One of the revelations from Wednesday's testimony of IRS criminal investigators is the probe of Hunter Biden's tax crimes did not begin with Rudy Giuliani's findings as he was looking into Ukraine corruption, or even the laptop released publicly in October 2020.
Instead, "Whistleblower X" — revealed in the hearing for the first time as Joe Ziegler, the lead investigator of the Hunter Biden tax crime case — said the revelation of alleged felonies on Hunter Biden's taxes were tripped upon during another investigation.
That investigation was looking into a global social media prostitution ring. Hunter Biden was found in that probe to have been buying prostitutes and allegedly claiming them as business expenses, according to testimony during Wednesday's hearing.
"I had started this investigation in November 2018 after reviewing bank reports related to another case I was working of a global social media company," Ziegler said in his opening statement. "I want to be clear that no one directed me to look into Hunter Biden and that reviewing bank reports is a normal part of our process as IRS investigators in finding potential tax case leads.
"Those bank reports identified Hunter Biden as paying prostitutes related to a potential prostitution ring."
As then-President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Giuliani was assigned to look into potential Biden family corruption in regard to Ukraine. Hunter Biden was being paid by Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Also, in the final weeks before the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani shared the Hunter Biden laptop with the New York Post, which revealed allegations of crimes, including explicit sexual activity with prostitutes.
But neither of those two events triggered Ziegler's IRS criminal investigation into Hunter Biden's alleged felony tax crimes. It was revealed in 2018 during Ziegler's investigation into a global social media prostitution ring from which Hunter Biden was allegedly procuring prostitutes.
That point was not lost on Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who condemned Democrats' attempts to blame Trump and politicized pursuits of Hunter Biden.
"This is not Trump, y'all," Donalds said. "It's facts."
Donalds referenced Ziegler's testimony on the prostitution ring probe leading him to uncovering Hunter Biden's tax crimes independently of other forces.
"You were investigating a social media company and through the process of that investigation, you found out that Hunter Biden was paying prostitutes or was paying potentially for prostitutes in a potential prostitution ring; is that correct?" Donalds asked.
"That is correct," Ziegler responded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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