In a recent development, the House Oversight Committee has called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to halt its latest "threatening action" against whistleblower Gary Shapley.
This comes after Shapley's disclosure in an interview with Catherine Herridge that the IRS had given him a stark choice: accept a demotion or resign within a fortnight.
According to The Post Millennial, Representatives James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) penned a letter to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), demanding an immediate update on the OSCs investigation into the allegations made by the IRS whistleblowers. They also called for an immediate stay at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to halt the IRS's latest action of forced demotion or resignation against Shapley.
The letter stated, "OSC has the express authority to seek a stay at the Board under 5 U.S.C. 1214(b)(1)(A)(i), which states, 'The Special Counsel may request any member of the Merit Systems Protection Board to order a stay of any personnel action for 45 days if the Special Counsel determines that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the personnel action was taken, or is to be taken, as a result of a prohibited personnel practice.' Given the IRS's actions and the timeline they provided SSA Shapley, his case must be considered for an immediate stay at the Board."
Earlier this week, Catherine Herridge interviewed Shapley and Ziegler, two IRS whistleblowers who have spent years working on the tax evasion case against Hunter Biden. Following the interview, Shapley was immediately presented with the ultimatum to resign or face demotion. Both whistleblowers have claimed that there exists a "double standard for "elites and large companies" in the United States.
Shapley told Herridge that after attempting to expose this alleged double standard by testifying to Congress in mid-2023 and taking other steps, the IRS retaliated against him. He said, "The IRS is just has a smothering blanket on me, hoping that I quit, that they find some way to terminate me, or commit suicide."
Ziegler echoed these sentiments, stating, "I'm up against a machine that has millions of dollars, that has the ability to fight me and to really wear you down."
Herridge shared an email that both Ziegler and Shapley received after Hunter pleaded guilty to nine charges, including three felonies in September, where he was charged with failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. The email from an IRS supervisor thanked them for their efforts in the investigation and conviction on the Sportsman investigation.
Shapley, however, saw this as a hollow gesture, stating, Those are words that are not supported by the actions of the agency. This to me was someone who knows that [an] IRS watchdog right now is looking into the way that they've handled this and they see the writing on the wall, and this really is an example of just covering their backside like a true bureaucracy.
Shapley also shed light on what are termed "sensitive investigations" by the IRS. These require additional approvals for investigations against influential individuals such as politicians, business leaders, and wealthy individuals. Shapley argued that this can create a "double standard" when the IRS investigates more powerful people in the US versus an average businessman.
He said, "It almost creates this preferential treatment for these elite and large companies. Because, you know, when it was Hunter Biden, it required approvals for every single thing that we did in the tax evasion investigation.
The whistleblowers also alleged a double standard with political campaigns and the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ). Ziegler spoke on the topic of Jack Smiths investigation into Donald Trump, with a filing against Trump that was released earlier this month, just a few weeks before Election Day regarding Trumps J6 case.
Ziegler said, "Compared to what happened in our investigation, there were a lot of overt investigative steps that we were not allowed to take because we had an upcoming election. And it related to the president's son. So not even the candidate, and we weren't allowed to do certain investigative steps.
The tax evasion investigation into Hunter Biden, according to the pair of IRS whistleblowers, dates back to before the 2020 election, with Hunters laptop being a crucial piece of evidence in the case. Both alleged that, contrary to reports at the time, the DOJ and FBI both knew that the laptop was real.
When asked by Herridge if the DOJ would have released a filing in the Hunter Biden tax case in the weeks leading up to the election, Shapley said in reference to the 165-page filing, Based on what we saw in Hunter Biden's case, that document would have never been released four weeks before an election.
The whistleblowers also corroborated that emails and messages found on Hunters laptop speaking about deals with business partners, the Big Guy, did indeed refer to President Joe Biden.
Despite feeling vindicated by Hunter Bidens conviction, both Shapley and Ziegler stated that the pressure from the IRS has been relentless. Hunter Biden has sued the IRS over the case, and made allegations in the filing against the employees. However, the two whistleblowers do not believe that the IRS as a whole will adequately defend them due to the agency's past actions in the Hunter Biden case.
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