CIA says GOP allegations of interference in Hunter Biden probe are false

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) denied the latest claims from House GOP impeachment investigators, who had accused the agency of intervening in the probe of Hunter Biden to stop an interview with one of his associates.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) last month penned a letter to the agency saying they had spoken with a whistleblower who alleged the CIA sought to block Justice Department officials from interviewing attorney Kevin Morris.

“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. The allegation is false,” James Catella, head of the CIA’s legislative affairs wrote in a Thursday letter obtained by The Hill and first reported by CNN.

“CIA cooperates with law enforcement partners and does not obstruct U.S. law enforcement investigations or prosecutions.”

Russell Dye, a spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, said they stand by the whistleblowers' allegation.

“The allegation is not false,” he said. 

The letter is the latest blow to an investigation that has accused law enforcement of failing to pursue Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, who now faces criminal charges in two states on both tax and gun charges.

Republicans had also accused the FBI of failing to investigate bribery allegations against President Biden, but in February the Justice Department indicted an FBI informant on charges that he had fabricated the claim.

The episode undercut a key GOP avenue for its investigation into the president and in the weeks since, Republican colleagues have voiced greater skepticism about whether they have uncovered any impeachable conduct. The lackluster response has increased doubt about whether the matter will ever reach the House floor for a vote.

The initial March letter from Comer and Jordan alleged the CIA interceded in the investigation.

“According to the whistleblower, in August 2021, when IRS investigators were preparing to interview Patrick Kevin Morris, an associate of Hunter Biden, the CIA intervened to stop the interview. Two DOJ officials were allegedly summoned to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia for a briefing regarding Mr. Morris. At that meeting, it was communicated that Mr. Morris could not be a witness during the investigation,” Jordan and Comer wrote to CIA Director Bill Burns.

Still, testimony from an IRS whistleblower who first raised concerns about the Hunter Biden investigation said they had spoken with Morris, expressing disappointment at the brevity of the interview.

“Very briefly, at his residence, he offered to submit to an interview, but then said he wanted his lawyer very early on in that discussion,” Gary Shapley, an IRS investigator who worked on the Hunter Biden case, told the committee of his dealings with Morris.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, asked Republicans earlier Friday to share their materials to back up the claim, the latest in a string of Democratic calls for the GOP to show their work. 

“This is a serious charge, but you have completely ignored my staff’s requests to be allowed to review the information that you say prompted your letter and upon which your letter is putatively and entirely based. This refusal to share Committee material with the Minority creates the unavoidable implication that this information—like so many self-collapsing precursor tips in this Sisyphean quest for a scandal—cannot withstand even the most cursory scrutiny by the Committee’s Democratic Members,” Raskin wrote.

He also pointed to the connection of the earlier bribery claims to Russian intelligence.

“All of this information must be shared with the full Committee so that we can review it, understand whether you took any steps to vet it, and assess whether you are—once again, wittingly or not—making our Committee a party to efforts by malign foreign interests to influence American elections,” Raskin said.

Dye suggested that sharing the information with Democrats risked exposing the identity of the whistleblower, saying doing so could put their “safety and career at risk.”