The CIA provided a briefing to the Department of Justice in the summer of 2021, prompting the department to halt any pursuit of Hunter Biden’s lawyer and friend Kevin Morris, according to an affidavit released by Congress on Wednesday.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley, a senior IRS investigator, mentioned in the affidavit that while examining the DOJ’s broader inquiry into Biden, he was abruptly informed by a prosecutor he could not use Morris as a witness.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf, a Delaware-based prosecutor deeply involved in the Biden investigation, gave this direction to Shapley after being “summoned” to CIA headquarters in Virginia for the briefing, Shapley noted.
“AUSA Wolf stated that they were given a classified briefing regarding Mr. Morris and consequently, we could no longer use him as a witness,” Shapley wrote.
Shapley said he repeatedly sought more details from Wolf but was consistently stonewalled.
“It is possible this was just another barrier placed before investigators to continuously block access to all pertinent information,” Shapley wrote.
He highlighted that to this day, he remains unaware of how the CIA knew to discuss Morris with Wolf and the content of the briefing that led Wolf to issue her directive.
Morris, a Hollywood entertainment lawyer, became a financial rescuer to Biden when the first son faced years of unpaid tax bills in 2020, according to an indictment against Biden and testimony Morris gave to Congress in January.
Biden was charged last year by the DOJ with several tax felonies and misdemeanors, with the indictment stating that a “personal friend” — details in the indictment verify that the friend is Morris — settled $1.2 million in bills for Biden in 2020.
In a letter to Congress, Morris also stated he set up several loans for Biden beginning in October 2021. The loans totaled $6.5 million, specifying that Biden must start repaying by October 2025, according to the letter.
An attorney for Morris did not comment. The CIA did not comment.
Shapley’s affidavit revealing the CIA’s interest in Morris surfaced as part of a document release by the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.
Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) stated that the documents showed Biden lied under oath during his Congressional deposition in February. Smith called for the DOJ to consider adding perjury to its charges against Biden for tax violations and a 2018 gun purchase.
Biden, for example, mentioned in the deposition that he was “high or drunk” when he sent a WhatsApp message to a Chinese energy executive, pressuring for payment and leveraging his father, President Joe Biden. Hunter Biden testified that he mistakenly sent the now-viral message to the “wrong Zhao” and that Zhao had no clue what he was referencing.
However, the committee’s documents show that the WhatsApp number clearly belonged to the Zhao linked to the energy company and that Hunter Biden’s testimony about the threatening message was misleading.
“The Zhao that this is sent to is not the Zhao connected to [Chinese energy company] CEFC,” Hunter Biden asserted during the deposition.
