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IRS whistleblower Shapley said he 'could no longer pursue' Hunter Biden sugar brother Kevin Morris due to CIA

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IRS whistleblower Shapley said he 'could no longer pursue' Hunter Biden sugar brother Kevin Morris due to CIA

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley said he was told he “could no longer pursue” Hunter Biden “sugar brother” Kevin Morris as a witness due to information provided by the CIA, according to an affidavit released Wednesday. 

Fox News Digital first reported earlier this year that a whistleblower claimedthe CIA “stonewalled” an IRS interview with Morris, who provided millions of dollars to pay the first son’s tax debts. Those whistleblowers said the CIA “intervened to stop the interview” with Morris in August 2021. 

The CIA told Fox News Digital those allegations were false. 

Shapley’s affidavit, released Wednesday, shed further light the CIA’s alleged interference in the attempted interview with Morris.

WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS CIA ‘STONEWALLED’ IRS INTERVIEW WITH HUNTER BIDEN ‘SUGAR BROTHER’ KEVIN MORRIS: HOUSE GOP

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“In and around August 2021, discussions were ongoing within the prosecution team on the Hunter Biden investigation concerning witnesses who needed to be interviewed in furtherance of the investigation,” Shapley said in his affidavit. 

Shapley said that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf told the team that she and DOJ Tax Attorney Jack Morgan “had recently returned from the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where they had been summoned to discuss Kevin Morris.” 

Shapley said “Wolf stated that they were provided a classified briefing in relation to Mr. Morris and as a result we could no longer pursue him as a witness.” 

Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by Kevin Morris, left, and Abbe Lowell, right, attend a House Oversight Committee meeting on January 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

“Investigators probed AUSA Wolf, but since her briefing was classified and she was apparently sanitizing it to an unclassified form to share over an open phone line, she did not elaborate with more information,” Shapley said, adding that Wolf “reiterated more than once that they were summoned to the CIA in Langley concerning Mr. Morris, and that because of the information provided there, he could not be a witness for the investigation.” 

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Shapley recalled that Wolf “proudly referenced a CIA mug and stated that she purchased some CIA ‘swag’ at the gift shop while she was there.” 

“It is unclear how the CIA became aware that Mr. Morris was a potential witness in the Hunter Biden investigation and why agents were not told about the meeting in advance or invited to participate,” Shapley said. “It is a deviation of normal investigative processes for prosecutors to exclude investigators from substantive meetings such as this.” 

The CIA told Fox News Digital last month that allegations it stonewalled the interview with Morris were “false.” 

“Without confirming or denying the existence of any associations or communications, CIA did not prevent or seek to prevent IRS or DOJ from conducting any such interview,” James Catella, the CIA’s director of the Office of Congressional Affairs, wrote in a letter to Jordan and Comer. “The allegation is false.” 

The CIA said that, as a general matter and “without specific reference to the issue about which you have inquired, CIA facilitates the Department of Justice’s access to national security information in the context of investigations and prosecutions in a variety of circumstances.” 

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CIA DENIES WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGATION THAT AGENCY ‘STONEWALLED’ IRS INTERVIEW WITH HUNTER BIDEN ‘SUGAR BROTHER’

“For example, CIA engages with DOJ to enable prosecutors to understand national security information that may arise in the course of an investigation and to assess their discovery obligations,” Catella wrote. 

Central Intelligence Agency

A spokesperson for the CIA previously denied preventing the IRS to interview Hunter Biden’s friend Kevin Morris. (Reuters)

“CIA cooperates with law enforcement partners and does not obstruct U.S. law enforcement investigations or prosecutions,” he continued. “To the extent your letter seeks information about any ongoing federal law enforcement investigation or prosecution, the Department of Justice is the responsible agency.” 

Morris loaned Hunter Biden approximately $6.5 million — over $1 million more than initially estimated. 

Morris, who was subpoenaed to testify as part of the impeachment inquiry, said that he loaned Hunter Biden at least $5 million and began paying his tax liability. Morris and his attorney were estimating during the interview, a source told Fox News, and promised to follow-up with exact figures loaned to the first son. The attorney followed up to note an additional $1.6 million Morris had given Hunter Biden. 

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Morris, on Oct. 13, 2021, gave Hunter Biden a loan for approximately $1.4 million. According to the letter, Hunter Biden was to repay the loan, with $500,000 paid by Oct. 1, 2026 and the remaining $417,634 by Oct. 1, 2027, plus interest.

A few days later, Morris loaned Hunter Biden $2.6 million, with directions to repay the loan by Oct. 1, 2029. That loan, according to Morris’ lawyer, “was used to pay, among other debts, Mr. Biden’s tax debt to the IRS.”

Hunter and his lawyers

Hunter Biden, center, and his attorneys Abbe Lowell, right, and Kevin Morris, left (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

On Oct. 17, 2022, Morris loaned Hunter Biden $640,355 to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2027. In December 2022, Morris loaned Hunter $685,813.99, to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2027.

A year later, Dec. 29, 2023, Morris loaned Hunter approximately $1.2 million to be repaid by Oct. 15, 2028, with all interest paid by October 2029.

Special Counsel David Weiss charged Hunter Biden with nine federal tax charges, which break down to three felonies and six misdemeanors for $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. 

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Weiss charged Hunter in December, alleging a “four-year scheme” in which the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes from January 2017 to October 2020 while also filing false tax reports.

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The tax trial for the first son is set for Sept. 5. 

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Politics

Biden strikes gold in California, one week after Trump's massive haul in the blue bastion

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Biden strikes gold in California, one week after Trump's massive haul in the blue bastion

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After former President Trump’s lucrative, three-day swing through California, President Biden has returned to the West Coast to tap into the Democrat-dominated state’s political ATM.

With less than five months to go until the November election, late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel will interview Biden and former President Obama as they team up with Hollywood heavyweights George Clooney and Julia Roberts at a star-studded fundraiser the president’s campaign said is already breaking records.

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Biden’s campaign boasted “the event has already raised over $28 million and counting — making it the biggest fundraiser in Democratic Party history.”

The haul tops a fundraiser with Biden, Obama and former President Clinton in March at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, which raked in $26 million.

TRUMP HAULS IN PLENTY OF GREEN DURING SWING THROUGH LONGTIME BLUE STATE

Former presidents Clinton (right) and Obama (left) and President Biden (center) headline a Democratic Party fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall March 28, 2024, in New York City. (Getty Images)

But Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, hauled in over $50 million in early April at a fundraiser at the Palm Beach, Florida, home of billionaire investor and hedge fund founder John Paulson. It was the most money ever brought in at a single fundraising event and shattered the record Biden set just a week and a half earlier at Radio City Music Hall.

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It’s the latest case of national politicians coming to California to pad their campaign coffers. According to figures from the Federal Election Commission, Biden and Trump have raked in more money in California this cycle than any other state.

“When politicians look to the west, they see a field of green,” veteran California-based political scientist Jack Pitney at Claremont McKenna College told Fox News.

Biden v Trump

President Biden and former President Trump have both hauled in millions at fundraising events in California as they face off in their 2024 election rematch. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson and Evan Vucci)

Tickets for Saturday’s gala at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles, which an invitation describes as a “historic night,” ranged from $250 for a single person to get in the door to half a million dollars for special access, photos with Biden and Obama and invitations to an after-party.

The president arrived in California one week after Trump left the Golden State.

Trump’s team said when all the money is counted, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was expected to haul in roughly $27.5 million from three fundraisers in California and one in Las Vegas, a senior campaign official told Fox News.

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WHY TRUMP’S SAN FRANCISCO FUNDRAISER WAS FRUITFUL IN MORE THAN ONE WAY

And the Trump campaign said an additional $6 million was raised for outside groups supporting his 2024 election rematch with Biden.

Trump has been aiming to close his fundraising gap with Biden. In April, his campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) for the first time raised more than the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee. 

Trump’s campaign announced a week ago it and the RNC hauled in a stunning $141 million in May, fueled in part by the former president’s guilty verdicts in his recently concluded criminal trial.

Donald Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court

Former President Trump appears in Manhattan Criminal Court May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

Trump was found guilty of all 34 felony counts in the first trial of a former or current president in the nation’s history.

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The former president’s campaign noted that, in the first 24 hours following the verdict, it and the RNC brought in nearly $53 million, which counted toward May’s total. 

The Biden campaign has also been raising money from the Trump verdict, and a source told Fox News “the 24 hours after the verdict were one of the best fundraising 24 hours of the Biden campaign since launch.”

While Trump’s California fundraising haul was fueled by top-dollar GOP donors, including tech industry investors and hedge fund giants, Saturday’s fundraising for Biden is being orchestrated by the Democratic Hollywood machine.

It’s no surprise. The entertainment industry, which showered presidents Clinton and Obama with campaign cash, has long been known for its Democratic leanings.

And while the 81-year-old Biden doesn’t have the tight relationships with Hollywood that his Democratic predecessors enjoyed, he can still draw a crowd.

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“Any Democratic presidential candidate is going to be able to raise a lot of money in California, and an incumbent president has a big advantage. When the president enters a room, it fills up with cash,” Pitney said.

President Biden hauls in $28 million at a star-studded fundraiser in Los Angeles

President Biden waves as he arrives on Air Force One June 15, 2024, in Los Angeles. Biden will attend a campaign event Saturday night. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Major strikes by two Hollywood labor unions representing film and television writers and actors from May through November of last year delayed Biden from raising money in Los Angeles entertainment circles.

But the president started making up for lost time in December with a major fundraiser hosted by famed directors Steven Spielberg and Rob Reiner. Saturday’s mega-fundraiser was orchestrated by media mogul and Democratic rainmaker Jeffrey Katzenberg, who’s a Biden campaign co-chair. Katzenberg also put together the Radio City Music Hall fundraiser.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee have enlisted the help of plenty of stars and well-known performers from the entertainment world as the president runs for a second term.

Among those lending a hand is famed actor Robert De Niro, who headlined a Biden campaign news conference outside the New York City courthouse during the final days of Trump’s trial. 

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The news conference went viral after De Niro, who portrayed mobsters in such cinematic masterpieces as “The Godfather Part II” and “Goodfellas,” screamed at nearby Trump supporters that “You are gangsters” as they yelled obscenities at the actor.

Actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, made a recent unannounced appearance at the White House briefing room to praise the president and called Biden “Joe-Bi-Wan-Kenobi.”

Spielberg has helped the DNC with its storytelling efforts, and Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris on a recent swing through battleground Michigan.

Trump, whose final California fundraiser took place last weekend at a tony gated community in upscale Newport Beach, California, and included veteran actor Jon Voight, will spend this weekend in Michigan, holding multiple events, including a roundtable discussion at a northwest Detroit church.

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Trump hauls in big bucks during California fundraising swing

Supporters of former President Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, react to his motorcade on the day he visits to raise money in Newport Beach, Calif., June 8, 2024. (REUTERS/David Swanson)

The Trump campaign argued the former president will be meeting with “everyday Americans” while “Biden will be at a glitzy fundraiser in Hollywood with his elitist, out-of-touch celebrity benefactors that own him.”

The Trump campaign and Republican allies also criticized the president for skipping a peace conference on Ukraine being held this weekend in Switzerland to appear at the California fundraiser. Vice President Kamala Harris will represent the U.S. at the peace talks.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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Californians less likely to vote cite a common reason: They don’t like the presidential candidates

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Californians less likely to vote cite a common reason: They don’t like the presidential candidates

Most Californians say they’re likely to vote in the November election, but among those who aren’t sure, there’s a common reason: They don’t like the presidential candidates.

That finding comes from a poll released Friday by the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies, which asked 5,095 registered voters across California to reflect on their likelihood of voting in the Nov. 5 general election that will feature a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump.

The poll, conducted for the nonprofit Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, found that about 78% of California’s registered voters say they’re highly likely to vote. The poll also found that the intent to vote varies widely by age, race and political affiliation — as do the reasons why people say they aren’t likely to cast a ballot.

Californians who see themselves as highly likely to vote said participating in the presidential election is the leading reason. But among those who say they’re less likely to vote, 40% cited not liking the candidates for president as a reason. That rose to 55% among voters who have voted regularly in the past but aren’t sure whether they’ll vote this year.

Trump, a Republican, is now running as the first former president convicted of crimes after a jury last month found him guilty of falsifying records in a scheme to conceal payments to a porn actor who alleged they’d had an affair. Biden, a Democrat, is facing criticism from some in his own party over his support for Israel in its war against Hamas, as well as his moves to restrict asylum at the Mexico border. And both are facing questions about their age: Trump is 77 and Biden is 81.

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“The presidential election seems to be cutting both ways,” said Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS poll. “It’s a motivating factor for those who are already on board and likely to vote, but it seems to be inhibiting others.”

Democrats and liberals were more likely than Republicans and conservatives to say that their dislike of the presidential candidates is one reason they may not vote, the poll found.

More than 1 in 3 voters in the state said they weren’t likely to vote because “special interests and big money are controlling things,” and almost 3 in 10 voters said they weren’t well informed about the issues and the candidates.

“It’s clear that when it come to our politics, belief is low and cynicism is high,” Jonathan Mehta Stein, the executive director of California Common Cause, said in a statement.

California’s ballot on Nov. 5 will be a lengthy one, including the presidential election, a growing list of statewide ballot initiatives and several competitive legislative races that could determine which party controls Congress. Some races in purple areas are expected to be won on razor-thin margins.

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Overall, the poll found that the groups that appear to be most inclined to vote are over the age of 65, white voters, Republicans, homeowners and those with post-graduate degrees.

The groups in which the fewest people said they were likely to vote include voters who are young, Black or Asian American, have no post-high school education, or are naturalized citizens.

“It’s pretty much what we’ve seen in past elections — that older voters, white voters, the better educated voters are the most likely to turn out,” DiCamillo said.

The likelihood of voter participation varied widely by race, the poll found. Among white respondents, 90% said they were highly likely to vote. The share was 66% among Black voters, 70% among Latino voters and 62% among Asian American voters.

The foundation provided special funding to focus on Asian Americans, California’s fastest-growing demographic group, DiCamillo said.

The poll used voter-roll information to find voters who requested voting materials in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, then asked the poll questions in those languages. (The poll always asks questions in both English and Spanish.)

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The results give “a better read of those voting constituencies than we’ve ever had in the past,” DiCamillo said, and suggest that there are wide disparities in voting propensity among Asian Americans.

Nearly 2 in 3 Vietnamese Americans described themselves as highly likely to vote. That rate rose to 71% among other Asian American and Pacific Islander groups, including Filipino and Japanese Americans.

By comparison, slightly less than half of Korean Americans and 54% of Chinese Americans said they were likely to vote.

The poll also asked California’s registered voters what could make them more engaged in the general election.

White and Asian American voters were most likely to say that their chances of voting would rise if they felt that “ballot measures or candidates would advance my interests.”

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Latinos were most likely to say that their chances of voting would increase if “election results were more trustworthy.” And Black voters most frequently said that they would be more likely to vote if they “had access to an unbiased and trusted source of news about the election.”

Christian Arana, a vice president of the Latino Community Foundation, said in a statement that investment in voter education is crucial to ensure that voters “understand the significance of their vote and the influence they hold.”

Voters under the age of 30 were four times more likely than voters over 65 to say that “getting more information about how and when to vote” could improve their changes of participation.

They were also far more likely to say that their voting behavior could change if voting were more convenient, or if they had assistance from “a person or group that I trust to help me better understand the issues and the candidates.”

DiCamillo cautioned that 78% of respondents rating themselves as highly likely to vote does not mean a prediction of 78% turnout. Most voters have good intentions about voting, he said, “but they probably overestimate it.”

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During the 2020 presidential election, more than 80% of registered voters cast a ballot in California, the highest percentage since 1976.

The poll was conducted May 29 to June 4 in five languages. The margin of error for the overall sample of registered voters was estimated to be plus or minus 2 percentage points, and could be higher for subgroups.

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White House says Trump’s tariffs will destroy manufacturing, exacerbate inflation

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White House says Trump’s tariffs will destroy manufacturing, exacerbate inflation

FIRST ON FOX: The White House is taking aim at congressional Republicans over their support for “MAGAnomics” and former President Donald Trump’s “across-the-board tariffs” plan, which it claims would raise prices for families and worsen inflation.

In a Friday memo to “allies and interested parties,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates slammed Republicans for “targeting Medicare and Social Security for cuts, pushing tax welfare for the super-rich, and supporting across-the-board tariffs that would raise costs and taxes for hardworking families.”

“Yesterday congressional Republicans met to plot a 2025 agenda that involves historic tax increases on the middle class in the form of high tariffs, then gives tax handouts to big corporations that are overcharging Americans despite inflation decreasing,” Bates wrote.

Trump met with both Senate and House Republicans on Thursday during his trip to Capitol Hill. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said afterward that the former president “briefly floated the concept of eliminating the income tax and replacing it with tariffs.”

TRUMP SELLS SENATE REPUBLICANS ON PLAN TO WIN OVER WORKERS IN CLOSED-DOOR MEETING

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President Biden, left, and former President Donald Trump, right. (Getty Images)

“What’s more, the lead House Republican for budget issues, Jodey Arrington, recently wrote, ‘Unchecked mandatory spending on programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and welfare represent a growing threat to our economic security and potentially our way of life,’” Bates said in the memo.

Pointing to other recent reporting, Bates claimed that “in addition to extending the Trump tax giveaway for billionaires and multinational companies, congressional Republicans want even further corporate tax windfalls that will add another $1 trillion to the deficit.”

President Biden “rejects this dangerous MAGAnomics agenda,” Bates noted.

“His plan would protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security, further cut the deficit by making rich special interests pay their fair share, and to crack down on the corporate greed that is ripping off American families as inflation falls,” he wrote in the memo. “Republican officials have stood against every aspect of that plan, even defending junk fees and price gouging.”

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‘TOTAL LIE’: TRUMP CAMPAIGN, GOP LAWMAKERS BLAST REPORT CLAIMING HE CALLED MILWAUKEE A ‘HORRIBLE CITY’

Joe bIden

President Joe Biden speaks at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C, on May 17, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Bates insisted the “MAGAnomics summit puts into relief the stark choice between President Biden’s plan for an economy in which economic growth flows to the middle class, and an economy in which hardworking families are sold out to billionaires and the biggest corporations, forced to pay whatever big corporations want to charge while stripped of the Medicare and Social Security benefits they pay to earn.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary said, “The Biden campaign is lying because they are losing. President Trump’s first-term pro-growth economic policies created record-low mortgage, interest, and unemployment rates and made inflation virtually non-existent. Americans can expect President Trump’s second-term economic agenda will have the same impact and end Joe Biden’s inflation crisis that continues to rob working families of thousands of dollars every month.”

She added, “President Trump delivered on his promise to protect Social Security and Medicare in his first term, and President Trump will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term.”

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, speaks with reporters at the NRSC on June 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, speaks with reporters at the NRSC on June 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Leavitt insisted the “only candidate who poses a threat to Social Security and Medicare is Joe Biden – whose mass invasion of countless millions of illegal aliens will, if they are allowed to stay, cause Social Security and Medicare to buckle and collapse.”

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Trump’s trip to the nation’s capital this week made numerous headlines, as he met for the first time in several years with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. 

Trump told Republican senators that there was tremendous unity in the party, and promised to “bring back common sense to the government” if he’s elected in November.

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