Special counsel's report on Hunter Biden leaves several unanswered questions for Congress, public

The Hunter Biden saga appeared to close unceremoniously on Monday when the special counsel prosecuting the first son submitted his final report in the wake of a presidential pardon, but the brief report failed to answer several important remaining questions. 

In the report, Special Counsel David Weiss blasted President Joe Biden over accusations that the first son's criminal cases were politically motivated and confirmed that Hunter Biden capitalized on his family name to secure lucrative deals, a key contention of the House Republican impeachment inquiry which wrapped up last year. 

Yet Weiss failed to address several issues raised by Republican lawmakers, some of which the special counsel promised he would answer in his final report. 

“Again, I'm not at liberty to discuss the particulars of the investigation or what could impact the litigation,” Weiss said. 

“However, look, there will come a time at the preparation and submission of the report when I expect I would address matters such as that,” he continued. 

You can read the report below:

The unanswered questions include: 

• Why the statute of limitations of alleged tax violations by Hunter Biden in 2014 and 2015 were allowed to expire?
• Did Weiss investigate whether Hunter Biden violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act by illegally lobbying?
• Did Weiss address why investigators were blocked from pursuing evidence related to Joe Biden?
• Did Weiss investigate whether assistance from Biden lawyer Kevin Morris violated campaign violations?
• Did the government improperly retaliate against the IRS whistleblowers who alleged improper political interference in the investigation? 

Further questioning

But Weiss’s final report did not include answers, or further clarification, on any of these issues important to lawmakers. This may spur Congress to bring Weiss back for further questioning to get to the bottom of what his team left unaddressed. 

“Special Counsel David Weiss just released an incomplete 27-page report because President Joe Biden issued his son an unprecedented pardon. This sweeping pardon prevents the Special Counsel from holding Hunter Biden accountable for the international influence peddling racket only made possible by Joe Biden,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement after the release of the report. 

Weiss defended his refusal to answer certain questions from lawmakers at his November 2023 deposition, citing concerns about compromising his own ongoing investigation. 

“While I am trying to provide answers, the last thing I want to do is to say or suggest anything that’s going to be used against the government in our ongoing litigation or in any investigation,” Weiss said in his interview, according to a transcript reviewed by Just the News. 

Weiss came under pressure from House Republicans during the impeachment probe into President Joe Biden, especially after the IRS whistleblowers brought forward concerns that the probe into his son, Hunter Biden, faced interference from officials to block evidence, redirect the investigation, and limit severity of the charges. 

Jason Foster, chair of Empower Oversight, which represents the IRS whistleblowers, said that the final report was supposed to be a moment of transparency about the concerns that his clients brought to House Republicans about political interference in Weiss’s probe. 

“You know, he said, well, you know, you'll get your answers to that later when I write my final report, and then we get this final report, and it's just…such a lightweight move to put this thing out, which I can't tell any non-public information that's that's released from the report,” Foster said on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast. “ I think all of it is just a rehash of what everybody already knew. And it's only you know, it's only 27 pages long.” 

“But I mean, it's, it's laughable. It's honestly laughable,” he added. 

Here are the main questions left unanswered by Weiss’s report: 

The 2014 and 2015 Burisma income? 

According to testimony from whistleblower Gary Shapley, federal investigators assembled a body of evidence sufficient to charge Hunter Biden with several tax felonies beginning in 2014 when the first son failed to pay $2.2 million in taxes on income. 

Both Shapley and his fellow whistleblower, Joseph Ziegler, testified that the $1 million annual payments the younger Biden received from then controversial Ukrainian energy company were part of these alleged tax avoidance scheme.

But, Weiss let the statute of limitations expire for any possible tax charges in these years after allegedly facing political resistance from the Biden Justice Department and the Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney’s office. 

When Weiss was asked by investigators about the details surrounding the statute of limitations on those important tax years, he declined and stressed that he would expect to be able to provide answers in his final report. 

Illegal lobbying looked into 

The IRS whistleblowers confirmed that federal investigators were looking at Hunter Biden for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the law that regulates lobbying on behalf of foreign clients. 

Evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop shows that he met with State Department officials at the time when Burisma was under the most pressure from a Ukrainian government investigation led by Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, raising questions about whether or not Hunter Biden’s activities fell under the scope of the act, Just the News previously reported. 

Other Burisma representatives in Washington, Blue Star Strategies and the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, were required to belatedly register as foreign agents for their public relations work and representation of the Ukrainian firm. 

Weiss’s indictment of Hunter Biden also indicated that his team was continuing to explore FARA charges against the first son, saying the investigation remains “ongoing.” 

However, after Joe Biden awarded his son a sweeping pardon for the years under scrutiny, Weiss concluded in his final report that it would be inappropriate to address his findings on any further charges due to the act of clemency. 

Political interference and Joe Biden’s role?  

IRS whistleblower Shapley told Congress that there was widespread political interference in the Hunter Biden probe, including the blockage of two search warrants and more extensive criminal charge. He also confirmed that evidence showed President Joe Biden, then the vice president, and despite Biden's repeated denials, met with at least some of his son’s business associates. 

For example, Shapley testified that federal prosecutors twice blocked search warrants seeking evidence from Hunter Biden, including one for a storage locker with corporate documents and another for Joe Biden's Delaware residence where Hunter Biden was living, even though agents had met the standards for probable cause, Just the News previously reported. 

The impeachment probe from House Republicans also confirmed that Joe Biden met with his son Hunter’s business associates on several occasions both abroad and in the United States, raising questions about the elder Biden’s role in what the committees leading the probe described as an “influence peddling scheme.” 

But, Weiss’ report does not address either of these open questions. 

Campaign finance violation risk 

As the 2020 presidential election fast approached, Hollywood lawyer Kevin Morris lent millions of dollars to Hunter Biden to cover his tax debts and expenses. The more than $6 million in financial assistance, which included expenses like rent, travel, and child support, was first reported by Just the News. 

A memo handed over to Congress by the IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler showed that Morris, who is also a Democrat donor, warned the tax issues posed "considerable risk personally and politically" for the future first family. 

Ziegler told the committee that he got the impression the Biden campaign was behind Morris’ assistance to Hunter Biden, raising concerns of campaign finance violations, attorney Tristan Leavitt told the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show after Ziegler turned over the documents. Leavitt is president of the Empower Oversight center that represents the IRS whistleblowers.

Whistleblower relations

On Tuesday, the IRS whistleblowers blasted Weiss for leaving too many questions unanswered after they risked their careers to call attention to the political interference in the case. 

"The Weiss report leaves too many important questions unanswered, and the American people deserve answers,” the whistleblowers said in a statement shared with Just the News. “DOJ, FBI, and IRS leadership should have done the right thing from the beginning. We should not have had to risk our careers to end the preferential treatment being given to the President’s son.” 

The whistleblowers say they have faced retaliation from IRS and federal leadership over their decision to approach Congress and make protected disclosures about their concerns. 

“Years later, we are still facing whistleblower retaliation. Why are we the only ones suffering any consequences? It’s time for a serious investigation, and it’s time for accountability,” they also said.

For example, Shapley who served as a Supervisory Special Agent out of the Chicago IRS office, received an ultimatum in October from agency leadership to accept a forced transfer, a demotion or leave the agency, Just the News reported. 

Weiss appeared to suggest in a court filing last April that the whistleblowers were the subject of an ongoing investigation. Though the investigation did not exist, the special counsel did not issue a correction to stem the media speculation that damaged Shapley and Ziegler's reputation, House Republicans said in a letter to the Justice Department office that oversees special counsels.