Stefanik: 'Not a coincidence' Jack Smith targets Trump same week as IRS whistleblower hearing on Hunter Biden

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IRS whistleblowers to give first public testimony on Hunter Biden investigation

Former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy weighs in on the upcoming hearing on the Hunter Biden probe and argues the delay was due to political interference on ‘America’s Newsroom.’

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Wednesday said it is "not a coincidence" Special Counsel Jack Smith is targeting former President Donald Trump the same week two IRS whistleblowers will testify before Congress with allegations the Justice Department improperly interfered with a years-long Hunter Biden investigation. 

During the House GOP leadership's press conference following Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address before Congress, a reporter asked Stefanik if she had spoken to Trump since he announced he received a letter from Smith informing him he is a target of a Jan. 6 grand jury Investigation.

"I have spoken with President Trump. I spoke with him yesterday," Stefanik, the fourth-ranking House Republican, said. "I speak with President Trump on a weekly basis, give or take. And this is yet another example of the illegal weaponization of the Department of Justice to go after Joe Biden's top political opponent.

"And it is not a coincidence that the same week that House Republicans are having a very important oversight hearing to hear from two credible IRS whistleblowers about the politicization of the Department of Justice when it came to the investigation of Hunter Biden, that this is the same week that a political arm of the Joe Biden campaign in Jack Smith goes after the top leading opponent.

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House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., speaks to reporters at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol July 18, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

"So, we condemn the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and we will continue to work out the rot in these agencies — the politicization in these agencies. And I hope all of you in the press will focus on, again, the oversight and investigative work that House Republicans have led that have led to the realization that the Department of Justice politicized the investigation of Hunter Biden, as well as the egregious and, I believe, criminal entities of the multiple LLCs of foreign dollars flow to the Biden family while Joe Biden was vice president.

TRUMP SAYS DOJ IS AN 'ABSOLUTE WEAPON' FOR DEMOCRATS; SLAMS SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE AS 'ELECTION INTERFERENCE'

Supervisory IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley, left, and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler, right, are sworn in to testify during a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill July 19, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

"So, yes, I spoke to President Trump," Stefanik added, garnering some applause. 

Leaders of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees are leading a hearing Wednesday afternoon with two IRS employees — Greg Shapley and initially unnamed "Whistleblower X" — who claim there was a pattern of "slow-walking investigative steps" into Hunter Biden, including delayed enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 election. 

At the start of the hearing, Whistleblower X was identified as IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler. 

Former President Donald Trump arrives at the Turning Point Action conference in West Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, July 15, 2023. Trump said he received a letter Sunday night informing him he is a target in Special Counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 investigation.  (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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It is the first public testimony from the two IRS agents assigned to the federal case into President Biden’s youngest son, Hunter, which was focused on tax and gun charges. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.