Federal prosecutor who allegedly interfered in Hunter Biden probe leaves Justice Department
The Post learned that a federal prosecutor, who was allegedly involved in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden for the protection of President Biden as well as his son, recently left the Justice Department.
Lesley Wolf, former Delaware assistant US Attorney, announced her quiet departure as she gave a deposition to the House Judiciary Committee Thursday morning. This was after the House voted on Wednesday night to authorize an impeachment investigation into Joe Biden for his role in the foreign business dealings of his son and his brother.
Wolf’s prominent role in the alleged coverup of criminal tax fraud and the foreign lobbying investigation forms a major part of the impeachment probe. Whistleblowers claim that she discouraged witnesses from asking questions about “the dad” or “the big guy”, referring to Joe Biden. She claimed that there was “no criminality in that line of questioning.”
Gary Shapley, Joseph Ziegler and two IRS agents who were involved in the criminal investigation testified before House committees about Wolf’s actions. They claimed that Wolf had alerted Hunter Biden’s lawyers of investigative steps, and prohibited inquiries into Joe Biden, even when communication mentioned him.
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According to an email from the Ways & Means Committee, Wolf allegedly told FBI agents to remove references to Joe Biden in August 2020. He wrote, “Someone needs to redraft (the affidavit ]…. There shouldn’t be anything about Political Figure 1 here.”
Ziegler told Fox News in an interview on Thursday that “that email is very important” because it shows the concern for following leads in investigative work which could lead to Joe Biden.
The IRS veteran and self-identified Democrat who worked on the case over five years said, “The FBI agents who drafted the affidavit believed that they had enough evidence — probable reason — to support including the Political Figure 1 in this affidavit.”
This affidavit was supported by a number of evidences, including that Political Figure 1 was involved. This has a cascade effect on the investigation, because the emails we’re looking for may not be received by the team.”
Ziegler testified in a previous congressional hearing that investigators discovered in December 2020 Wolf had “reached out” to Hunter Biden’s defense counsel to inform them of the plans to search an Northern Virginia storage unit containing business records. “Once again, we have been able to circumvent our chances to prevent evidence from being destroyed, manipulated, or hidden,” Ziegler stated in a prior congressional testimony.
Shapley, the three-year supervisor of the Hunter Biden criminal case, said investigators were also barred from searching for supporting evidence in a guesthouse at Joe Biden’s Wilmington, Del. home, where Hunter frequently stayed.
Shapley stated that Wolf told him on September 3, 2020 there was “more than enough probable reason for a physical search warrant, but it was a question of whether the squeeze was worth the juice.”
Wolf is also said to have objected, during a December 3, 2020 meeting, when Rob Walker, a family member of the Bidens, was asked about President Trump.
He said, “Wolf interrupted and said that she didn’t want to talk about the big guy. She also said that she didn’t want to speak about “dad”.
She responded that there was no criminality in this line of questioning. Shapley said that the FBI was also upset.
The whistleblowers claimed that Weiss’ office gave Hunter Biden’s legal team advanced knowledge of an interview attempt planned for late 2020. This scuttled a planned approach. They also said that prosecutors did not inform them of a tip from a paid FBI agent that Joe and Hunter Biden had received $10 million worth of bribes. Burisma paid Hunter $1 million up front to serve on their board, beginning in 2014, when his dad was the vice-president of US policy towards the country
Shapley, Ziegler and Hunter also claimed they were denied access to geolocation data from a cellphone that would have proven Joe Biden’s presence with his son when Hunter sent an threatening text to a Chinese businessman with ties to the Chinese government saying “I am here with my dad” and threatening retribution.
CEFC China Energy sent $5.1 million to Hunter’s and James Biden’s accounts within 10 days after that message. This was after Biden had left his office as vice-president less than two months earlier. In a May 2017 email, Joe Biden was penciled in as the “big man” for a 10% share.
Wolf left the office of US Attorney David Weiss in recent weeks, months after being appointed a special prosecutor in the Hunter Biden Case. However, it is unclear exactly when or on what terms he did so.
Fox News reported her departure on Thursday. A source confirmed it to The Post.
Requests for comments from the Weiss office were not immediately responded to.
According to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R, Ohio), Wolf “deviated” from standard investigative procedure in the criminal inquiry.
Jordan issued a subpoena last month to summon Wolf to a transcribed conversation after the Justice Department refused requests for her voluntary testimony.
Jordan, speaking on Fox News Thursday, said: “When you enter Burisma you reach the White House.”
IRS tax investigators report that Jack Morgan and Mark Daly of the DOJ Tax Division, who resisted charges against Hunter Biden at a meeting in June 2022, are also officials who have refused to be interviewed.
Jordan wrote to Wolf in a letter dated Nov. 21, “Given the critical role you played as you investigated Hunter Biden, it is your unique position to shed light on the question of whether President Biden had any involvement in the Department’s investigations and whether he tried, in any manner, to directly or indirectly obstruct that investigation or ours.”
The Judiciary Chairman said that the prosecutor was “first-hand aware” of Weiss’ case as he had attended “a significant majority, if you will, of meetings” held in his office during the investigation.
Jordan claimed that Wolf “obstructed” one of the meetings, which was a briefing given to Weiss by former Pittsburgh US Attorney Scott Brady about an FBI informant’s file that alleged Joe Biden and Hunter took a $10,000,000 bribe from Burisma Holdings.
The whistleblowers said that Wolf also requested the removal of references to Biden who was then the Democratic presidential candidate since he fell outside the scope of their investigation.
Shapley made notes in a meeting on Jan. 12, 2022 that he revealed to GOP legislators later, revealing Wolf’s involvement.
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