International
Hunter Biden May Never Have Been On Trial Were It Not For Whistleblowers And No-Nonsense Judge
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
“During the first three years of the Biden administration, Weiss spent most of the time sitting on his hands as the statute of limitations chewed up the Biden investigation,” McCarthy wrote for the National Review. “Especially egregious was his willful failure to move on tax offenses (and potentially other offenses) based on Hunter’s peddling of his father’s political influence during the last years of the Obama administration, when the elder Biden was vice president (e.g., Hunter’s raking in millions from the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, while dad pressured Kyiv to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma).”
Hunter Biden may never have been tried on felony gun charges without IRS whistleblowers coming forward and careful questions from an observant federal judge.
Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges Tuesday in Delaware and is set to go to trial in September on felony tax charges. After years of avoiding charges entirely, special counsel David Weiss was forced to bring Hunter Biden’s case to trial after his “sweetheart” plea deal, which would have had Biden plead guilty to two misdemeanors and enter a diversion agreement to avoid jail time for a felony gun charge, fell apart last July under questioning by U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Hunter Biden began negotiating his plea deal in May 2023, shortly after IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley first came forward in April by sending a letter to Congress, not yet identifying himself but expressing his intention to expose the Hunter Biden investigation.
Shapley accused DOJ prosecutors of “slow-walking” the investigation and providing Hunter Biden with “preferential treatment” in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on May 26.
Weiss removed Shapley, along with Joseph Ziegler, the other whistleblower who came forward, from the investigation last May.
🚨🚨 Whether you think the gun charge conviction today is just a red herring or not, just remember that none of the government’s shenanigans would have been exposed were it not for IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
Before their disclosures, Biden appointees had…
— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) June 11, 2024
The plea deal was announced June 20, 2023, just two days before the Ways and Means Committee released the testimony of both whistleblowers.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy noted Wednesday that the plea deal’s dramatic collapse makes it “easy to forget” Weiss tried making the case go away entirely until the whistleblowers made it “politically impossible.”
“During the first three years of the Biden administration, Weiss spent most of the time sitting on his hands as the statute of limitations chewed up the Biden investigation,” McCarthy wrote for the National Review. “Especially egregious was his willful failure to move on tax offenses (and potentially other offenses) based on Hunter’s peddling of his father’s political influence during the last years of the Obama administration, when the elder Biden was vice president (e.g., Hunter’s raking in millions from the corrupt Ukrainian energy company, Burisma, while dad pressured Kyiv to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma).”
“Because of Weiss, those crimes can no longer be prosecuted (which is why they are not in the tax indictment Weiss finally brought after his effort to tank the case entirely failed),” he continued.
Even after whistleblowers exposed the investigation, the plea deal seemed designed to protect Hunter Biden.
Noreika, who oversaw his gun charges trial, highlighted this when she probed the scope of a sweeping immunity provision included in the diversion agreement.
The provision stated Hunter Biden would not be criminally prosecuted for any crimes encompassed by the statement of facts in his plea deal, which listed the millions of dollars he raked in through overseas business dealings in China, Ukraine and Romania.
“So let me first ask, do you have any precedent for agreeing not to prosecute crimes that have nothing to do with the case or the charges being diverted?” Noreika asked DOJ prosecutor Leo Wise during the July hearing.
“I’m not aware of any, your Honor,” Wise replied.
When prosecutors and defense attorneys disputed in court whether there could be future charges brought against Hunter Biden under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the deal crumbled and he changed his plea to not guilty.
Hunter Biden’s California trial on federal tax charges is slated to move forward in September.
He was indicted in December on nine charges relating to his alleged failure to pay over $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period. At the same time, he was pouring millions into expenses like “drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” according to the indictment.
Business
Some Of The Wackiest Things Featured In Rand Paul’s New Report Alleging $1,639,135,969,608 In Gov’t Waste
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul released the latest edition of his annual “Festivus” report Tuesday detailing over $1 trillion in alleged wasteful spending in the U.S. government throughout 2025.
The newly released report found an estimated $1,639,135,969,608 total in government waste over the past year. Paul, a prominent fiscal hawk who serves as the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement that “no matter how much taxpayer money Washington burns through, politicians can’t help but demand more.”
“Fiscal responsibility may not be the most crowded road, but it’s one I’ve walked year after year — and this holiday season will be no different,” Paul continued. “So, before we get to the Feats of Strength, it’s time for my Airing of (Spending) Grievances.”
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The 2025 “Festivus” report highlighted a spate of instances of wasteful spending from the federal government, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent $1.5 million on an “innovative multilevel strategy” to reduce drug use in “Latinx” communities through celebrity influencer campaigns, and also dished out $1.9 million on a “hybrid mobile phone family intervention” aiming to reduce childhood obesity among Latino families living in Los Angeles County.
The report also mentions that HHS spent more than $40 million on influencers to promote getting vaccinated against COVID-19 for racial and ethnic minority groups.
The State Department doled out $244,252 to Stand for Peace in Islamabad to produce a television cartoon series that teaches children in Pakistan how to combat climate change and also spent $1.5 million to promote American films, television shows and video games abroad, according to the report.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spent more than $1,079,360 teaching teenage ferrets to binge drink alcohol this year, according to Paul’s report.
The report found that the National Science Foundation (NSF) shelled out $497,200 on a “Video Game Challenge” for kids. The NSF and other federal agencies also paid $14,643,280 to make monkeys play a video game in the style of the “Price Is Right,” the report states.
Paul’s 2024 “Festivus” report similarly featured several instances of wasteful federal government spending, such as a Las Vegas pickleball complex and a cabaret show on ice.
The Trump administration has been attempting to uproot wasteful government spending and reduce the federal workforce this year. The administration’s cuts have shrunk the federal workforce to the smallest level in more than a decade, according to recent economic data.
Festivus is a humorous holiday observed annually on Dec. 23, dating back to a popular 1997 episode of the sitcom “Seinfeld.” Observance of the holiday notably includes an “airing of grievances,” per the “Seinfeld” episode of its origin.
From LifeSiteNews
Approximately 150 ‘tabulator tapes’ tracking the votes of more than 300,000 early voters were not signed.
Fulton County, Georgia, has admitted to including 315,000 early votes in the disputed 2020 presidential election despite the fact that they were not properly certified according to state law.
State law demands that voting “tabulator tapes” that publish the recorded results of polling stations must be verified and signed by poll workers, but approximately 150 tapes tracking the votes of more than 300,000 early voters were not signed.
In a hearing before the State Election Board (SEB), an attorney for Fulton County said the county does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.”
“It was a violation of the rule,” she said. “They shouldn’t have done it.”
“At best, this is sloppy and lazy. At worst, it could be egregious,” fired back Georgia SEB Member Janelle King. “It could have affected an election.”
The December 9 hearing was the result of election integrity activist David Cross, who filed a challenge with the board in 2022, alleging that Fulton County’s handling of early voting violated the state’s election rules.
“These are not clerical errors. They are catastrophic breaks in chain of custody and certification,” Cross said during the hearing.
“Because no tape was ever legally certified, Fulton County had no lawful authority to certify its advanced voting results to the secretary of state. Yet it did,” said Cross. “And Secretary [Brad] Raffensperger accepted and folded those uncertified numbers into Georgia’s official total without questioning them.”
“This is not partisan. This is statutory. This is the law. When the law demands three signatures on tabulator tapes and the county fails to follow the rules, those 315,000 votes are, by definition, uncertified,” said Cross.
Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, took to social media to discount the allegations.
“Georgia has the most secure elections in the country and all voters were verified with photo ID and lawfully cast their ballots. A clerical error at the end of the day does not erase valid, legal votes,” averred Raffensberger.
– Secretary Raffensperger on alleged procedural errors in Fulton County’s administration of the 2020 election.
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) December 20, 2025
Meanwhile, Republicans took issue with Raffensperger’s denial of the seriousness of Fulton County’s procedural lapse.
Republican Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones ridiculed Raffensberger’s post.
“If only Georgia had an official responsible for preventing clerical errors that undermine election integrity,” said Jones, a candidate for Georgia governor.
“Is there anyone in Georgia who has that job, Brad?” asked Jones, his opponent in the state’s gubernatorial race.
If only Georgia had an official responsible for preventing clerical errors that undermine election integrity.
Is there anyone in Georgia who has that job, Brad? https://t.co/5v89jcPZwL
— Burt Jones (@burtjonesforga) December 22, 2025
“We just started peeling the layers back on this onion and it already stinks,” said U.S. House Rep. Mike Collins (GA-10). “Years later, when the truth finally comes out, Trump was right.”
“President Trump is owed a massive apology,” asserted Collins. “Turns out over 300,000 early votes in the 2020 election were illegally certified but still included in the final results.”
Collins said he is “tired of empty words from weak leaders. The people of Georgia demand action.”
President Trump is owed a massive apology.
Turns out over 300,000 early votes in the 2020 election were illegally certified but still included in the final results.
I’m tired of empty words from weak leaders. The people of Georgia deserve action. pic.twitter.com/pcCrdGFXVS
— Mike Collins (@MikeCollinsGA) December 20, 2025
In the 2020 election, Joe Biden narrowly beat out incumbent President Donald Trump by less than 12,000 votes in the Peach Tree State.
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