GOP Representatives Initiate Inquiry into Attempts to Discredit IRS Whistleblowers

Three key Republican committee chairmen are demanding information from Attorney General Merrick Garland about any efforts by Hunter Biden’s legal team to pressure the Justice Department to prosecute two IRS whistleblowers.

The demand from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri, came in a letter to Garland on Tuesday.

The letter expressed support for IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler. 

According to a statement from the Judiciary Committee Republicans: “Abbe Lowell, one of Hunter Biden’s attorneys, asserted without evidence that Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler had violated federal law in making their protected whistleblower disclosures to the House Ways and Means Committee. According to reporting from the New York Times, Hunter Biden’s legal team urged the DOJ to investigate and prosecute these brave whistleblowers for their testimony. However, Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler followed the appropriate process by raising their genuine concerns about how the DOJ conducted its investigation into Hunter Biden.”

The three representatives continued: “The Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and Accountability are continuing their oversight of the Department of Justice’s commitment to impartial justice and its handling of a criminal investigation involving Hunter Biden.

“Hunter Biden’s legal team is engaged in a brazen effort to intimidate and harass the brave Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblowers who exposed numerous apparent irregularities in the Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden.

“These tactics have even included urging the department to prosecute the whistleblowers for their protected disclosures to Congress. Federal law protects whistleblowers from retaliation, and efforts to intimidate these whistleblowers raise serious concerns about potential obstruction of the Committee’s investigation.

“Accordingly, we request information about any attempts by Hunter Biden’s legal team to encourage the Department to take action against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.”

They added: “Mr. Lowell slandered the brave IRS whistleblowers as ‘disgruntled agents’ with an ‘ax to grind,’ and suggested — again without evidence — that these men were responsible for leaks to media outlets.”