out to get hunter biden or justice. >> is all about justice and that's why when people asked me to comment about the plea agreement is outside of my control. >> justice or you want to get hunter? >> the ranking member he was in skilled order claimed when he was speaking earlier this is all normal stuff and there's no evidence that hunter biden receive preferential treatment. do we agree with the statements? >> normal nothing out of the ordinary and hunter biden did not receive treatment. >> based on my transcript i iewould believe that question would be incorrect. >> wouldld you fairly say you don't agree with the statements
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as people get nothing changes my perspective, we came forward with slow walking, not following the investigative stop. >> it was out of the. ordinary. >> yes. >> do you agree with the statement. >> yes, this is out of the ordinary. >> when you read your transcribed interviews is pretty massive in itself. this clears that the lows of interference in the roadblocks another federal government personnel put in front of you was astounding if representative. the pages i was shocked to see how it is is that u.s. attorney stonewalled your investigation. let's go back december 2020 the prosecutorial team is meeting to discuss next steps, hunter biden has received millions of dollars in foreign payment onene officil companies while skill, no one can tell what the hell it ever did except money so nobody knows what services the company was provided in this december of 2020.
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hunter is vacating the offices in movie the documents to a storage unit in northern virginia. are you pretty interested in what some of the documents might reveal? >> yes we were. >> what could've shed light on criminal activity, a felony. >> unfettered access to the document before the council can filter them and it would've been very advantageous. >> because will happen later. >> did you prepare an affidavit to search the storage unit. >> i was the one. >> did u.s. attorney weiss agree if it was access for 30 days you can execute the warrant. >> that is correct. >> that seems kinda weird to wait 30 days how do you know the access is it going to be 24 hour surveillance, the state cannot and have richard in therean with the binoculars checking
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everything out. transcript with location. >> you did not have to wait the 30 days, did the assistant u.s. attorney leslie wolf what did she do when she learned you wanted to execute the search warrant on the storage unit. >> she first approved and was saying is going to take approvals to get this done but then came back a few days later and said no were not going to move forward with this and i was the onene who proposed and said wait 30 days will get the approval will make sure the storage unit is not access then we can move forward with a warrant. her response was i want to think about it. we came to find out that they had let the defense counsel no. >> the u.s. attorney tipped off the lawyers of a yearss long criminal.
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did leslie wolf tipoff. >> want to know that any of those documents i can incriminate you are going to meet a match at the gasoline, that's astounding that that's direct evidence in this not normal stuff. i did not think we had a seat at the table. it disappointed me so badly that i knew your something up against seen anythingver like this before and your decades. >> no i have not. >> i wouldn't thank you can record of the democratic calling
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is not in the year back. >> the chair recognizes i would love to give the extra minute that mr. fallon got as well. thank you for being here today. we don't have a lot of time, i have a lot of questions and i'm not try to be rude but i want to talk a little bit about the evidence that you did have. you were the case agent so how many documents do you say you gather in the five-year investigation. >> i do believe i may have documents. >> by the statue but where the welcome to turn the documents. >> there was a significant amount. >> hundreds ofnd thousands? >> millions. >> i don't want to put a number to it but there was a lot. >> bank records yet a lot off bank records?
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>> yes. >> both domestic and foreign. >> that is correct. >> you conduct a search warrant? >> yes there was reference in our transcript to do an electronic search when. >> did you do others when you say other search warrants. >> electric otherwise physical sewing going to stick to what i stated in my transcript or were multiple. >> you said you conducted more than 60 interviews as part of this investigation isio not rig. >> that is correct. >> that's a lot for any>>. investigation. >> i would not say that. >> ten years i don't have any investigations i did was 60 interviews. i want to focus on the what's out. mr. shapley in your testimony and your opening statement you said the text message the whatsapp that we've been talking about shows hunter biden does business with his father.
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can you show me where in the text message that says anything about discussing business with joe biden. >> if you would like me to i go with a review if you would like me to. >> at all the time unfortunately as you pointed out. the only thing it says about it hunter biden was sitting with his father. it does not say anything about discussing any business. mr. shapley you also set a new testimony that the agents were t prohibited from suing leads related to joe biden in the bigeye in the agents did that anyway. they were interviewing rob walker all. >> they did not use the word bigeye but they asked about it in the text.
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>> to recall rob walker actually said in response to that he was not aware joe biden was ever a part of anything that he and hunter were doing. >> that's what the witness said. >> then you describe the lunch what we talked t about earlier where joe biden came to say hello at the four seasons hotel to lunch he was having with csc executives. what you did not talk about is what rob walker said the origination of the lunch was. and you testified that hunter told his dad i may be trying to start a company are trying to do something with these guys. >> let me ask you something that doesn't sound like joe biden was involved in whatever hunter biden was doing with the eoc if hunter biden is telling him that
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is trying to do business with him. >> it does show that he told his father used trying to do business. >> hunter biden tried to do business that is correct. >> connecting hunter biden to any business deals. you had proof that he was not involved. that is the proof that you had. >> in the end of the day this is a five-year criminal- investigation tens of thousands of boxes, maybe hundreds of thousands. >> usually search warrants, aggressive techniques you recommended felony charges. he went to d.o.j. tax, they wrote a 99 page memo. >> you wrote that. >> what was the recommendation. >> approval, discussion.
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>> you testified it was discussion which means it was not an approval it was to the discretion of the u.s. o attorney's office which had the d.o.j. tax memo and had information from the defense lawyers that they spoke with and they are the ones who have to approve this case. >> i will tell you as ade federl prosecutor for ten years i worked with many of your colleagues and you do great work as well. >> and to charge every possible case. what i know within have you ever mention a portion of the case that may not be search the wrong may be a subset. >> or may had a dissent. >> that's what the prosecutor has to think about before charging case.
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>> the gentleman's time has expired he winnowed minute over. the chair recognizes mr. carey for pennsylvania. >> thank you. >> if you can confirm the transcript i wouldn'tto say shapley and mr. ziglar we sure appreciate you coming forward. >> the whistleblowers in the past cannot reveal themselves in improper impeachment with unsubstantiated and i credit you and i think it was the right one and i commend you for. >> a 30 year transcript, the middle of the page in the second paragraph and every single day was a battle to doing jobs. i understanding congress your father with the letter of the
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law and thank you information and you do this and you get that. >> why is your day that is a chilly lie what did that mean when you said that. >> every time we communicate it was always slow walked and pushed off that we did intend d.o.j. public integrity or oel and it was used as a crutch the process was used just all the investigation and ultimately these in which some people overlook, if these prosecutors agreed withw these charges and you finally reached your redline to answer mr. fallon's question you're seeking justice i don't thank you were picking winners and losers, you finally reached your redline october 7, 2022
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with the meeting with the u.s. attorney weiss rate is at a reasonable characterization. >> what did you mean when you said you reached your redline. >> throughout the investigation started in the summer of 2020 my case agents were coming to be with certain concerns and because we were worried about the discovery process with agents turning over documents at the end of the investigation we wanted to protect investigation so i documented them on a recurring basis issues that we g.were having and it was after discussions with my agents i saw these things firsthand. we got to the point that it is a heavy burdensp i have a deep respect for the usa and attorneys i worked with them in the past. i just cannot, it was not. >> mr. ziglar, your redline i
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thank you said i don't want to mischaracterize a little later december 14, 2020 when ausa wolf tipped off the biden cancel about your plan to search the storage unit, is that right. >> absolutely. the storage unit the method that we were planning to do was the least intrusive, it was a storage unit we needed to get the record. >> you are seeking justice and seeking the truth. wherever it takes you a somewhat you learn. y >> turning back to you mr. shapely what was the leadership when you try to alert officials outside of your chain of command. >> was recently when special agent ziegler e-mailed the commissioner they basically threatened and intimidated special agent ziegler that he violated a law. >> the and intimidated. >> for some of chain of command
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requirement that does not meet the legalme requirement. >> you are trying to seek justice and the truth and they throw an obstruction in front of you there obstructing you from doing it, are they? >> my complaints for irs committal investigation and senior leadership is not for blocking this investigation. >> i do believe we raise things on ath continual basis and they stuck their head in the sand it took no action. in terms of the retaliation that's when they first reeled their head. there is no doubt about it, after disclosures were made they took personnel practices against me. >> mr. shapely and mr. ziglar have you ever been threatened before an investigation? >> i have not i've come to learn the 60 grand jury threat mayha
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have happened before to other people inside of the irs. >> mr. shapely. >> not from my own agency. >> with my friends on the other side of the aisle say treasury has not retaliated against you it is simply not true there is a law five usc 2303d13 and they placed unlawfully you and your fellow supervisors under a a gag order mr. shapely and mr. ziglar my time has expired but were talking about obstruction of justice and you are seeking justice and obstructed. it is against the law. >> the gentleman yields back the chair recognizes mr. horse joints from florida. >> thank you for appearing today and being a public servant and there should be no retaliation against you as whistleblowers. unlike my colleagues that said nothing and supporting president trump . . . and
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escorted him from the building for appearing in an investigation, that shouldn't happen. to you of course, they said nothing when it happened to other people. >> we heard a lot about the biden family and biden associates. bs, what is the apostrophe, but not joe biden, we didn't hear a lot about joe biden because he didn't do anything. has nothing to do with him. my colleagues talked colleagues talk about foreign countries, foreign entities trying to make it scary for the american people. of course president trump got $5.4 million from the chinese while hehe was president because they were leasing space in trump tower. he goes out and air kisses the president, totally perfect. jared kushner gets to billion dollars from the saudi's even though he oversaw middle east peace, totally kosher. in business with of the chinese while working in the white house, totally beautiful. right? why do i bring that up?
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they want to say you have credibility. the problem is they have none. they have no credibility and because you are here at their behest, the lack of their credibility questions your credibility not because of you personally, but because of what they've done over the last several years. so the chair man's as you are credible. you want to know actually what they feel about you? people like you who work in government. it goes on for years. but i will read a couple of adjectives. trump has called people like you, so-called whistleblowers, fake whistleblowers, partisan people, political hack jobs, scams, cowards, spies, thugs, puppets, unelected bureaucrats, the swamp, and my favorite, the deep state. by the way, members of the deep state, or you members of the deep state? rhetorical question.
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did you stop paying the deep state news and did you not attend the latest meeting? i can't tell when they want people like yourself to be in the deep state and not in the deep state depending on what the deep state is saying. again, it undermines their credibility. it undermines government and it underminesmi the americans trust in government and our institutions. and throughout all of this, for years, four years of it, they said nothing and now, you know, in an effort to own hunter biden, they are assembling photos of him, having an intern sit in a room and blow up these photos and put it on poster boards. the doj was slowing down the investigation.n. but some of that happens when president trump was president.
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they try to ask these questions about when the perceived slowness of this happened you all struggled for a period of time to admit that is started under president trump with president trump deducting that doj to slow down the investigation, he wasn't. you said no one is above the law do you think the president's son-in-law as a person who worked in thear white house couldn't get security clearance was put in charge of middle east peace and with no investment experiencers got $2 billion from the saudis. what about 2 billion. that should be looked at. >> thank you for the question.
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given the statute i'm limited to my testimony. >> i'm sorry. but think about it, $2 billion from a foreign country that he was put in charge of their policy while he worked in the white house. they got no questions about that. that's totally great, wonderful. joe biden has been in washington for almost 50 years. we didn't hear about hunter until a couple of years ago. why? because pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. in so much trouble and they can't save him but what they can do is spend taxpayer money and all the time while they control the hearings to convince the american peopleco that somehow e biden has done something wrong that there is no evidence, none, zero, and you know how i know that? because they couldn't even bring up their own impeachment. they had to bury it in
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committees on immigration, not on this topics. they filed articles of impeachment, didn't bring it up fort a vote. again, not on this topic because there is no evidence on joe biden. thank you. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. chair and a gentleman for being here today. appreciate you. now mr. shapley and mr. ziegler, if you could each maybe 20 seconds or less summarize what data each of you find when you criminally investigated hunter and joe biden particularly as it relates to china? specifically related to china there's hudson west free, those are the three entities of the transcript. >> i would echo the same thing
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that's in myan transcript. >> so there's a chinese billionaire and he's tied to the ccp intelligence gathering agency and his company is cfc. what is the connection between hunter biden and csc? >> i'm going to have to stick to the confines of my testimony, but what i can tell you is that there may be some documents that are responsive to that and i can turn those over to the house ways and means committee. he received more than $8 million including $100,000 made from $664,000 from state energy as you mentioned. another chinese company, and a
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$325,000 capital contribution made on hunters behest a chinese equity investment fund. were you shocked to find the president's son received all these payments particularly the ones from chinese entities? >> as i tried to state earlier in this position you have to be nonpartisan. it isn't a matter of shock. >> not the party, but just the vicece president's son. so i'm not accusing you of political bias. >> it's just followw the evidence, see where the transactions are coming from, interview witnesses and figured out what the purposes of those transferss of money were for. >> and mr. shapley, and march of 2017, walker llc received a 3 million-dollarla wire from a chinese company state energy hk limited which took place two
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months after joe biden left office as vice president and i believe it was in your testimony that you said it seemed this wouldd be eating in before he left office. can you discuss the connection to the biden family? >> i don't think i spoke about the $3 million. >> any of that information related to the $3 million we can turn over to the house ways and means committee. hunter biden and the associate established hudson west and each owned 50% between august 2017 and october 2018 they sent over
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$4 million, to hunter biden and over $75,000 to james biden, hunter biden's uncle. can you discuss these payments because my colleagues on the other sidede of the aisle are wondering what the apostrophe is and it seems there are more right here receiving money. >> in an answer to his question regarding president biden and in answerwe to this question any documents that we believe we may have in our possession we can turn over to the house ways and means committee. they can vote to release it to you guys. >> i request that you release those to them and also we have the situation that he was doing business with csc and i guess that makes you a chinese spy so i guess hunter biden is a chinese spy according to their allegations. but do you have any information regarding this that you could also turn over to the ways and means committee? >> any information i have in my
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casean file and the direction of my attorney, we can turn over to the house ways and means committee. >> i appreciate you for being here,an your bravery and courage for standing up. we saw a lot of evidence today about millions of dollars being shuffled through these companies. we've seen delayed warrants to impact a 2020 election prosecutor instructed not to involve the big guy because optics, the optics are very clear, hunter biden sold access to his father with an influence peddling scheme which in my opinion compromises the current. the biden family has never stole anything in their life but their influence in washington, d.c., every business they have is monetizing. thank you for making that clear today, gentlemen. i yield.
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>> recognizing ms. mclean from michigan. >> i know it's been a long day but the american people appreciate you to get some truth and feedback in the american justice system. it's great so thank you again. we've heard a lot of frederick and i just want to talk about it as much as we can just stick to the facts. in august of 2020, your team obtained a july 2017 whatsapp message from hunter biden to a chinese businessman and i want to read a few lines from that message. i'm sure you rememberil it but i will refresh your memory. and i quote please have the director call me, not james or tony or jim, have him call me tonight. i am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand
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why the commitment may it hasn't been fulfilled. every person he knows and in my ability to forever hold a grudge that youou will regret not following my direction. and i'm sitting here waiting for the call with my father. that's a fact. i didn't make that up. it's not my opinion. it's rhetoric. from my phone, your phone?
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>> were the biden's contemplating a deal in july 2017 timeframe items know if i really describe that. i think that's a portion of the whatsapp message. however i do think there is a full chain that if it's relevant we can turn that over to the house ways and means committee and they can decide to vote to release that to you. >> i just want to give in my limited time to set the stage. one person has come forward and the biden's were contemplating a deal with cfc even earlier than 2017 and he's come forward and said that. is this the tony referenced in the whatsapp? i'm trying to connect the dots. >> i think we need to stick to the transcript. in my testimony i referenced the
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deal and we know that deal never went through and that relates to cfc in china. >> the tony that he is referencing, do you believe that to be tony? >> i do not mention anything regarding him, but what i can do again is provide any information that i have related to him in the house ways and means committee. >> the reference to james is there a reference is that another biden associate? >> we might have to get that one. and again i think it is critical that we stick to the facts. i appreciate the fact that you're only speaking with fact, not on a partisan basis. but if you can get those, that would help.
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i will call you on whatsapp. okay, my friend. i'm sitting here waiting for the call with my father. again, my concern is the ability to tell the truth. the covered up is always worse than the crime. how many times did we hear joe biden say not involved, no i have no idea yet his son is sitting there as we are making these alleged influence peddling. what do the messages indicate to you? can you comment on that? >> we need to take investigative steps to find out what the facts and circumstances were on this messagee and it simply just was not supported. >> can you explain to us what do you m mean it wasn't supported? >> as a normal part of the tax
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investigations you want to understand why individuals are earning money. if someone paid a significant amount of money in order for that to be income, not a gift or loan, you need to understand the substance toy why that person is paying them and that's why you need to understand of the four r corners of the transaction. >> it has helped bring normal members of society. that's standard operating procedure butha what you're telling me is you were not able to pursue that. i am out off time. thank you so much mr. chairman and thank you again. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. >> thank you mr. chairman, members, thank you all for being here. when i was a younger man, the country wasn't going well and one night it really culminated in something and i remember my dad praying. he said lord, please don't let us lose our country.
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that's the prayer i will be making tonight after hearing this testimony because it is sickening to me. i know that you are a man of faith but i will be remembering you all in my prayers. i appreciate your incredible courage. it takes a lot of guts to get up here and put your spouses and families through this garbage and it's not right. thank you all. >> i appreciate that. >> it's also come to my attention that today after this hearing was already underway apparently the research is circulating from hunter biden's legal team suggestions that you had linked sorrows into other investigations to someone that had released that information
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they are trying to smear you through the process and it's disgusting. i appreciated hearing a direct answer from you. >> there's two parts to this. there's the release of theth bak report. my name was listed so it's out in the public as one of the agents working this case and that was maybe two or three years ago. and then on top of that, me and my husband were in a report that's on social media, twitter by a person with the same last name that i have who i've never met, i've never turned over information to. we just happened to have the same last name. i was, for my sexuality, my sexual orientation my husband was put out there like information related to me, so it was into an effort to discredite
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that i'm this person working for the liberal side and that i must be a plant and it was all full of things they were saying about me but i can tell you that i've never turned over any information regarding this case that anyone related to that report or someone with the same last name thatat i have. >> i'm sorry that you had to go through that misery. also, how much do h you think hunter biden and his business associated received from the barissma board? >> i'm going to need to refer to my transcripts. >> is that a monthly transfer? >> i'm not sure.
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they paid to everyone involved 6.5 million. >> and when did he leave the barissma board? >> can you hold on one second? it's not in the confines of my transcripts of that would be something i have to turn over was the money received send directly to hunter biden in 2014? >> it was sent to an entity.
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also, rosemont, they didn't do anything, they didn't produce anything. skaneateles they didn't do anything. bob send three didn't do anything. >> i believe i referenced them and i knew of those but i didn't reference how i knew of them. >> and i guess i should direct that mr. shapley. my point is your familiar with the companies. but if you've been able to identify with they biden's here in the business of selling or what they did with these companies. >> again, i'm going to have to at the response why some of the
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payments were received we can turn over as a part of an additional testimony. >> they sold influence in my opinion, and i'm out of time, mr. chairman. i apologize. i would like to close i hope you get to the bottom of this and do something about it. that would be my wish for the committee. thank you so much. >> the chair recognizes mr. fry for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. zigler and mr. shapley were you able to pursue this investigation and areas that may implicate the president's involvement in his families businesses? >> we were hindered from following that line of investigative steps. in 2020 president biden, the candidate at the time, my son
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hasn't made any money in this. was the president telling the truth when he said his son hadn't made any money from china? he did earn money from china. >> in march of 2023 just a couple of months ago, the committee showed through bank records that hunter biden, the president's son james biden, they all received money originating from china funneled through robinson walker llc a company owned by rob walker who is a well-known biden associate when presented with this evidence the president said that's not true. is it true the president's family received money originating from china that was
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funneled through the robinson walker account? >> that is correct. as it pertains to the hunter biden investigation, mr. shapley, you sent on a hearing october, 2022. you testified to that is that correct? >> that's correct. later this year june 7, he publicly stated in a letter to the judiciary committee the following. the attorney general has stated i've been granted ultimate authority over this matter including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges. that statement is dramatically inconsistent with your recollection of a meeting that happened in october of 2022 is that correct? >> it corroborated documentation of that meeting and shows that is not accurate. >> how is that not accurate from your recollection of that meeting? >> during that meeting the united states attorney wasn't the deciding person.
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he said it right out and he further went in and of the departments tax division had to approve any charges to which we know that they hadn't approved anything yet. he further goes into says that the u.s. attorney had the client to allow the charges to be brought and requested a special counsel authority around the time and was told to file the process. that process would lead him to another u.s. attorney in the district in california. he and he told us in that meeting in october, 2022 if california declined it that he would have to request special authority again. >> in the subsequent letters that he produced, senator graham entered the judiciary committee and seems to corroborate that meeting or some of the facts from that meeting that maybe he didn't have the authority.
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so, yes. the second letter june 30th clearly shows he is saying he is full authority. he immediately goes inth and sas the authority is geographically limited. i don't understand how you can conclude any way from that statement in the june 30th letter that he has full authority. >> somethingsa useful early on. >> the. u.s. attorney cannot to gain a special counsel authority what options remain in bringing charges against hunter biden in california or the district of columbia? >> i guess it would have been the special attorney authority that i've seen recently referenced. but essentially when dc said no and we know that the dc said no, we were having conversations with our fbi counterparts how do we bring any special counsel in the situation. i think once we knew that there was going to be potential
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problems going to president biden appointees with moving the case forward, we were actively trying to figure out how the agents get that to happen and still to this day there's not anys special counsel assigned o this investigation. >> the approach was, and quickly here, the approach was to go to dc with mass matthew graves where he wasn't able to bring charges under the biden appointee. he went to the central district of california and wasn't able to bring charges. to both of you in conclusion, in relation to the u.s. attorney's inability to obtain the special counsel authorityec and bring te cases into california or dc. the united states attorney has been advised he has full authority to bring the cases and other districts that he needs to do that? >> i don't believe that's accurate. and the keyword is he has and i don't think that's accurate and
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it's refuted in the later letter by the u.s. attorney. >> in conclusion think you both for being b here. i know it's not been easy on you, but the american people in this committee appreciate the work thath you do, that you continue to do and the truth that you are shedding light on. >> the chair recognizes mr. edwards of north carolina for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chair. mr. ziglar, did you ever ask for access to hunter biden's laptop in your investigation? >> i do recall asking for access. >> and were you granted access? >> i don't believe that is in the confines of my transcript. >> did you look at the laptop? >> i can jump in there because i haddo a meeting where we had ths discussion and it was included in the house ways and means committee transcript and he asks
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multiple times if he had certain pieces of certain downloads from the devices but hede didn't have access to all of them and that is when leslie wolf said prosecutors decided not to give it tod you all. >> so, you effectively were denieded access. mr. shapley, in your ways and means committee hearing regarding efforts to obtain a search warrant for at the time the former vice president biden's guesthouse we talked about the storage unit earlier. let's talk about thel guest houe now where hunter biden had been staying and the assistant u.s. attorney's assessment to the ofe situation regarding the likelihood of such a warrant to being approved. there was more than enough probable cause for the physical search warrant, but the question was whether it was worth the squeeze and i find this she
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continued of the optics were a driving factor in the decision on whether to execute the search warrant. she said a lot of evidence in the investigation would be found in the guesthouse of the former vice president biden but said thatrm there's no way that we wl get it approved. as such a warrant being carried out would likely yieldd a positiveevidentiary area resulte investigation. >> my response would be the argument wouldn't be required. it would be the discussion where they are working with of the prosecutors and if we weren't on the same page then simply it would move on and the circumstances being achieved and knowing the evidence was there i
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don't know how she could have not allowed us to execute that search warrant. >> it goes further and even into the storage unit when you talk about access to something and you are relying on them to turn the records over to you versus you having access to the records not being potentially destroyed. there is a multitude of reasons why you want to execute a search warrant. i would just like to share some thoughts. this hearing is much like arguing with my wife. we start out on a topic and then we go in all kinds of directions. it seems like that is what i'm hearing at least from the other side today. i've heard over and over that president biden has not been implicated or proven for any wrongdoing here, and i acknowledge that for now, but i
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know that it is the intent of this oversight committee to continue to look at the evidence that we have here. at the issue at hand, however is that it is joe biden's son that is the target of this and seems to have had preferential treatment onon a number of leve. the investigators were denied access to the laptop. the biden family was tipped off with a warrant on the storage unit and the investigators were denied access to the guesthouse even knowing or suspecting that there was evidential work evidence in that. and that is what concerns the american people. that's the real two-tiered
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justice system that we see. it's not that joe biden has been proven to do anything wrong yet, it's that joe biden's son has receiveded preferential treatmet through the department of justice. i think that's a shame, and i appreciate these gentlemen being here to share their brief story with the american people. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes ms. langworthyh from new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i think you to these two very brave whistleblowers for what's been a very grueling hearing today. i'mm very grateful for openly testifying in front of everyone. this must be challenging despite providing accurate and credible testimony. but that goes directly to my point it's important to sum up a few things. i just want to ask a series of questions mr. shapely and
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mr. ziglar. it's true that you provided testimony to the house ways and means committee, correct? >> that's correct. >> how long did each of your interviews last? >> around seven hours. >> aor little more than six or seven hours. >> and when did those interviews occur? >> mine was late may, june 1. >> of this year? >> yes. >> were democratic staff present during your interviews and did they question you? >> yes, they did. democratic staff was present and chairman smith was present at my testimony. >> did you give your testimony knowing you could be criminally prosecuted if you lied to congress? >> yes, i did. >> how long has your testimony been public for the american people to read? >> the last three plust weeks probably.un >> around three weeks. >> and you've been testified by both republican and democratic members; correct?
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>> that is correct. >> given all that you've told us you've given over 15 combined hours of testimony and the ways and means hours of public testimony today and the facts have been public now for weeks and yet not one a single person has been able to contradict a single fact about your testimony. that's incredible because it's that impressive. and it speaks to your credibility and attention to detail investigators and now as whistleblowers. the attacks you here today aren't because of your testimony, they arere democratic talkingal points meant to protet the biden's just like the doj and the irs. your testimony speaks for itself and is powerful and i am so glad you are willing to voluntarily come in today and that's why, mr. chairman, i'm pleased that you held this hearing today to show yet another examplef of why they committee must continue the investigation into these matters and i will yield back. >> can i say something real
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quick regarding what he just -- one of the topics that was brought up over here regarding the 99 page memo and that there was discussion given, from what i understand there's also language that i've seen included in doj tax memos that references the need to charge, that you have to charge the felony essentially so i wouldlo ask congress when mr. weiss comes to testify here what did that at that point in time what did that memo say in august when he got it from his team what did that memo say and did approve felony and misdemeanor charges and then what happened to it after. that i think is crucial for you guys to understand. >> thank you. mr. shapley, do you have anything else you would like to add? >> i would like to add the department of justice division has a policy called a major town
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policy.ol and that basically mirrors what the special ziegler is saying. they teach it when they come to speak to agents and provide training to agents. and the policy is that they have to charge a felony. they can't just plead the feloy a way to get out of a potential trial. they can't just rely on charging a misdemeanor when there's felony charges on the table. and as we've said all along we've shown all along these prosecutors agreed with multiple felonies and none of them were charged and i have one more thing to add to that. we were always -- and i go back to last spring. david weiss is going to do the right thing. he's absolutely going to do the right thing. let's hold off. we are moving forward. we get to august and we get approval, recommended approval for the felony and misdemeanor charges so how do we end up where we are at today?
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>> i don't know. >> do you yield your last 30 seconds? >> i would be glad to. >> we were told of the same thing as well, so we share your disappointment. mr. ziegler you said there were four documents related to this matter relatedhe to the investigation? >> yes. >> would you provided those documents to the committee? >> yes i can provide those. >> like a normal process for obtaining the foreign documents, correspondence bank request so you can actually request the corresponding wires and that is the stuff that you can take in getting the foreign money transfers.s. >> would you also provide the full transcript? >> i will consult with my attorney and we will turn that over. >> the chair recognizes mr. burgess and from missouri. >> thank you mr. chair.
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good news, i'm the last one. >> next to last. i want to reiterate thank you for your bravery and for what you're doing. i think the american people should be fixed. they should be very angry about this. no one gets away with not paying hundreds of thousands of taxes and having it just blown over or turned into a misdemeanor charge especially when you have other criminal activity involved. and what's funny's this hearingo one denied the facts that he's guilty of this stuff, right? we all know he's guilty. the question is to what extent was his father aware. in a way it's like either he was aware of what's going on and he knew what his son was doing and he was involved or he wasn't or maybe he was completely
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clueless, absent-minded, whatever, unaware of what his family was doing. about one or the other is the truth. you can't come to any other conclusion them out and the question is, the problem is you were not able to determine or lift that box, the shrouding box and determinist the cat dead were not. was joe biden truly involved or not. so, mr. shapley or mr. ziegler, throughout the investigation, what investigative steps that would have involved joe biden would you have liked to pursue but you were unable to? >> i guess in my testimony i talked about the atmosphere when we are interviewing witnesses and talking about specific areas were being the campaign that we were prevented, there was rolling eyes at us. i mean,, it was a very harsh
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environment to be in. >> and youne were directly turnd down as well. >> there were situations to where i was notot able to ask certain questions. >> so you were not able to lift the box and find out what's underneath. >> there were certain -- in our investigation you want to follow the facts. that's part of our job as you follow the evidence and work the case. >> i know that you were tipped off about the storage unit before you were able to actually searchwe it. can you say what you were looking f for because you've but up to this point and now you know there's a strong indication that there's something there. >> i believe in the testimony, he moved his prior office, he being hunter removed his prior office into that storage unit. >> so this was computers? >> i don't know what would have
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been in there. >> besides tax crimes, or violations, what other violations were being investigated by the other agencies? >> so those are in the confines of our testimony what other charges are being -- were there other agencies working with you that were working on other? >> the fbi was working this case with us. >> but you can't speak to whether there was a foreign agentnt registration act? >> i cannot speak to that. what i can tell you is not only to be investigated tax crimes but we also investigate money laundering. so, any instances of money laundering we are able to investigatear those crimes. >> if i could add. in my transcript i do say that there is a fair issue at play during the investigation.
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>> so there wasas a fair issue a foreign agent registration act issue. and has that been pursued? >> we are not part of the investigation anymore and that is our whole point of special counsel. if there's offshoot investigations we are going to just rely on the same thing to happen. >> and you're investigations you hadga foreign bank accounts, foreign money wires. are you aware of the biden family owning a foreign bank accounts or do you have the ability to get access to those? >> anyi record i would have related to that i can turn over to the house ways and means committee and thenus they could vote to release that. >> i yield back the remainder of my time. >> were you all ever given accessal that alleged joe biden and hunter biden were part of a bribery scheme with ukraine? the reason i ask that is that
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allegation is consistent the way the oligarchs claim he gave biden's the bribe is consistent with what we've seen in romania and other countries where they set up all these companies and then they launder the money through the shale companies back down to the different the biden family members. so i wondered if you knew about that form before it became public. >> i can speak to that. in my original transcript i wouldn't have been able to say i knew anything about the 1023 but i provided a supplement after i saw open source information from theor attorney general billboard that said he saw this document and they sent it to delaware for further investigation and the team to the best of my knowledge never saw that document. >> so the team that was in charge of investigating the biden family protects crimes
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never received the fbi document that alleged joe biden was involved in a bribery scheme? >> for the irs investigators on the case the answer is no. >> is that awed? >> everybody knew you were investigating the biden's for at least tax evasion. >> generally speaking if there's any type of money coming in and there's a criminal tax investigation ongoing i don't seee how that information could be withheld from the investigator. >> and i can tell you and provide this in my testimony, but there's things thatis are contained on that document that could further corroborate other information that we might be having an issue corroborating because it could be regarding a foreign official soo if we have information regarding that in a document or a witness, we can further corroborate the leader evidence and like i said if that's something we have, we can turnrn it over to the house ways and means committee. >> thank you.
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the chair recognizes ms. luna from florida. >> mr. shapley, the of the fbi first learn of the processing a laptop that allegedly belonged bto hunter biden and contained evidence of potential crimes in october of 2019? >> did the fbi first learn of it? >> yes. >> i don't know if i speak of who first learned about it. >> the answer would be yes. thank you. and isn't it true that the fbi verified of the laptops authenticity in november of 2019 by matching the device number against hunter biden's icloud account? >> yeah i believe that's in my transcript. >> correct, transcript 12. the fbi analyzed the computer, there was a report that the team and alice's had taken place. >> can you point to just a page in my transcript? >> page 12. >> okay, page 12. >> were transcript 12. >> can. you repeat the question? >> is it true the fbi verified of the laptops authenticity in november of 2019 by matching the number against hunter biden's account?
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>> that's correct. >> and they performed in an analysis? >> yes. mr. ziegler, did you see thisis report? >> i don't think that i talked about that in my transcript. >> i am assuming that was probably frustrating being you are conducting an investigation. >> i can speak to this again because i did contemporaneously document a long meeting about the laptop and a special agent ziegler confirmed in the house ways and means committee testimony that he pointed out individual pieces of data that he was provided and then he asked why he hadn't seen other pieces of data and that's when the assistant said they were withholding information from the investigators. >> they never said what they werere s withholding. so i think that is like important. >> so it's my understanding the u.s. attorney said that you haven't seen it for a variety of
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reasons they kept it from the agents. so they kept thishi information from you it's important to know, correct? >> that's correct. isn't it relevant evidence for you and your team to review that this type of evidence would help you to conduct your investigation? >> in an everyday normal investigation, you wouldve wanto know, you're the investigator, we are the ones that are supposed to process the information and provide those in relevant information to the prosecutors, so we should know absolutely everything we are looking at because we might have to testify one day. >> so it's not a normal process to withhold information from agents? >> it's not a normal practice to withhold and not tell us what you're withholding. >> do you know who made the decision to withhold information from the agents? >> that i do not know. it's not in my transcript. >> mr. shapley, you and your team are learning about this information and being denied information at the same time coming up this is october 2020,
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correct? >> yes. >> at the same time do you remember hunter biden's laptop being discussed or suppressed by the media? >> i generally member remember the discussion of the laptop i think everybody heard about the laptop. i don't knowf if i knew about te media suppressing it. >> i think it's important to note the fbi learned about the laptop in 2019 and in fact authenticated the laptop in november of 2019, then takes possession of theen laptop, does an analysis, but the analysis and information are not provided to you guys. at the irs agents conducting the case mind you the folks running the tax fraud case. they are learning about all this information and yet at the same time being denied access to it meanwhile the media is actively working to suppress that and at the same time 51 national security officials sign off a letter saying that the fbi, of which the fbi has, authenticated saying that it's russian disinformation, this is my view,
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joe biden's son which it's important too note many of my colleagues try to make this about race and say that there's a two-tiered justice system for black and brown people and yet we are investigating according to their terms a man of white privilege who is being aided and abetted by this administration and being criminally covered for by the department of justice and yet somehow that isn't supposed to be a topic of discussion? i have 41 seconds left. would you likeay to say anything for the record so the american people really know's what's happening in this country? >> so there's two things. i believe that leslie wolf and u.s. attorney david weiss would say phenomenal things about my work and i know they have said that. they have said that we did a great job in this investigation. i want to make that clear to everyone that we are not disgruntled, we are not out here to get people. we are here for accountability and that we learn from this.
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that's the most important part of why we are here. >> you are doing great and i know you are not conservative, you are not republican but i will say this thank you for at least bringing faith back to some part of the irs so people understand just because your last name is biden doesn't mean that you are held above the law. >> the gentlelady yields back and that concludes our questions. again i want to thank you all forr being here. i'm going to yield to the much improved ranking member ms. aoc from new york for closing statements. >> i will take the goldstar. thank you chair. and i'd like to thank the witnesses here once again we acknowledge fully that this isn't easy and we respect your service, your publicub service here is respected and acknowledged and valued so thank you forlu your testimony. i think it is important for us to summarize much of what we heard andha assault today.
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and overall with this matter is about. a u.s. attorney handpicked by attorney general bar has for four years investigated together with a dozen agents and at least for prosecutors from his office and the tax division of the department of justice the son of president biden. hunter biden has been charged with felony and misdemeanor's, to misdemeanors and is pleading guilty to several crimes and submitting to sentencing by an appointed judge and that is a trump appointed j judge howevere are also seeing today an effort to find issue with of this prosecution, the existing prosecution. this is a person that has admitted to crime, and finding evidence of political interference. a very serious charge. so much of what we saw today honed in on a conversation, the testimony honed in on a conversation that one of today's
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witnesses was involved in in whichh mr. shapley heard mr. weiss to say that he was denied special counsel status. that account had been contradicted by the u.s. attorney who has reiterated several times that he has full authority to bring any charges in any district and had received assurances from the department of justice that if he needed special attorney status, not counsel, but rather attorney status to bring those charges, it would be granted. so we are left here with two possible options for the story that either mr. weiss who was appointed by president donald trump and interested by attorney general bar also serving under trump was lying to protect the biden administration or he respectfully disagreed with the charges that today's two
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witnesses wanted to bring as professionals in their professional opinion. disagreement over charges isn't uncommon. the tax counsel attorneys have disagreed in charges as we heard here today. 90% of the time, and in this particular case, reviewing attorneys at irs and the tax division raised issues with the proposed charges. the witnesses described how he expressed concerns about the charges in fact in some of the testimony we saw, he recognized with regard to at least one of the charges that he himself recommended he could, and i'm quoting from testimony see some issues with that that would preclude it from being charged. now i understand why the two witnesses who testified here today are disappointed after five years of investigation. i believe you all are honorable serving professionals, truly. and that mr. weiss agreed with
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this analysis of facts. there was absolutely frustration that to not have a seat at the table, that mr. weissss made his decision about how to charge in this case and he did charge and that was a decision that he if the u.s. attorney in charge of the case was in power to make. the question though i believe that is very important to addresser is why we are holding these hearings today despite what we have seen as deliberative lobbying for this hearing by a political candidate, donald trump. but we also saw today was the revival of certain conspiracy theories around ukraine first promoted by rudy giuliani during trump's first impeachment in 2019 and his reelection campaign. we did not bring that up. that was first brought up by the republican side and requires
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addressing here today.ui therm chairman started the hearg by asking the witnesses about barissma and other members of the committee again raised the specter of the debunked conspiracy theories. it's been debunked time and time again including by trump's own department of justice. with that being said, this is the problem with bringing these conspiracy theories into this committee. they beget more. it doesn't stop and today we've wgotten a new conspiracy theory one that requires us. to believe that david weiss, a trump appointed u.s. attorney trusted by trump appointed attorney general bar has somehow been complicit in abetting and concealing a deep state conspiracy to protect hunter biden h on behalf of the biden administration when they were selected by donald trump. this is a theory that has apparently been proven unsuccessful given that hunter
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biden is now criminally charged and facing sentencing by a trump appointed judge. today also marks a new low when pornographic images were paraded in this hearing room. last october you told "time" magazine you were not interested in the details of hunter biden's life. you were quoted as saying that is counter to a credible investigation, and i agree. sadly, that is a reflection of how low some individuals have been willing to go in their efforts to attack the president and his family and frankly i don't care who you are in this country, no one deserves that. it is abuse, it is abusive. if republicans truly want to get to the facts here and understand why mr. weiss decided to charge hunter biden the waywh he did, let's hear from mr. weiss. but until then, we must move on from these theories and focus on
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the issues that matter to the american people like ending the scourge of gun violence that is plaguing our country, confronting and combating the climate crisis and standing up for constitutional rights and going after the enormous amount of inequity and injustice in the tax system and with that i will yield back. >> the gentlelady yields back. before i close i want to ask for unanimous consentr to enter ino the recordnt of three letters fm mymy soul, the judiciary chair d the ways and means chair to the director of the secret service and the attorney general requesting information pertaining to the investigation. without objection so ordered. as well as entering into the of the two bank memorandums that we've already submitted to our friends in the mediafr that we are trying to teach financial literacy to,
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would like to enter those two memorandums into the record. again i want to thank you all so much for what you've done today. ii can't imagine what you've ben through. i apologize for what you have been through. this is what this committee is all about. the mission for the house oversightit committee is to identify and route out this mismanagement and to do that we depend on whistleblowers. whistleblowers coming forward and telling their story and that is what you all have done. to think that there are people on the committee that have tried to question your credibility is a pretty low mark for the history of the house oversight committee so again, thank you. what we learned today is go back six months from when this investigation started. when we became of the majority. the laptop according to many of my colleagues on the other side
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of the aislef and many of our friends in the media was russian disinformation. what we now know is the laptop contained many of the financial records, the financial documents, the communications between both the president as well as other members of his family with many of these associates, with many of these foreign nationals. so there is a clear path of evidence. i would say that investigating the biden family influences like investigating a bleeding bear through a snowstorm. there's so much evidence laying around. we've confirmed today what we've been saying in this committee for several months, that the biden's took in over $10 million, 17.3 million to be exact, from adversaries. we have no earthly idea what they did to receive that money. i think that's concerning to every american.
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we have evidence that hunter biden spoke to his father about his business and that hunter used his father's name to shakedown the chinese communist party. we saw that in the whatsapp message that you will really stand we've seen that in other e-mails and correspondence from the laptop. we learned unfortunately that these whistleblowers have been retaliateds against at the irs and intimidated by the biden shady legal team and their lapdogs in the press. and for that, i apologize and i hope that doesn't deter other brave and credible whistleblowers from comingds forward. all roads lead to joe biden, the guy who was set to go into business with the chinese communist party linked entity that wired money to the biden family as well as was mentioned earlier by one of my colleagues
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on the other side of the aisle. he was even acidic to share office space according to an e-mail with this chinese communist party backed entity. and that's a concern. that should be a concern to every american whether you are republican or democrat, whether you are rural or urban, one thing we can agree on is that americans detest public corruption. that's why we have anna irs and a criminal division. that's why we have an oversight committee and an ethics committee. that's why we are supposed to have a judicial system in america that provides equal justice for all. but we have to work together ana to be honest and respect our checks andch balances. and what we learned today, as troubling as anything, is that your investigation that you spend years of your life on, that we spent six months
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investigating where you see a pattern of suspicious activity where money flows from shady foreign companies and from shady foreign nationals through the shale companies that are then laundered and that's according to six different banks and the suspicious activity reports laundered down in incremental payments to the biden family for things that we have no idea what they did to receive the money and as part of that year's long investigation, the fbi is sitting on it the whole time you document that alleges joe biden and hunter biden took a 5 million-dollar bribe from the ukrainian oligarch where there are records that show that the biden's were receiving money from thisth entity. there was already evidence their to show that. now i don't know whether that allegation is true or not. i know the fbi never investigated it and what we know
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from today, they never communicated with of the irs criminal division that spent years investigating this. so there's two things that's happening here with the oversightre committee with respt to the president of the united states. there's the investigation of the biden corruption and the investigation of the cover-up. again i want to thank you all for the work that you've done overov the years. we appreciate that. of the american people appreciate that, the taxpayers appreciate that and we look forward to receiving the additional information through the ways and means committee through the proper process as we continue our investigation. with that, and without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit materials and additional written questionsma for the witnesses which will be forwarded to the witnesses for their response. if there is no further business, without objection the committee
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