CIA, House Republicans at Odds over Whistleblower Claim Involving Hunter Biden-Patron Kevin Morris

The CIA is disputing a whistleblower allegation raised by House Republicans accusing the agency of obstructing DOJ and IRS investigators from interviewing Hunter Biden’s patron Kevin Morris.

House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) and Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio.) wrote a letter to the CIA last month disclosing allegations from a whistleblower who claims the CIA blocked DOJ and IRS investigators from interviewing Kevin Morris during the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes.

CIA director of congressional affairs James Catella wrote a letter to House Republicans claiming the allegations are untrue, CNN first reported.

“Without confirming or denying the existence of any associations or communications, CIA did not prevent or seek to prevent IRS or DOJ from conducting any such interview. The allegation is false,” he said.

House Republicans dispute the CIA’s refutation of the whistleblower allegation brought forward as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

“The allegation is not false,” Judiciary Committee spokesman Russell Dye told National Review.

The impeachment inquiry is primarily focused on the Biden family’s foreign business dealings, and has extended to include the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden and his other sources of income.

Kevin Morris testified for the impeachment inquiry in January about his financial and personal relationship with Hunter Biden. He said he turned over documents to the grand jury for the criminal investigation.

Morris and Hunter Biden met in late 2019 at a Joe Biden campaign fundraiser and entered a financial relationship in January 2020, Morris told lawmakers. The pair bonded over their mutual struggle with drug addiction and became close friends.

Overall, Morris has provided $6.5 million of financial assistance to Hunter Biden from October 2021 to December 2023, according to a letter his attorney wrote to the Oversight Committee after his testimony. Morris’s financial support helped Hunter Biden pay roughly $2 million of his overdue taxes and numerous personal expenses. The payments from Morris to Biden have come in the form of loans and the loans are due starting in 2025.

Morris appears to be the “personal friend” listed in Hunter Biden’s federal tax indictment for giving $1.2 million of financial support from January to October 2020. Hunter Biden is facing nine federal tax charges related to his alleged failure to pay over $1 million of taxes during the 2016-19 tax years. U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi denied on Monday Hunter Biden’s motions to have the tax charges dismissed.

The tax investigation into Hunter Biden became the subject of heightened congressional scrutiny last year when IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler came forward with allegations the DOJ gave Hunter Biden special treatment by slow-walking and obstructing investigative steps prior to Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s appointment as special counsel.

The whistleblowers first testified behind closed doors to the House Ways and Means Committee and each gave a detailed account of what they believed to be misconduct throughout the Hunter Biden probe. Both IRS agents testified publicly in July and provided a trove of supplemental documents to the Ways and Means Committee last fall. The alleged obstruction by the CIA is similar to allegations made by the IRS whistleblowers.

One allegation brought forward by Shapley was the FBI’s decision to tip off the Secret Service and Biden transition team about plans to interview Hunter Biden, resulting in the interview falling through. A retired former FBI agent testified last July and corroborated Shapley’s allegation.

Ziegler described how then-Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf shut down plans to interview Hunter Biden’s children, despite such interviews being standard operating procedure. Wolf also instructed an FBI agent to remove Joe Biden from a search warrant related to the Foreign Agents Registration Act element of the criminal probe, according to emails and draft copy of the warrant turned over last fall. Similarly, Shapley wrote a memo in May 2021 where he suggested Wolf shut down the campaign finance aspect of the Hunter Biden investigation.

The IRS whistleblowers testified again in December and Shapley said he briefly had the chance to interview Morris before he called for his attorney. An additional exhibit turned over by Ziegler in December showed Morris warned Hunter Biden’s accountant in February 2020 of the political “risk” surrounding Biden’s tax returns. Morris attributed the statement to former president Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

House Republicans have expressed concerns over potential retaliation against the IRS whistleblowers by the DOJ and IRS. Shapley’s attorneys at whistleblower protection group Empower Oversight have accused the DOJ of undermining whistleblower protections and enabling retaliation against the IRS agents.