Cal Thomas: Did investigators let Hunter Biden off the hook?

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 29th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Last week, federal prosecutors announced the end of a five year investigation into Hunter Biden. WORLD Radio’s Kent Covington from Wednesday:

KENT COVINGTON: President Biden’s son Hunter has cut a plea deal with the Justice Department that will likely spare him any time behind bars. He’s pleading guilty to federal tax offenses to avoid prosecution on a felony weapons charge.

The House Ways and Means Committee also released the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers. These whistleblowers made serious allegations against federal investigators in the Biden case. Commentator Cal Thomas now on what should happen next.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: It is an unfortunate truism of politics that partisans tend to believe the worst about members of the opposite party and no amount of facts — if facts can be agreed upon — move people from their entrenched positions. Largely, I think, it’s all about gaining or keeping power and not actually discovering the truth or solving problems.

In a relativistic age when everyone has their own “truth,” how does one discern what is objectively true and what is false? And the even bigger question is how does one persuade someone who refuses to believe irrefutable facts that they are wrong?

These questions bring me to the case of Hunter Biden and two conflicting positions.

Last Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware who spent five years investigating Hunter Biden, had "complete authority” to bring whatever charges he wished against the president’s son. But is that true?

Those suspecting far more crooked behavior on the part of the Biden family think there is much more to discover and that Weiss did not dig far enough into their business dealings.

Last Thursday—the day before Garland’s comments—the House Ways and Means Committee released the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers. The whistleblowers told a story that contradicts what Garland and Weiss have said. One of them, Gary Shapley, has spent 14 years with the tax agency. He claims, according to the released transcript of his testimony, that he was blocked from pursuing leads. Shapley says the Justice Department, its tax division and Weiss’ office “provided preferential treatment and unchecked conflicts of interest.”

Predictably, some Democrats deny all this. Are they saying Shapley is lying? There is only one way to discover the truth in all this. Shapley, the anonymous whistleblower, Attorney General Garland, Weiss, and anyone else with knowledge about Hunter’s activities beyond the felony gun and tax evasion plea deal should be put under oath and publicly testify. These would include witnesses to Shapley’s claims that he expressed frustration as he sought to advance his investigation.

In a statement, Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith said: “IRS employees who blew the whistle on this abuse were retaliated against, despite a commitment IRS Commissioner (Daniel) Werfel made before the Ways and Means Committee to uphold their legal protections. They were removed from this investigation after they responsibly worked through the chain of command to raise (their) concerns.”

Character matters. Good character guards against bad behavior and protects against allegations of wrongdoing.

Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, observed: “Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.”

If a person has bad character, anything is believable.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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