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

“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.” 

“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.” 

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.” 

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. 

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. 

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 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. 

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. 

As lawsuits play out in courts across the state over student privacy when it comes to gender identity, a bill introduced in the California Legislature on Wednesday aims to unilaterally end parental notification policies — and protect teachers caught in the fray.

Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego) is carrying legislation that would shield teachers from “any retaliation” for supporting transgender student rights and would prohibit school policies that require “forced disclosure” of youth gender decisions to their families.

The bill is the latest attempt by Democrats to rein in Republican-backed school board policies, including those that seek to notify parents if their child changes their name or pronouns, or requests to use facilities or participate in programs that don’t match their gender on official records.

Such moves are being touted by conservatives nationwide in the name of parental rights. LGBTQ+ advocates have called the policies an attack on transgender children who don’t feel safe expressing themselves at home.

Ward called the measures “forced outing” policies, and said the new legislation is meant to reaffirm and clarify California’s stance on the issue, and would provide guidance to families of LGBTQ+ students to help them navigate the sensitive topic.

“Nothing ever was infringing on the parent-child relationship. Nothing is today, and nothing would be with this bill enacted,” Ward said ahead of a news conference in Sacramento on Wednesday. “But that’s not the job of teachers — to be the gender police.”

Since school boards in conservative pockets of California started engaging in culture wars over LGBTQ+ student rights last summer, a series of lawsuits have followed, and conflicting rulings have further complicated the debate over the constitutionality of minors’ right to privacy.

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit last year against the Chino school district, alleging its parental notification policy was discriminatory and violated civil rights and privacy laws.

A San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge ruled in a preliminary hearing that the policy was discriminatory because it specifically targeted transgender students. That led the Chino Valley Board of Education to revise the policy to expand it to all students seeking any changes to their records.

Bonta filed a new motion against the district last month seeking a final judgment to ensure that school board members do not attempt to reenact the policy, as they have continued to voice support for it.

A Temecula teachers union also sued school officials there over a similar policy. In that case, A Riverside County Superior Court judge allowed the policy for now. And in Chico, a parent lost a legal battle over allegations that the school district did not inform her about her child’s gender-identity issues.

“We do need statutory guidance,” Ward said. “The lack of it is contributing to confusion.”

Meanwhile, anti-transgender activists are backing a ballot measure that would not only require schools statewide to notify parents about student gender changes, but also ban some transgender healthcare for minors and enact new rules about school bathrooms and sports teams. The long-shot ballot measure has yet to acquire enough signatures to make it on the ballot in November.

If that measure passes, it could void the law that Ward is trying to pass.

Republicans were quick Wednesday to call the legislation an overreach by California Democrats into family matters.

The bill would “cut parents out of their kids’ education,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) said on social media.

“If something is going on with a child’s health or wellbeing, parents have a right to know,” he said.

It remains unclear what the law requires of teachers amid ongoing legal debates over parental notification and student privacy.

A Riverside County school district agreed to pay $360,000 last week to settle a lawsuit from a former teacher who said she was fired for refusing to comply with a requirement to use students’ preferred pronouns and in some cases withhold that information from parents. She said the policy violated her free speech and religious rights.

The focus of Wednesday’s Democratic-packed news conference in Sacramento, though, was the alternative possibility of teachers being forced to violate student privacy to alert their families about their gender expression.

“To have a blunt policy like a forced outing policy that requires a teacher to undermine that trust puts up a wall to be able to provide that education,” said Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers. “You tell me your pronoun, I’ll use it, we move forward, and I’ll teach.”

State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who has announced plans to run for governor in 2026, stood alongside Ward and members of the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus in support of the bill, and pointed to laws already on the books that protect transgender students, including gender-neutral bathroom requirements in schools.

“California students know who they are and who they are becoming. No one else should attempt to define for any of our students who they are,” Thurmond said. “This is a personal matter. This is a matter of safety. This is a matter of privacy.”

Times staff writer Howard Blume contributed to this report.

Sen. Rand Paul is calling on the Justice Department to probe whether a top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci improperly concealed, and perhaps even destroyed, documents pertaining to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Kentucky Republican is formally calling for an investigation into accusations of improper concealment and destruction of COVID-19 origin records by Dr. David Morens in a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday. 

The letter, citing emails obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, presents “significant evidence” suggesting Morens may have violated federal law by hiding and erasing records related to the origins of COVID-19 to avoid leaks through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

“Moreover, newly revealed emails suggest a broader conspiracy within the NIH FOIA office to assist Dr. Morens in unlawfully destroying records and evading public records laws,” Paul wrote. 

For his part, Fauci has repeatedly publicly repudiated theories suggesting a lab leak as the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

HIGH-RANKING FAUCI ADVISER USED PERSONAL EMAIL TO AVOID FOIA REQUESTS, DISCUSS COVID ORIGIN

“These emails provide strong evidence that Dr. Morens violated federal law by concealing and destroying federal records. It is imperative that your Department investigate the allegations against Dr. Morens and, if substantiated, ensure that he is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the letter continued.

Paul’s letter comes as emails recently released between Morens and the president of a non-governmental organization being funded to conduct coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, the EcoHealth Alliance, were investigated by House lawmakers last week.

NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak testified on Thursday that Morens allegedly deleted emails to thwart the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19. 

“Don’t worry, just send to any of my addresses, and I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”

During the hearing, Tabak informed Republican House Oversight Chairman James Comer that Morens purportedly breached NIH policy by deleting emails after public records requests.

“Dr. David Morens, a senior advisor to Fauci for decades, wrote in an email to Dr. Daszak, ‘I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d, but before the search starts. So I think we are all safe. Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to Gmail.’ Is that consistent with NIH document retention policies?” Comer asked Tabak, to which he responded that it is not.

FAUCI ADMITS SOCIAL DISTANCING NOT BASED ON SCIENCE, ‘SORT OF JUST APPEARED’

The coronavirus mutation COVID-19 illustration with dark blue brain cell background. (iStock)

WUHAN LAB SCIENTISTS WERE FIRST TO CATCH COVID-19: REPORT

“He also later wrote Dr. Daszak, ‘We are all smart enough to know to never have smoking guns and if we did, we wouldn’t put them in emails. And if we found them, we would delete them,’” Comer said. “Finally, emails show that Dr. Morens would share internal questions about upcoming FOIA releases with Dr. Daszak. He would then help Dr. Daszak craft responses to documents being released in these FOIAs.”

In other emails, Morens expressed concern over what was sent to his work email and what was sent to his personal email, informing those on the email chain that they did not need to worry and that he would “delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times.”

“As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIA’d constantly,” Morens wrote in a September 2021 email, which was sent at the time to many scientists involved in the debate over the origins of COVID. “Stuff sent to my gmail gets to my phone … but not my NIH computer.”

“Don’t worry, just send to any of my addresses, and I will delete anything I don’t want to see in the New York Times,” he added in the email.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the NIH and Garland for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Morris contributed to this report.