Let’s talk whistleblowers

[Satchel 6908]

Here’s a hot off the press report on one who claimed to have proof of Joe and Hunter Biden corruption:

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/republicans-key-whistleblower-indicted-for-working-to-advance-the-interests-of-china/

The whistleblower Republicans said would expose the alleged corruption of President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden has been indicted on eight counts.

Gal Luft, who is the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security think tank in Washington, D.C., was indicted in the U.S. Southern District of New York. The indictment was unsealed on Monday.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement:

 

As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes. He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement. As the charges unsealed today reflect, our Office will continue to work vigorously with our law enforcement partners to detect and hold accountable those who surreptitiously attempt to perpetrate malign foreign influence campaigns here in the United States.

Luft was initially arrested in Cyprus in February before skipping bail and going on the lam. He remains a fugitive.

Congressional Republicans who said they spoke with Luft about the business dealings of the Biden family told members of the press that he had gone “missing.”

[YGIFS 19449]

He's based in Israel running arms between China and Iran.  But that now qualifies to Jim Jordan as just having gone "Missing"?  I guess serial shower rape of young men at Ohio State now qualifies as just "Greco-Roman Loofa"???  

As Jerry Seinfeld once said, GOP Congress looks at Gal Luft, "Yes, I was very wise to hitch my wagon to that star."  

The MacGuffin now has its own MacGuffin.  Back half of this off-election year is going to be a long series of shit like this.  Buckle up.  The problem with grooming your base to keep a short attention span is sooner or later, you have to spoon-feed them something or they lose interest.  Whistleblowers don't receive protection unless they give something up.  When there's nothing to give up, the attention spans lapse, and your handlers come for you to finally give up answers............and you're involved with two of their worst enemies.......not a hot look MAGA folks.  

Also, thoughts and prayers to the Luft family on Gal's upcoming accident.  

Edited July 11, 2023 by YGIFS

[Biff Tannen 45499]

lulz

[AnTiM 1659]

Had to do a search on this character's name because I could hardly believe the story on him I saw this morning that is quoted in the first post of this thread.  Nice catch, Satchel.

[Storm the Field 5273]

GOP Whistleblowers having a bang-up week so far.

 

[Satchel 6908]

Matt Gaetz tried to use the findings of this whistleblower as a gotcha during his grilling of the FBI director earlier this week. Not surprisingly, it’s all made up. The MAGAs got nothing:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/hunter-biden-attorney-says-whatsapp-message-cited-republicans-fake-rcna92065

An attorney for Hunter Biden says purported screenshots of a text message from Hunter Biden to a potential Chinese business partner where he refers to Joe Biden — a message that has been the subject of intense scrutiny following statements made by an IRS whistleblower — are “not real and contain myriad of issues.”

Abbe Lowell, who is one of Hunter Biden’s attorneys, made the statement in a letter to Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has interviewed the whistleblowers. The letter was obtained by NBC News. 

 

IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley told the committee under oath that, as an investigator for the IRS, he obtained messages Hunter Biden sent on the WhatsApp platform, including one in 2017 that he read demanding payment from a Chinese businessman named Henry Zhao. 

In the message, Shapley said, Biden appeared to suggest that he was sitting with his father, then the former vice president, saying, “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.”

Attorneys for Shapley said in a statement, “Biden family lawyers have resorted to intimidation before — reportedly threatening federal prosecutors with “career suicide” if they charged Hunter Biden — so this attempt to intimidate our client and the oversight authorities scrutinizing the politicization of that case is no surprise.”

Lowell writes that the screenshots of the message as tweeted by Smith, “both include a photo of Mr. Biden not from 2017 but from the White House Easter Egg roll in April 2022 (long after the purported message was sent); both images portray the message in a blue bubble, when WhatsApp messages are in green; one image super-imposed the Chinese flag for the contact ID, when surely that was not how a text or contact was kept; and one purports to be a screenshot with the '. . .' of someone composing a text (as in Apple’s iMessage) when that does not happen on WhatsApp.”

He writes, “In short, the images you circulated online are complete fakes.”

Lowell’s letter takes issue with what he says are "self-styled IRS 'whistleblowers'" who he says are "claiming that title in an attempt to evade their own misconduct" and to "feed the misinformation campaign to harm our client, Hunter Biden, as a vehicle to attack his father."

[Satchel 6908]

Update from today’s hearing:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/irs-whistleblowers-lash-federal-officials-211028325.html

Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran, was the main IRS case agent on the case and supervised by Shapley. He had been anonymous until Wednesday's hearing.

During his opening statement, Ziegler emphasized that he is a gay man and a registered Democrat who has been accused of betraying his party. He compared testifying to the day he came out as a member of the LGBTQ community.

"I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there who are questioning doing the right thing at the potential costs to themselves and others," he said. "We should always do the right thing no matter how painful the process might be."

Ziegler alleged David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, previously agreed certain felony charges against Hunter Biden were warranted.

But he said other Justice Department officials believed no jury would convict him given given his drug addiction and the death of his brother, Beau Biden.

Hunter Biden improperly claimed business deductions for a range of personal expenses, Zeigler said, from his children's college tuition to stays for his drug dealer at a Hollywood hotel. In written testimony, he said he was denied a request to interview Hunter Biden’s adult children, alleging prosecutors said that would "get us into hot water."

"I do not want my colleagues at the IRS, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to go through my frustrating journey," Zeigler said…

 

…Throughout the hearing, Democratic lawmakers looked to poke holes in the two agent's testimony and the GOP's assertion about the investigation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pointed out how Joe Biden never replaced Weiss, a Trump appointee, and he has stayed out of the investigation into his son.

"Now, can you imagine Donald Trump saying nothing about a witch hunt or not trying to quash the prosecution if it were his son being prosecuted?" he said.

Other Democratic lawmakers grilled the two IRS agents and pointed out how claims of delays during the investigation happened before Biden was ever president.

Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the oversight panel, added that no concrete evidence was presented that Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment, and that the two whistleblowers are simply expressing their disagreement with the decision to accept a plea.

"We'll hear about how they disagreed on investigative steps and what criminal charges to bring on normal stuff in government investigations that doesn't usually lead to a congressional hearing," he said.

"But one thing you will not hear today is any evidence of wrongdoing, by President Joe Biden or his administration.

[Pods 7530]

55 minutes ago, Satchel said:

Update from today’s hearing:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/irs-whistleblowers-lash-federal-officials-211028325.html

Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran, was the main IRS case agent on the case and supervised by Shapley. He had been anonymous until Wednesday's hearing.

During his opening statement, Ziegler emphasized that he is a gay man and a registered Democrat who has been accused of betraying his party. He compared testifying to the day he came out as a member of the LGBTQ community.

"I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there who are questioning doing the right thing at the potential costs to themselves and others," he said. "We should always do the right thing no matter how painful the process might be."

Ziegler alleged David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, previously agreed certain felony charges against Hunter Biden were warranted.

But he said other Justice Department officials believed no jury would convict him given given his drug addiction and the death of his brother, Beau Biden.

Hunter Biden improperly claimed business deductions for a range of personal expenses, Zeigler said, from his children's college tuition to stays for his drug dealer at a Hollywood hotel. In written testimony, he said he was denied a request to interview Hunter Biden’s adult children, alleging prosecutors said that would "get us into hot water."

"I do not want my colleagues at the IRS, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to go through my frustrating journey," Zeigler said…

 

…Throughout the hearing, Democratic lawmakers looked to poke holes in the two agent's testimony and the GOP's assertion about the investigation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pointed out how Joe Biden never replaced Weiss, a Trump appointee, and he has stayed out of the investigation into his son.

"Now, can you imagine Donald Trump saying nothing about a witch hunt or not trying to quash the prosecution if it were his son being prosecuted?" he said.

Other Democratic lawmakers grilled the two IRS agents and pointed out how claims of delays during the investigation happened before Biden was ever president.

Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the oversight panel, added that no concrete evidence was presented that Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment, and that the two whistleblowers are simply expressing their disagreement with the decision to accept a plea.

"We'll hear about how they disagreed on investigative steps and what criminal charges to bring on normal stuff in government investigations that doesn't usually lead to a congressional hearing," he said.

"But one thing you will not hear today is any evidence of wrongdoing, by President Joe Biden or his administration.

Pasted in plain text for the Dark mode folks. 

Quote

Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran, was the main IRS case agent on the case and supervised by Shapley. He had been anonymous until Wednesday's hearing.

During his opening statement, Ziegler emphasized that he is a gay man and a registered Democrat who has been accused of betraying his party. He compared testifying to the day he came out as a member of the LGBTQ community.

"I am an example to other LGBTQ people out there who are questioning doing the right thing at the potential costs to themselves and others," he said. "We should always do the right thing no matter how painful the process might be."

Ziegler alleged David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, previously agreed certain felony charges against Hunter Biden were warranted.

But he said other Justice Department officials believed no jury would convict him given given his drug addiction and the death of his brother, Beau Biden.

Hunter Biden improperly claimed business deductions for a range of personal expenses, Zeigler said, from his children's college tuition to stays for his drug dealer at a Hollywood hotel. In written testimony, he said he was denied a request to interview Hunter Biden’s adult children, alleging prosecutors said that would "get us into hot water."

"I do not want my colleagues at the IRS, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to go through my frustrating journey," Zeigler said…

 

…Throughout the hearing, Democratic lawmakers looked to poke holes in the two agent's testimony and the GOP's assertion about the investigation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., pointed out how Joe Biden never replaced Weiss, a Trump appointee, and he has stayed out of the investigation into his son.

"Now, can you imagine Donald Trump saying nothing about a witch hunt or not trying to quash the prosecution if it were his son being prosecuted?" he said.

Other Democratic lawmakers grilled the two IRS agents and pointed out how claims of delays during the investigation happened before Biden was ever president.

Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the oversight panel, added that no concrete evidence was presented that Hunter Biden was given preferential treatment, and that the two whistleblowers are simply expressing their disagreement with the decision to accept a plea.

"We'll hear about how they disagreed on investigative steps and what criminal charges to bring on normal stuff in government investigations that doesn't usually lead to a congressional hearing," he said.

"But one thing you will not hear today is any evidence of wrongdoing, by President Joe Biden or his administration.