The Internal Revenue Service has been caught try to cover for Hunter Biden, wrongly targeting two of its own agents instead.
On Thursday, Just the News posted a letter from Empower Oversight, a whistleblower center, dated to Tuesday to Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley.
The letter reported on the findings of the Office of Special Counsel, with which Empower Oversight had filed a complaint on behalf of IRS agent Gary Shapley in May 2023.
The complaint stated Shaley and fellow agent Joseph Ziegler were removed from the Hunter Biden case after whistleblowing, indicating the two had received orders prohibiting them from communicating about wrongdoings and political corruption impeding their investigation.
The OSC confirmed the basis of those complaints.
“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,” Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt wrote.
Not everything Leavitt’s organization argued was confirmed by the OSC, such as Shapley not getting a promotion as retaliation.
Leavitt posted to the social media platform X to discuss some issues OSC was unable to find basis for.
🚨 Meanwhile, while OSC claimed it was unable to substantiate other retaliation against SSA Shapley, such as the IRS’s over-scrutinization of his work and slow-walking his requests, SSA Shapley CAUGHT his supervisor altering the dates of SSA Shapley’s communications to slow-walk… https://t.co/NLcYL6ywdG
— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) February 5, 2025
Do whistleblowers deserve more protection?
Yes: 86% (6 Votes)
No: 14% (1 Votes)
“…OSC claimed it was unable to substantiate other retaliation against SSA Shapley, such as the IRS’s over-scrutinization of his work and slow-walking his requests, SSA Shapley CAUGHT his supervisor altering the dates of SSA Shapley’s communications to slow-walk them and make it appear to others in the agency like SSA Shapley was only making last-minute requests,” he wrote.
The agents’ whistleblowing helped the House Ways and Means Committee bring indictments against Biden for several tax and gun charges.
Simply put, they thought they would be protected, but the OSC confirmed the IRS went after them for their statements.
Leavitt called protections for whistleblowers “utterly broken” in the letter to Grassley, saying, the agents did “everything by the book, consistent with their oaths to uphold the law” but still faced retaliation.
Leavitt believes if this is not made right, future would-be whistleblowers will stand down knowing how Shapley and Ziegler were treated by the IRS.
The Hunter Biden case just looks worse in retrospect.
After repeating the lie that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation,” the former president pardoned his son just before leaving office after being on the record that he would not.
President Joe Biden‘s legacy of ruin is a long list of inflationary spending, disastrous border policies, DEI hires, and international instability.
His government’s desperate attempt to cover for his son’s behavior leaves almost nothing salvageable from the past four years.
Leavitt is correct in the precedent set by how the IRS went after their own agents.
Having the courage to stand up to Biden’s corruption does not warrant punishment.
Hopefully the new administration can make this right as it looks cure the rot festering from the 46th president’s time in office.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
