House Republicans are requesting a briefing from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over alleged meddling in investigations related to President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.
On Tuesday, the heads of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees sent a letter to CIA Director William Burns, seeking a briefing by agency personnel to clarify previous denials that the CIA blocked an interview with Biden associate Patrick Kevin Morris. This letter followed an earlier one from March, requesting records tied to claims from federal whistleblowers alleging that the CIA obstructed Morris’s interview.
“Without confirming or denying any associations or communications, the CIA did not prevent or seek to prevent the IRS or DOJ from conducting any such interview,” wrote CIA Director of Congressional Affairs James Catella in an April 4 response. “The allegation is false.”
On Tuesday, lawmakers underscored testimony from IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who alleged that efforts to interview Morris as part of a federal tax investigation were thwarted by the Justice Department. Shapley asserted that investigators “could no longer pursue him as a witness” after DOJ staff were called to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to discuss Morris.
“Notably, Mr. Shapley stated that ‘[i]t is unclear how the CIA became aware that Mr. Morris was a potential witness in the Hunter Biden investigation,'” wrote Chairmen James Comer, R-Ky., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Subsequent meetings between Judiciary Committee staff and the CIA Office of Congressional Affairs in April did not support Catella’s denials of agency interference, according to Tuesday’s letter.
“To date, the CIA has failed to supplement its response or provide any documents responsive to the Committees’ March 21 letter,” lawmakers wrote. “In sum, SSA Shapley’s affidavit and the supporting documentation present clear and contemporaneous evidence that Mr. Catella’s assertion in his April 4, 2024 letter to the Committees was potentially false and/or misleading.”
Lawmakers gave the CIA until June 25 to schedule the briefing.
In December, House Republicans also began an investigation into the CIA’s possible involvement in promulgating the theory that Hunter Biden’s laptop, which emerged in 2020, was part of a Russian disinformation campaign. Lawmakers requested details on whether any of the numerous former intelligence officials who signed the well-known Hunter Biden laptop letter were on the CIA payroll. The laptop letter was published in Politico to undermine the election-year revelation as a Kremlin effort to derail Joe Biden’s presidential bid.
Hunter Biden’s federal tax case is set to go to trial in September after a lenient plea deal from federal prosecutors fell apart last summer. On Tuesday, a Delaware jury found the president’s son guilty on all three felony gun charges related to the 2018 purchase of a firearm while addicted to an illicit substance.
House Republicans submitted additional criminal referrals for Hunter Biden and James Biden to the Department of Justice (DOJ) last week. Lawmakers recommended charges for lying to Congress about the president’s international influence-peddling schemes, which are being investigated by the House as potentially impeachable offenses.
