Lawyers representing two IRS whistleblowers who provided information to Congress about the Hunter Biden criminal investigation are calling for an inspector general investigation into Special Counsel David Weiss. Empower Oversight, the legal group representing IRS special agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, claim that Weiss’ team intentionally misled the public by suggesting an unnamed federal agency was investigating the whistleblowers for misconduct. However, the reference to potential investigations was actually related to a probe the whistleblowers sought in alleging retaliation by the Justice Department and IRS for their disclosures.
Shapley and Ziegler testified to Congress last year, claiming that political considerations influenced the handling of the investigation into Hunter Biden’s finances by the Justice Department and IRS. They are now facing backlash from both the defense and prosecution, with allegations of retaliation being made against them. House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer has criticized Weiss for misleading the public about the investigation into the whistleblowers. Empower Oversight is calling for investigations by the Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility within the Justice Department to look into the conduct of Weiss’ office.
In 2023, Hunter Biden entered a plea deal with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s office, but the agreement was rejected by a federal judge after new information was presented by Shapley and Ziegler to Congress. Attorney General Merrick Garland then gave Weiss special counsel status, allowing him to bring charges outside his jurisdiction. Weiss subsequently secured an indictment on a gun charge in Delaware and a tax evasion case in California. Hunter Biden’s lawyers later filed a motion to dismiss the tax case in California, claiming political pressure due to disclosures made by the whistleblowers.
In a filing by Weiss’ office in federal court in California, the whistleblowers were suggested to be under investigation, prompting their legal team to write to the Justice Department Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility Counsel, alleging that Weiss’s office had hidden and twisted information regarding the whistleblowers’ allegations of retaliation. The advocates for the IRS whistleblowers also wrote a letter to the Office of Special Counsel to clarify that Shapley and Ziegler are not under investigation and to correct the record regarding the nature of the investigations. The OSC has acknowledged receipt of the letter but could not confirm or deny the existence of an open investigation regarding the whistleblowers.
The OSC, under scrutiny for its handling of the case involving President Biden’s son, has been called upon to correct the record regarding the investigations into the whistleblowers’ allegations of retaliation by the Justice Department and IRS. The OSC has sought to distance itself from any potential conflict of interest by appointing Hampton Dellinger, a former colleague of Hunter Biden, to run the agency. The letter to the OSC emphasized the importance of correcting any mischaracterization of its work by the Biden Justice Department and ensuring that the whistleblowers are not unfairly targeted for their disclosures. The legal team representing the whistleblowers is seeking accountability for the alleged misconduct by Weiss’s office.
