The Treasury Division has promoted two IRS whistleblowers who accused the Justice Division beneath President Joe Biden of granting his son, Hunter Biden, particular therapy throughout a yearslong probe into his tax affairs.
Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, two veteran IRS investigators, will function senior advisors to incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who mentioned in a press release on Tuesday that he was “happy to welcome Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler to the Treasury Division, the place they are going to assist us drive much-needed cultural reform throughout the IRS.”
Shapley and Ziegler got here ahead in 2023 with allegations that the Biden administration improperly interfered in an investigation into Hunter Biden’s unpaid taxes led by then-U.S. Lawyer for Delaware David Weiss — claims that Justice Division and FBI officers fiercely disputed on the time.
“It appeared to me, primarily based on what I skilled, that the U.S. Lawyer in Delaware in our investigation was continuously hamstrung, restricted and marginalized by DOJ officers,” Ziegler mentioned throughout congressional testimony in July 2023.
Days after Shapley and Ziegler testified on Capitol Hill, a plea deal negotiated by Hunter Biden and the Justice Division fell aside beneath questioning from a federal decide. The deal would have allowed Hunter Biden to plead responsible to a pair of tax-related misdemeanors and enter right into a pretrial diversion settlement on a felony gun cost.
Hunter Biden is seen on the White Home, September 30, 2024.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Pictures
Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who led the probe into Hunter Biden, repeatedly refuted the claims leveled by Shapley and Ziegler and asserted that he confronted no political stress from Biden administration officers to grant Hunter Biden any particular therapy.
Hunter Biden later pleaded responsible to 9 tax-related prices, together with a number of felonies. His father granted him a sweeping pardon within the waning weeks of his presidency.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, touted his position in securing promotions for Shapley and Ziegler in a press release Tuesday. Grassley mentioned he wrote Bessent a number of letters encouraging him to advertise the 2 whistleblowers.
“Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler put their complete careers on the road to face up for the reality, and as a substitute of being thanked, the Biden administration handled them like skunks at a picnic,” Grassley wrote in a press launch. “I hope at present is the primary of many redemption tales for whistleblowers who’ve been mistreated.”
