Whistleblower office finds illegal retaliation against IRS agents in Hunter Biden case

The federal whistleblower protection agency has concluded  the IRS wrongly retaliated against two agents who blew the whistle on political interference in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation and may have violated federal law by trying to gag the agents from disclosing wrongdoing, according to correspondence to Congress made public Wednesday.

The Empower Oversight whistleblower center, which represented one of the agents, Gary Shapley, disclosed the findings of the Office of Special Counsel in a letter sent to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Empower Oversight had filed a complaint with OSC in May 2023 alleging that Shapley and his colleague, IRS agent Joseph Ziegler, had been removed from the Hunter Biden case for blowing the whistle and later had received communications prohibiting them from further communicating concerns about wrongdoing and political meddling in the case.

Those concerns were validated by OSC, Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt wrote Grassley.

“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,” Leavitt wrote.

You can read the letter here.

His letter included a footnote providing a direct quote from OSC about its findings.

“We believe certain IRS communications violated 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(13). In addition, at this point, we believe IRS cannot support Mr. Shapley’s removal from the criminal investigation of a high-profile subject,” the excerpt stated, citing the main whistleblower protection law.

OSC, however, did not find in favor of the whistleblowers on claims that Shapley was passed over for a promotion and endured other retaliation. Leavitt said his group will appeal those findings to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, a personnel agency for federal employees.

“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 them and make it appear to others in the agency like SSA Shapley was only making last-minute requests,” Leavitt wrote on X.

Spokesmen for OSC and IRS did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The finding that Shapley and Ziegler were wrongly removed from leading the Hunter Biden case is a major win for the whistleblowers, whose protected disclosures to the House Ways and Means Committee transformed the Biden family corruption investigation and blew up a planned plea deal that would have spared President Joe Biden’s son prison time.

After the two decorated IRS agents provided public proof of political interference in the case, prosecutors brought two indictments against Hunter Biden and secured convictions on multiple tax and guns charges.

Hunter Biden was facing sentencing and the possibility of prison time when his father issued controversial pardons in early December that erased his convictions.

The OSC findings also have raised concerns that the IRS tried to gag Ziegler and Shapley. Evidence made public in 2023 showed an IRS supervisor told all agents they could communicate concerns about the case outside the office.

“There should be no instances where case related activity discussions leave this field office without seeking approval from your direct report,” one email wrote,

OSC concluded such communications infringed lawful whistleblowing.

While claiming vindication for his client, Leavitt urged Grassley to pressure the new Trump Justice Department to pursue prosecutions and other forms of accountability on those who interfered in the Hunter Biden case or retaliated against the whistleblowers.

“This system of whistleblower protections is utterly broken,” Leavitt wrote the senator. “These dedicated public servants have done everything by the book, consistent with their oaths to uphold the law. Yet, they have been left twisting in the wind at the mercies of those who retaliated against them, waiting endlessly for administrative and legal processes that should have vindicated them long ago.

“If real corrective action is not taken soon, the message to future whistleblowers will be crystal clear: keep your mouth shut,” he added. “If IRS senior management can bully and ruin the careers of these public servants with no consequence for the retaliators and no meaningful remedy for the whistleblowers, no one will ever speak up again.”