Fox News’ Juan Williams thinks the IRS whistleblower allegations against President Joe Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, are equivalent to the Steele dossier in their credibility.
As previously reported, Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss offered a sweetheart plea agreement to Hunter this week.
But after news of the deal emerged, two IRS whistleblowers who’d reportedly worked on the case claimed to Republicans that Weiss’ investigation was hindered by higher-up figures in the Department of Justice.
As proof, they provided a screenshot of a seemingly highly incriminating WhatsApp message to a Chinese official that was sent by Hunter in 2017.
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand. And now means tonight,” the message reads.
“I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father,” it continues.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 23, 2023
This seems like a pretty big bombshell, right? After all, from the sounds of it, current President Joe Biden was sitting next to Hunter as he threatened the Chinese official in the aforementioned WhatsApp text message.
Not according to Williams. Speaking this Friday on Fox News’ “Special Report,” he argued that Republicans are making a mistake by automatically believing the whistleblower allegations.
“What we have this week was a decision by a Trump-appointed prosecutor who had full authority over the case, by his own account, to bring two misdemeanor charges basically against Hunter Biden. That was it,” he said.
“All these other things that we’re hearing about, an app message? We don’t know if the president was involved and he wasn’t even president or vice president at the time. This was from 2017,” he added.
“Last week, Senator Grassley said he had a tape of somebody. This week you have an app message. I don’t know what’s coming next, but it looks like this is the Republican version of the Steele dossier with a bunch of rumors and innuendo and no hard evidence. No proof. Nothing,” he continued.
Listen:
Network contributor Mark Thiessen wasn’t impressed by this argument.
“Joe Biden said over and over and over, ‘I never discussed my son’s business dealings with him.’ And now you have a WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden. This is not just the whistleblower saying this. They have the screenshot of the actual message,” he noted.
Note that even The New York Times, a far-left outlet, has acknowledged this point: “Taken at face value, the [WhatsApp] message would undercut President Biden’s longstanding claims that he had nothing to do with his son’s international business deals,” the paper reported Friday.
But Williams promptly dismissed this argument as well.
“Mark, obviously this was in 2017. I repeat myself. And Joe Biden was not an official in any capacity as vice president or president,” he said.
This is admittedly true. Hunter reportedly sent the WhatsApp message on July 30th, 2017, six months after his father had stepped down as vice president.
However, critics say this doesn’t make any difference.
“Hunter Biden and his father are as corrupt as hell! Doesn’t matter if joe was in office in 2017 or not his prior position was used for lining pockets and influencing others,” one critic tweeted.
See more criticism below:
.@TheJuanWilliams lying his ass off.
There is a preponderance of evidence that Hunter Biden was a beneficiary of corrupt financial dealings with foreign governments.
What is Juan bringing to the table? @foxnews
— Medium Rare (@mediumsays) June 23, 2023
Youre either the most partisan person on planet or dumbest.
You cannot LIE about DRUG USAGE on a GUN APPLICATION.
ITS WHAT HUNTER BIDEN DID AND HE SHOULD BE SERVING 10 YRS IN PRISON FOR IT!!
Americans have HAD IT WITH 2 TIERED JUSTICE DEPT! pic.twitter.com/TQYz0kSHZd
— SamTurner (@samturner7764) June 20, 2023
@TheJuanWilliams
I normally respect your efforts to defend in tough situation, but “no evidence?
Text messages. Emails. LOTS of pictures w/ Joe, Hunter and “partners”. Testimony UNDER OATH from former partners. Now at least 2 whistle blowers.
Wake up, Juan. Biden is corrupt!— AB (@UTWTXAAB) June 23, 2023
Dovetailing back to the IRS whistleblowers, one of them, Gary Shapley, testified this week.
“Mr. Shapley suggested that I.R.S. investigators believed there were grounds to charge Mr. Biden with more serious crimes than he ultimately agreed to plead guilty to as part of his deal with the Justice Department,” according to the Times.
“Mr. Shapley told the committee that he was ‘alleging, with evidence, that D.O.J. provided preferential treatment, slow-walked the investigation, did nothing to avoid obvious conflicts of interest in this investigation,'” the left-wing paper reported.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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