A federal watchdog has concluded that the IRS improperly silenced and retaliated against two whistleblower agents who came forward to testify in 2023 about misconduct in the Hunter Biden tax case.
The non-partisan investigation confirms IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler were mistreated by IRS superiors for testifying about how IRS and DOJ officials obstructed investigative steps during the probe into Hunter Biden’s overdue taxes.
“At long last, the career nonpartisan staff at OSC responsible for investigating whistleblower retaliation has finally reached some conclusions. OSC confirmed in a December 30, 2024 email to counsel for the whistleblowers that it found the IRS issued illegal gag orders and improperly removed them from the Hunter Biden investigation as reprisal for their protected disclosures,” Shapley’s attorney Tristan Leavitt wrote in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa).
National Review explains OSC is an independent federal agency “primarily responsible for handling whistleblower complaints and other prohibited personnel practices.”
“Meanwhile, SSA Shapley and SA Zeigler still endure ongoing retaliation every day. Since SSA Shapley became a whistleblower, the IRS has also bypassed him for numerous promotions even though he demonstrated the leadership, knowledge, and competence required for the jobs,” Leavitt wrote.
“As recently as January 2025, IRS management secretly backdated a request from SSA Shapley related to an ongoing law enforcement operation, apparently to hide management’s unusual delays and create the false impression that SSA Shapley’s request was last-minute rather than having been submitted a month earlier.”
National Review reports:
In October, the IRS presented Shapley with an ultimatum, demanding that he either accept a demotion or resign from the agency altogether, an act Leavitt considered flagrant retaliation. Not long after, the IRS backed off from its decision following scrutiny from congressional Republicans.
Shapley and Ziegler presented the detailed allegations along with a trove of documents backing up their claims to the House Ways and Means Committee. The agents first came forward in spring 2023 and their testimony ultimately made up a substantial portion of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into then-President Joe Biden.
