This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Thursday, May 18th, 2023. 
 
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https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-chairman-demands-irs-chief-answer-for-alleged-hunter-biden-probe-shakeup
 
House Chairman Demands IRS Chief Answer For Alleged Hunter Biden Probe Shakeup
 
A top House Republican wants the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to clarify what is happening with the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden after lawyers for a whistleblower within the agency claimed his team got removed from the case.
 
Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) is requesting an “urgent briefing” from IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel’s office to address concerns about possible retaliation.
 
“These allegations are extremely serious. Such retaliation not only discourages whistleblowers from coming forward to Congress but can also constitute an illegal violation of statutory protections for whistleblowers,” Smith wrote in a letter to Werfel on Tuesday. The letter was published by Just the News.
 
Lawyers for an IRS criminal supervisory special agent wrote to Congress on Monday to say their client had just been told that “he and his entire investigative team are being removed” from the Hunter Biden probe and was “informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.”
 
The “move is clearly retaliatory and may also constitute obstruction of a congressional inquiry,” lawyers Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt wrote.
 
The IRS agent, who has not been publicly identified, has sought to make protected whistleblower disclosures to Congress while raising concerns about lies and politics corrupting the criminal inquiry into Hunter Biden.
 
After Biden’s lawyers met with Department of Justice officials late last month, sources told The Washington Post that potential charges for tax- and gun-related crimes may soon follow from Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss. Hunter Biden has said he expects to be cleared of wrongdoing, and his father, President Joe Biden, told MSNBC this month that his son has “done nothing wrong.”
 
The IRS and Justice Department have so far refused to respond directly to the claim that the IRS supervisor and his entire team had been pulled from the case.
 
The Justice Department has deferred to Weiss, whose office is so far not speaking out on the matter.
 
Smith requested a briefing from Werfel’s office by 5 p.m. on Thursday. “Failure to provide forthcoming and transparent information regarding the actions taken against this employee by your agency will necessitate additional Committee action,” he warned.
 
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-allows-illinois-assault-weapons-ban-take-effect
 
Supreme Court allows Illinois 'assault weapons' ban to take effect
 
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Illinois' ban on "assault weapons" to take effect temporarily on Wednesday.
 
The ruling allows the Illinois law to remain in effect while lower courts deliberate on its constitutional status. Wednesday's ruling comes after a gun shop owner in Illinois requested an injunction against the ban.
 
The Illinois law bans the sale and new possession of semi-automatic "assault weapons." Those who already legally own such weapons would not have to turn them in. The law also bans the sale of large capacity magazines.
 
The court did not offer an explanation for its Wednesday decision, and t