The 2020 transition team of then-President Elect Joe Biden was informed in advance of the FBI planning an interview of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, according to a whistleblower—the former FBI supervisor responsible for opening the bureau’s investigation into Mr. Biden.
The early tip-off was previously revealed by former IRS investigator-turned-whistleblower Gary Shapley, who oversaw the investigation on the IRS side. The agencies joined their probes in April 2020, said the FBI whistleblower, who remains anonymous.
He said he opened the investigation into Mr. Biden in 2019 and around 2019–2020, he became the most senior supervisor in the FBI Wilmington Field Office
“The initial plan was to make approaches of multiple witnesses, to include subject Hunter Biden, on December 8th,” the whistleblower said, according to the transcript.
At that time, Mr. Biden was already under Secret Service protection and so the agents decided the Secret Service needed to be notified to prevent any confusion or misunderstanding.
“The initial plan was to have the local field office of the Secret Service be notified the morning of [Dec. 8, 2020,] to diminish opportunities for anybody else to be notified,” the whistleblower said.
“I was working with my management on that, as well as ... our FBI headquarters.”
On the evening of Dec. 7, he remembers there was a conference call with his superiors during which he was informed that FBI headquarters informed not just the local Secret Service office, but also the Secret Service Headquarters and another party.
Upon learning of Mr. Shapley’s testimony, he said, he remembered who the other party was—the “transition,” which he understood to be the Biden transition team.
“I remember that’s why I was upset that evening, that somebody beyond Secret Service was notified,” he said.
He said he understood why FBI headquarters felt the need to inform the Secret Service headquarters, but not the transition team.
“I felt it was people that did not need to know about our intent,” he said.
Her never learned who decided on the tip off, but it was clear it wasn’t his immediate supervisor, he said.
On the morning of Dec. 8, 2020, as the interview time approached, the whistleblower received more bad news.
“I was notified by my assistant special agent in charge that we would not even be allowed to approach the house; that the plan, as told to us, was that my information would be given to the Secret Service, to whom I don’t know exactly, and, you know, my name, my contact, you know, my cell phone, for example, with the notification that we would like to talk to Hunter Biden; and that I was not to go near the house and to stand by,” he said.
The agents waited one or two blocks from the house for somebody to get back to them, but nobody did and so they moved on to the next interview they had planned for the day.
“It was frustrating, and I know [Mr. Shapley] was very frustrated,” he said.
Later that day, he received a call from Mr. Biden’s lawyer.
“He identified himself as having my contact information and that he represented Hunter Biden and would accept all further communications through him,” he said.
In the end, the agents never managed to interview Mr. Biden, the whistleblower said.
Yet on July 26, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika criticized the plea deal as “atypical” and “unprecedented.”
The deal fell through and Mr. Biden pleaded not guilty instead.
On Aug. 11, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr. Weiss as special counsel to continue the investigation.
“David Weiss can’t be trusted, and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption,” said Russell Dye, spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“Weiss has already signed off on a sweetheart plea deal that was so awful and unfair that a federal judge rejected it.”
The GOP investigation, the lawmakers said, has uncovered tens of millions of dollars in payments from foreigners through dozens of companies to multiple members of the Biden family. The payments don’t appear to be connected to any substantive business, they said.
