An FBI attorney warned an agent-turned-whistleblower who investigated Hunter Biden not to respond to certain questions from the GOP-run House Oversight Committee, which is looking into claims the bureau and the Department of Justice deliberately undermined their own case against the president’s son.
FBI general counsel Jason Jones sent the letter Sunday to the unnamed agent, just hours before the agent was expected to testify. The committee is looking into claims that the investigation that led to what some say was a lenient plea deal being offered to Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges was fixed.
“Specifically, the Committee has stated an interest in what the Committee has described to you as certain events that took place in December 2020 as part of this investigation,” Jones wrote, per the New York Post. “Department officials, including those who have left the Department, are obligated to protect non-public information they learned in the course of their work. Such information could be subject to various privileges, including law enforcement, deliberative process, attorney work product, and attorney-client privileges, and privacy interests.”
After noting that “obligations under the law and Department policy” barred the agent from disclosing “classified information, sources and methods,” protected grand jury information, protected taxpayer information, and deliberative processes underlying investigative and prosecutorial decisions, Jones added a warning.
“The Department expects that you will decline to respond to questions seeking non-public information likely covered by one or more components of executive privilege or other significant confidentiality interests, in particular information about deliberations or ongoing investigative activity in law enforcement matters,” he wrote.
The agent should defer to the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, the letter instructed. That would give the DOJ a chance to balance the Committee’s legitimate need for information “while protecting Executive Branch confidentiality interests,” he wrote.
TheHouse Oversight Committee revealed on Monday that an FBI special agent had confirmed allegations by two IRS whistleblowers that the Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team were tipped off in December 2020 in advance of the IRS and FBI criminal investigators’ interview with Hunter Biden.
“As a result of the change in plans, IRS and FBI criminal investigators never got to interview Hunter Biden as part of the investigation,” the committee said in a statement. “The former FBI supervisory special agent told committee investigators he had never been told to wait outside to be contacted by the subject of an investigation. The agent’s testimony is sickening and reveals the lengths to which the DOJ is willing to go to cover up for the Bidens.”
🚨BREAKING🚨
Today, our committee staff conducted a transcribed interview with a former FBI supervisory special agent assigned to the FBI’s Wilmington office and the Biden criminal investigation.
The agent CONFIRMED key portions of the IRS whistleblowers’ testimony, including…
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 17, 2023
The letter from Jones was routine, an FBI spokesperson told The New York Post.
“These are called authorization letters and are standard practice,” the spokesperson said.
But a different source called the letter “more uncommon,” citing the fact that it was sent at the last minute.