The federal investigation into Hunter Biden arose out of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) inquiry into a foreign pornography website, a government whistleblower claims.
Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisory special agent who was attached to the case revolving around President Joe Biden‘s adult son, spoke to lawmakers about the genesis of the probe during a May 26 interview. The transcript was released by the GOP-led House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.
“The investigation into Hunter Biden, code name Sportsman, was first opened in November 2018 as an offshoot of an investigation the IRS was conducting into a foreign-based amateur online pornography platform,” Shapley said.
The pornography website under investigation was not identified in the transcript.
Shapley went on to talk about the laptop found to have a trove of data regarding Biden’s business dealings and personal life — including sexually explicit images.
“In October 2019, the FBI became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime,” Shapley said. “The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID.”
“When the FBI took possession of the device in December 2019, they notified the IRS that it likely contained evidence of tax crimes,” Shapley said. “Thus, Special Agent drafted an affidavit for a Title 26 search warrant, which a magistrate judge approved that month.”
Shapley, who says he became the supervisor of the case in 2020, came forward publicly last month to claim that the Hunter Biden investigation was being mishandled, possibly for political reasons. After his story went public, Shapley claimed his entire team had been abruptly removed from the case at the behest of the Department of Justice.
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U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is leading the inquiry, announced on Tuesday that Biden, 53, agreed to plead guilty to the pair of tax charges and enter a pretrial diversion agreement for the gun violation at a proceeding to be scheduled by a U.S. district court judge.
Although Biden’s attorney Chris Clark said the agreement indicated that the years-long federal inquiry into his client had been “resolved,” Weiss said the investigation “is ongoing.”
The newly revealed testimony from Shapely and another IRS whistleblower brought to light a number of allegations, including claims that Weiss sought to file other charges last year but was denied.