Internal communications obtained by the Oversight Project show that Department of Justice officials and Hunter Biden’s legal team worked together to manage press inquiries related to the slow-walking of the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, raising new questions about the impartiality of the probe led by Special Counsel David Weiss.
The emails, reviewed by Oversight Project attorneys, include a DOJ “summary of call” documenting a coordination meeting between Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Wolf, DOJ Tax Prosecutor Mark Daly, and Hunter Biden’s attorneys. The meeting focused on crafting a response to media inquiries, with the DOJ circulating a “proposed statement” originally drafted by Hunter’s legal team.
The proposed statement was marked with a request from Hunter’s lawyers to receive “FOIA confidential treatment,” an effort designed to shield the communication from public records requests. The request was sent directly to Wolf and Daly—both of whom have come under scrutiny in the past.
Wolf previously came under fire after IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified she tipped off Hunter Biden’s legal team ahead of a planned search and barred investigators from asking about Joe Biden. Shapley also described Daly’s role in what he called a DOJ-backed “fishing expedition,” allegedly designed to uncover whether whistleblowers like Shapley had spoken to the media about unethical conduct inside the department.
The documents also show that Hunter Biden’s defense filed memos “right after calls with [the] reporter,” according to Daly’s summary of his and Wolf’s meeting with Hunter’s team. The remainder of that entry was redacted, leaving open questions about whether those memos played a role in initiating investigative pressure on Shapley’s team.
These findings appear to support Shapley’s sworn testimony and provide further evidence that DOJ prosecutors worked in tandem with Hunter Biden’s attorneys rather than in opposition. The communications suggest both sides coordinated messaging in response to negative press and sought ways to minimize potential legal consequences for Hunter Biden and those close to him.
Read the docs here.
Read Shapley’s transcribed interview here.
