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Michael Goodwin

Opinion

Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss was

an inside job
By Michael Goodwin June 24, 2023 7:53pm Updated
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Columnists
Michael Goodwin
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley made an allegation that members of Trump's Department of Justice helped to tip the
2020 election to his opponent by slow-walking the investigation into Hunter Biden. Trump’s 2020 election loss was an
inside job
CBS Evening News

Score half a point for Donald Trump .

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system over Trump-Biden Instead, the cheating that likely denied Trump a second term
divide: 'Can't vote our way out of was very close to home.
this injustice'

Justice is hardly blind in the

In fact, it was an inside job. Covers
federal case going against
There are numerous bombshells in the congressional
Donald Trump
testimony of two IRS whistleblowers , but the most significant
Today's Cover
is that members of Trump’s Department of Justice helped to
Front Cover
FBI's Biden bias is on full
display as Wray fences with tip the 2020 election to his opponent by slow-walking the Flip for back cover
Republicans over 'bribe' doc
investigation into Hunter Biden .

The interference with the probe began as soon as it looked

like Joe Biden was going to win the Democrats’ nomination.

That’s the allegation made by supervising agent Gary Shapley , who detailed steps he and other IRS
investigators wanted to take to gather evidence against Hunter for massive tax fraud and other crimes.

They planned to execute search warrants in New York, California, Arkansas and Washington, DC.

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Shapley said he and other IRS investigators wanted to take to gather evidence against Hunter for massive tax fraud and
other crimes.
REUTERS

They also wanted to search Joe Biden’s Delaware guest house because Hunter spent a lot of time there.
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The probers laid out their plan in a probable cause memo, but it was inexplicably rejected by DOJ bleak, experts say
lawyers.
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“After former Vice President Joseph Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in
early April 2020, career DOJ officials dragged their feet on the IRS taking these investigative steps,”
Shapley testified.

“By June 2020, those same career officials were already delaying overt investigative actions.”

Noting that the rejections came long before the probes ran afoul of the Justice Department’s rule to “stand
down” on political cases within 60 or 90 days of an election, Shapley said bluntly: “It was apparent that Wagner leader's whereabouts
DOJ was purposely slow-walking investigative actions in this matter.” unknown after mercenary group halts
rebellion: Kremlin

They claim DOJ lawyers tipped off Hunter’s lawyers about a plan to conduct surprise interviews, and disclosed the plan
to search a storage locker, giving Biden’s team time to remove any incriminating evidence.
AP

So the fix — for both the case and the election — was in from the start.

The testimony is pure dynamite, with Shapley and the other agent, who is unidentified, documenting
numerous instances where either career officials or, later, Joe Biden appointees, stepped in to thwart the
investigation.

They claim DOJ lawyers tipped off Hunter’s lawyers about a plan to conduct surprise interviews, and
disclosed the plan to search a storage locker, giving Biden’s team time to remove any incriminating
evidence.

Shapley, who led a team of 12 IRS agents, said that unlike usual practices, Justice lawyers selected
which witnesses could be interviewed.

His team was blocked from seeing Hunter Biden’s laptop, even though the FBI had authenticated it in
2019.

Shapley testified that Attorney General Merrick Garland lied to the Senate when he said Delaware US Attorney David
Weiss had the authority to bring whatever charges in any district he wanted.
MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The big setup

“Investigators assigned to this investigation were obstructed from seeing all the available evidence,” he
testified, calling the move “unprecedented.”

He also said they were instructed “to not look into anything related to President Biden.”

An example of their suspicions of wider crimes includes the infamous July 30, 2017, WhatsApp message
from Hunter Biden to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao, where Hunter wrote: “I am sitting here with my
father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled.”

He threatened that if he didn’t get a call or text from the right people, “I
will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every see also
person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will
regret not following my direction.”

As The Post reported, Senate officials in 2020 found that Hunter

Biden’s checking accounts received wires totaling $5.1 million from
China in subsequent days.
Trump issues cryptic
Did the “big guy” get his cut? warning on Russia coup:
‘Be careful what you
Only a fool would believe it’s a coincidence Justice settled the Hunter wish for’
case on see-no-evil terms two days before the testimony became
public.

Clearly, Attorney General Merrick Garland and his corrupt aides wanted to head off public outrage by
saying the case was over.

But Garland is in a double bind, because Shapley testified that Garland lied to the Senate when he said
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss had the authority to bring whatever charges in any district he wanted.

Shapley said Weiss was in fact prevented by Biden appointees from bringing charges in DC and
California.

Garland, in an echo of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s ridiculous claim that “I am science,” declared his innocence
and added that allegations of corruption against Justice were dangerous because they “constitute an
attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the
American people.”

Barr also flagged the misconduct

Bill of former FBI Director James Comey and others for spying on Trump’s 2016
campaign.
AP

Sounds like he’s feeling the heat.

The IRS testimony also casts a shadow on Bill Barr’s two-year tenure as Trump’s AG.

Barr did courageous work in flagging the misconduct of former FBI Director James Comey and others for
spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign and in eviscerating the media’s role, too.

Barr’s double role

Barr tasked John Durham with getting to the bottom of the 2016 scandal, and Durham concluded the FBI
never had enough evidence to open the Trump probe.

Yet Barr did not pay sufficient attention to what was happening under his nose in the 2020 campaign.

He certainly knew of the Hunter Biden probe, but, to judge from results, never realized corrupt DOJ
officials were again abusing their power to rig the outcome of a second presidential election.

Indeed, the effort to help Joe Biden wasn’t limited to restricting

the probe of his son.
Keep up with today's
most important news FBI agents instructed Twitter, Facebook and other tech giants to
Stay up on the very latest block The Post’s first laptop stories, which showed Joe Biden
with Evening Update. meeting with Hunter’s partners and paymasters.

Enter your email address The agents adopted the “Russian disinformation” ruse the Biden
campaign and 51 former intelligence officials also used.

How much coordination there was in those two plots remains

unknown.
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Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .
Unfortunately for America, the effort succeeded.

Polls taken after the election showed enough Biden voters to

change the outcome would not have voted for him if they had known about The Post’s reports.

The IRS testimony feels like a potential turning point, but House Republicans must resist the temptation to
rush toward impeachment of Garland and the president. Release of the transcripts came during a crush of
big news, such as the loss of five people in the Titan disaster and the move to oust Vladimir Putin by
Russia’s mercenary leader.

As legendary GOP strategist Ed Rollins notes, the political class, including the media, assume every voter
is a news junkie.

Rollins cautions it can take two weeks for even big news to get the full attention of most people.

That means Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and other investigative leaders must keep putting key
witnesses under oath, especially Hunter Biden partners Devon Archer and Rob Walker .

93 What do you think? Post a comment.

Brick by brick, they must build a case that even honest Democrats and their media handmaidens can’t
deny.

Only then should the GOP move to the end game.

Filed under 2020 election Anthony Fauci arizona china corruption democrats
department of justice donald trump fbi georgia hunter biden irs james comer
james comey joe biden merrick garland republicans trump vladimir putin
whistleblowers 6/24/23

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4 People typing

Alison
45 minutes ago
The DOJ, FBI and our entire federal government is corrupt and an arm of the Democratic
arty. Our country is a One-Party-Rule Communist regime. Democrats control everything
means they control our lives. They want total mind control, so we all become communist

Reply 36 Share

VMS
29 minutes ago
Not just mind control, but control of the pursestrings. Our standard of living, although
retty good, would be through the roof if the democrats didn’t piss away the coffers of the
state and local governments and make up that misspending/theft with more tax

Reply 8 Share

Biden Wins
44 minutes ago
Get a job and pay some taxes.
Reply 8 Share
replies
8
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RK
48 minutes ago
Trump lost in 2020. He also saw GOP lose the House, Senate, governor races, and have a
istorically bad midterm performance. They got the House back but it will only be a two year
All the losing, controversy, and upheaval has one common denominator. Him. No
spin or bogus expungemen...
See more
Reply 9 Share

Roy Kelly
44 minutes ago
Trump did much better in his midterm compared to Obama.
Your claim about historic losses is true in Obamas case.
Reply 18 Share
1 reply

Broad Stripes
18 minutes ago
Legacy media can't spin this away. The corrupt Biden family, yes, including Joe, have been
evealed along with obstruction of justice by the justice agencies. Time to defund those

Reply 7 Share

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