>> washington journal continues. host: we welcome aruna viswanatha back to washington journal. she is a senior reporter with the wall street journal reporting on the hunter biden investigation. you and your colleagues last week broke the story about the whistleblower in the case of hunter biden. what did that whistleblower report? guest: the irs has a criminal investigations unit. agents from that unit are involved in this investigation into hunter biden's taxes and financial dealings.

what -- this person is a supervisor of a group of irs and communal agents that have been working on this investigation. we are not yet know a lot about the specifics, but what his attorney has told congress is that he has specific information a -- about a senior political appointee saying that -- something this individual believes is not accurate he has specific information about political favoritism shown to hunter biden that other individuals would not be shown. he said he has specific evidence to back this up, but we have not yet seen that. he has relayed to congress that he has this information. host: track up a bit. you said there is a criminal investigation and they are looking into hunter biden's taxes. what sort of information are they looking into back?

-- looking into? guest: hunter biden self disclosed this in the fall of 20, right after the presidential election. at that point, the investigation appeared broad. investigators were asking about his dealings in ukraine, china, his finances. over the past couple of years, they have narrow the scope. what the really appear to be hunting in on right now is a few specific tax charges and this one guy in charge. -- gun charge. there are essentially four charges. two are misdemeanors, did not file your taxes. a third charge involves potentially evading taxes. the fourth is this gun charge

where he appears to have light on an application to get a gun in 2018. host: is this letter by the whistleblower on this investigation, does this mean that now congress will be looking into the whistleblower's report? there likely to be a hearing? guest: taxpayer information is among the most protected within the u.s. government. since this visual work for the irs and this involves an investigation into an individual taxpayer, it is that is easy as going to congress and saying here is my information. with congress, there are only two or three committees that specifically focus on tax issues. they are authorized to get information about individual taxpayers. we is others with efforts to get donald trump's tax returns -- we

saw this with efforts to get donald trump's tax returns. these authorize him to provide his information. we will see that process by out over the next few months. they will give him that status. he will come in and share what he has to share. after that, maybe we will hear more publicly what that information is. host: tell us about the current investigation being headed by david weiss. can he bring charges? will he be able to bring charges against hunter biden or does that have to go through the attorney general? guest: their advice is u.s. attorney in delaware, appointed -- david weiss is u.s. attorney in delaware, appointed in the trump administration. longtime delaware lawyer. when merrick garland came in with the biden administration, he took david weiss on and said i will have him run this

investigation to give it a modicum of impartiality. it is not affect the biden administration is directing -- so it does not look like the biden administration is directing it. and mixes of instances, like in tax cases, -- in specific instances, like tax cases, they have to get specific signoff. but they do not need the attorney general to sign off. host: tanning signs they are closer to an indictment or otherwise -- any signs they are closer to an indictment or otherwise? guest: we have to assume they are close. some agents involved believe they have enough to charge him. there has been a bit of a delay. fescue desert between various other factors -- prosecutors are weighing various other factors. going back to 2018,, we have an election that it will be underway soon. we have to assume this will be

resolved and we will see a decision made soon. host: our guest is a senior reporter for the wall street journal. her regular beat is national security, the fbi, the justice department. we are specifically focusing on the criminal investigation into hunter biden. her reporting in the wall street journal is on the whistleblower letter to congress. we welcome your calls. guest: is --(202) 748-8001 is the line for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. independents, (202) 748-8002. it is worth it to hear what merrick garland had to say about the whistleblower report. >> recent lawfully protected whistleblower disclosures to my office indicate that the justice

department and the fbi had at one time over a dozen sources that provided potentially criminal information relating to hunter biden. the alleged volume and similarity of this information would band if the justice department investigates the truth and accuracy of the information. what steps has the justice department taken to determine the truth and accuracy of information provided? congress and the american people have a right to know. >> as a community knows, i have promised to leave the matter of hunter biden in the hands of the u.s. attorney for the district of delaware, who was appointed under the previsit's duration. -- previous administration. any information like that should have gone to that office and the fbi squad working with him.

i have pledged not to interfere with the investigation. >> in april 2022, you testified that the hunter biden investigation was insulated from political interference because it was assigned to the delaware attorney's office. however, that could be misleading because without special counsel authority, he could need permission of another u.s. attorney in certain circumstances to bring charges unsightly district of delaware. i -- charges outside the district of delaware. i would like clarification. >> the u.s. attorney in delaware has full authority to make those referrals, to bring cases in other jurisdictions. i will assure that he does, you will be able to do that.

host: the attorney general trying to erect firewalls that he said he went on his confirmation about hunter biden. -- said he would on his confirmation about hunter biden. guest: the has generally taken a hands-off approach to this investigation. some of them are not pick david weiss out of the. host: the letters is it effective there may have been undue influence. tell us more. guest: he is saying he has direct knowledge of some kind of interference and vulnerable favoritism. we do not yet know the specifics of what he is alleging. we do not yet know who he is alleging potentially meddled in the investigation. host: has that letter by the whistleblower been released publicly? guest: it has been sent to

congress and several committees. i believe some have credit but i am not certain -- may have read it but i am not certain. host: richard, republican mine, georgia. c-span.org my question -- caller: my question is about the letter prior to the election where they said that the laptop was disinformation. now as been confirmed that antony blinken started that letter and after the election, he became secretary of state. my question is is biden compromised? action acne blinken be impeached -- should antony blinken be impeached? guest: in terms of that letter

that intelligence officials were before the election, that was specifically about that laptop is part of the investigation. as far as we know right now, the investigation and charges he is facing not specifically relate to the contents of that laptop. i do not have that much information on the laptop. host: on the waste investigation, has hunter biden met with that committee? guest: the way it works generally is the team at the irs kamil unit and the fbi agent seem to be -- at -- they are working together on this. host: next up is mike in new jersey. caller: thank you for your reporting and essentially what went on. two simple questions. this case has been going on for five years. text division involves a simple

map -- evasion involves a simple matter. did you write a check to the irs for the income tax you old or not? it does not require corroborating witnesses that the street to believe that this thing is been covered up. if you do with the irs, you will get resolved within a year. five years is ridiculous. that is the question in terms of the specificity of this charge and help ease the -- how easy it would have been to resolve her circumstances. also, the biden family has been receiving money for a variety of reasons. 12 people are named as recipients of those money. are those people being investigated for tax evasion? guest: good question.

why has it taken so long? what we know is at least going back to 2018 through 2020, the investigation was broader than tax evasion. they were looking at his work in ukraine with these distance partners. that took some time to narrow in on what they believed they could prove. we know they did arrive at this conclusion that they thought >> we'll leave this program here to keep our over 40-year commitment to coverage of congress. the house is back for its first votes of the day on the debt limit increase. live coverage of the house here on c-span. following order. ordering the previous question on the house resolution 327. adoption of the house resolution 327, i