An IRS whistleblower is going public with the accusation that the Justice Department has “slow-walked” the investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances.
IRS agent Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, said he immediately noticed “deviations” prosecutors were making from the normal process when he assumed oversight of “a high profile, controversial” investigation. That investigation is, in fact, the DOJ’s inquiry into the president’s son’s finances.
“There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” Shapely told CBS News in an interview. “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
Shapely said he was assigned to the “sensitive” investigation in January 2020, and his concerns grew over the course of several months, he told the outlet. He began documenting those misgivings in June of the same year.
IRS WHISTLEBLOWERS CLAIM RETALIATION IN CONNECTION TO HUNTER BIDEN COMPLAINT
An IRS whistleblower says the Justice Department “slow-walked” the investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances and took multiple measures that appeared to protect Biden from the investigation. (Getty images)
Chief among those concerns was what he described as a series of actions taken that appeared to protect Biden from the investigation.
“Each and every time, it seemed to always benefit the subject,” Shapley told CBS. “It just got to that point where that switch was turned on. And I just couldn’t silence my conscience anymore.”
IRS WHISTLEBLOWER LETTER ACCUSES DOJ OF RETALIATION IN HUNTER BIDEN PROBE
Shapley is scheduled to offer private testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. He is one of two whistleblowers to come forward and allege irregularities relating to the investigation into Biden.
President Biden’s son, Hunter, is facing increased scrutiny as whistleblowers claim the investigation into his finances was not handled correctly. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Shapely also alleges that the DOJ and IRS retaliated against him after he raised concerns about the process. He said he had a meeting with prosecutors in October 2022 that became “charged.” After the meeting, he and his team were effectively pushed out of the investigation, according to a letter from Shapely’s attorneys.
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The agent’s lawyers, Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt, wrote a series of letters last week to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel complaining of the alleged retaliation.
“The IRS must immediately cease and desist intimidating our client for simply exercising his Constitutional right to petition Congress and his statutory right against retaliation for doing so,” the letter addressed to Werfel said.
The IRS said it has followed all proper procedures in a statement to Fox News.
Danny Werfel, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service denies that his agency retaliated against whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden investigation. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Werfel responded to the accusations in his own letter to the House Ways and Means Committee on May 17.
“I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened – and will not intervene – in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower,” Werfel said.
“The IRS whistleblower you reference alleges that the change in their work assignment came at the direction of the Department of Justice. As a general matter and not in reference to any specific case, I believe it is important to emphasize that in any matter involving federal judicial proceedings, the IRS follows the direction of the Justice Department,” Werfel wrote in the letter.
