{"id":2328181,"date":"2024-08-21T08:09:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T12:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-doj-seeks-revenge-on-irs-whistleblowers\/"},"modified":"2024-08-21T08:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T12:14:07","slug":"bidens-doj-seeks-revenge-on-irs-whistleblowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-doj-seeks-revenge-on-irs-whistleblowers\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s DOJ Seeks Revenge On IRS Whistleblowers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-doj-seeks-revenge-on-irs-whistleblowers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2328181&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent legal filing by Hunter\u2062 Biden&#8217;s attorneys indicates an attempt to retaliate against IRS \u200bwhistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who exposed alleged misconduct related to the investigation of Hunter Biden&#8217;s activities. The filing arises from a lawsuit Hunter initiated against the IRS, effectively targeting\u200d the whistleblowers after\u200d they reported how federal authorities allegedly hindered the investigation into \u200dhis actions\u200d related to international influence-peddling.<\/p>\n<p>In response to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-rejects-hunter-biden-request-to-appear-in-court-via-video-conference\/\" title=\"Federal judge denies Hunter Biden&#039;s request for virtual court appearance.\">potential public scrutiny<\/a> of their handling of Hunter Biden&#8217;s case, the \u2064Justice Department hurriedly negotiated a plea deal, which ultimately collapsed during court proceedings. This prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint U.S. Attorney\u2063 David Weiss as special counsel to oversee ongoing legal actions against Hunter, although \u200dthe charges so far appear\u2063 disconnected from Biden family business activities.<\/p>\n<p>Shapley and \u200cZiegler claim \u2064they have faced \u2062retaliation for their whistleblower actions, including \u2062removal \u200bfrom the case \u200cafter\u200d Biden\u2019s legal team pressed the DOJ to intervene against them.\u2062 Hunter Biden has accused the agents of unlawfully disclosing his tax \u2062information,\u2063 even as \u200cthe government acknowledges their innocence\u2063 while simultaneously \u2062failing to defend them \u2062robustly.<\/p>\n<p>Concerns of a\u2062 conflict of interest have surfaced, as the IRS and DOJ must defend the whistleblowers while facing allegations of wrongdoing\u2063 themselves. In a bid to protect their\u2062 interests, Shapley and Ziegler have\u200c sought to intervene in the\u2063 case, but both Hunter&#8217;s legal team and the government have opposed this move, arguing \u2064that the government retains control over\u200c its litigation\u200b strategy.<\/p>\n<p>Shapley and Ziegler \u2063recently\u200d filed a motion revealing this \u2064ongoing struggle, highlighting the troubling efforts to penalize \u200dthem for their disclosures.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A new legal <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.32.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filing<\/a> from Hunter Biden&rsquo;s lawyers suggests Biden and the Department of Justice are seeking revenge on the IRS whistleblowers who helped force the Bidens family&rsquo;s misconduct into the public eye and turn them against each other in the courts.<\/p>\n<p>The filing comes in a case Hunter Biden brought against the IRS, effectively targeting its whistleblower agents, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who came forward last summer to expose how federal law enforcement tanked the investigation and prosecution of Hunter Biden and others associated with the Biden family&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ex-cia-chief-explains-how-he-got-spies-to-write-false-hunter-biden-laptop-letter-to-help-biden\/\" title=\"Ex-CIA Chief Explains How He Got Spies to Write False Hunter Biden Laptop Letter to Help Biden\">international influence-peddling operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Knowing the DOJ&rsquo;s faux pursuit of the president&rsquo;s son was about to be exposed, the Justice Department rushed to cook up a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ghislaine-maxwell-now-accusing-prison-guard-of-abuse\/\" title=\"Ghislaine Maxwell Now Accusing Prison Guard Of Abuse\">sweetheart plea deal<\/a> with Hunter. It was a transparent bid to protect him from serious legal peril with any sort of connection to his father &mdash; insulating the president while allowing the DOJ to save face by acting like it was doing something about Hunter&rsquo;s obvious lawbreaking.<\/p>\n<p>When the sham plea deal fell apart under Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika&rsquo;s questioning, she forced the Justice Department&rsquo;s hand. To fix a disastrous situation, Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated U.S. Attorney David Weiss, the lead prosecutor on the spiked Hunter Biden &ldquo;case,&rdquo; to special counsel. After years of shielding the Bidens and running out statutes of limitation on serious crimes, his team brought Hunter on gun charges in Delaware and tax evasion charges in the pending California case &mdash; charges still at a remove from the Biden family business.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS agents, Shapley and Ziegler, claim they faced reprisals for coming forward through the appropriate channels with disclosures to Congress and thus the American people. The IRS <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.22.0.pdf#page=19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">allegedly<\/a> pulled both Shapley and Ziegler off the case after Biden&rsquo;s legal team lobbied the DOJ to pursue them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden&rsquo;s lawyers have not only maligned the duo in court filings but, in bringing suit against the IRS last fall, charged that the whistleblowers and their attorneys made unlawful disclosures of Hunter&rsquo;s confidential tax information.<\/p>\n<p>Since Hunter is suing the U.S. government rather than its employees, the case perversely puts the IRS and the DOJ, as the government&rsquo;s lawyers, in the position of defending the very agents who exposed those agencies&rsquo; alleged malfeasance. Despite this glaring conflict, the U.S. government <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.21.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disputes<\/a> that Shapley and Ziegler wrongfully disclosed Hunter Biden&rsquo;s tax records &mdash; consistent with the factual record &mdash; illustrating how frivolous Hunter&rsquo;s suit is.<\/p>\n<p>But the feds have refused to defend the whistleblowers adequately. They confine their admission that the IRS agents are innocent to a mere footnote in a filing supporting their <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.13.0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>partial <\/em>motion<\/a> to dismiss the case. The feds have called on the court to dismiss the wrongful disclosure count only &ldquo;to the extent&rdquo; that Hunter Biden&rsquo;s team brings its claim &ldquo;based on the alleged wrongful disclosures <em>by the IRS employees&rsquo; personal attorneys<\/em>.&rdquo; (Emphasis mine.)<\/p>\n<p>The feds have vowed to &ldquo;answer &hellip; remaining allegations &hellip; and &hellip; raise all available defenses&rdquo; &mdash; of the whistleblowers &mdash; only after the court rules on the partial dismissal. In other words, the U.S. government is leaving IRS agents who blew the whistle on the government&rsquo;s alleged malfeasance twisting in the wind.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the obvious conflict, and the government&rsquo;s absurdly passive posture, agents Shapley and Ziegler understandably <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/05\/22\/opinion\/we-blew-the-whistle-on-hunter-biden-now-were-fighting-his-lies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">motioned to intervene<\/a> in the case to defend themselves back in May. Yet Hunter Biden&rsquo;s legal team and the feds opposed that intervention. The government argued that only it &ldquo;has the right to decide its litigation strategy, which includes the right to decide what arguments to make and when to make them,&rdquo; and claimed Shapley and Ziegler lacked standing.<\/p>\n<p>On Aug. 7, Shapley and Ziegler jointly filed a motion blowing the lid off this chilling effort to punish them, in response to both Biden&rsquo;s and the government&rsquo;s opposition to their intervention. In the filing, the agents <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.32.0.pdf\">assert<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n[T]he IRS opposes intervention in a case where Shapley and Ziegler seek at the outset to secure an appropriate and complete dismissal of this lawsuit <em>against the IRS<\/em>. But instead of taking the position any litigant on the defense side of a civil lawsuit would take, the IRS <em>opposes dismissal<\/em> and purportedly wants &lsquo;to wait for a fully developed factual record to present its defenses.&rsquo; In other words, the IRS wants the parties to engage in written discovery and depositions, even if unnecessary to resolve this case in its favor &hellip; oddly inviting needless discovery that defendants would normally seek to avoid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The agents also highlight the Kafkaesque situation they find themselves in, in which the &ldquo;very parties against whom the[y] &hellip; blew the whistle (Hunter Biden, the IRS, and the Department of Justice&rsquo;s Tax Division) are collectively asking this Court to prevent them from defending the clear legality of their actions by intervening as parties in this litigation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The whistleblowers have <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799\/gov.uscourts.dcd.259799.22.0.pdf%23page=19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">made clear in court<\/a> that they could face any number of personal and professional harms should the government not vigorously and successfully defend them &mdash; a compelling argument that they have standing to intervene in the case.<\/p>\n<p>Shapley and Ziegler conclude in their Aug. 7 filing that &ldquo;unless the IRS&rsquo;s &lsquo;litigation strategy&rsquo; is <em>not<\/em> to prevail in this case, it begs the question of why the IRS opposes enabling the two people whose conduct is at issue to have a seat at the table.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The answer would seem to be that a hyper-politicized and weaponized government under Biden-Harris&rsquo; command will punish anyone and everyone who dares to challenge it.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Ben Weingarten is editor at large for RealClearInvestigations. He is a senior contributor to The Federalist, columnist at Newsweek, and a contributor to the New York Post and Epoch Times, among other publications. Subscribe to his newsletter at weingarten.substack.com, and follow him on Twitter: @bhweingarten.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent legal document submitted by Hunter Biden&#8217;s attorneys indicates that both Biden and the Department of Justice are retaliating against the IRS whistleblowers who exposed the misconduct of the Biden family, aiming to pit them against one another in court. This filing is part of a lawsuit Hunter Biden initiated against the IRS, specifically targeting whistleblower agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who revealed last summer how federal law enforcement undermined investigations into Hunter Biden and others linked to the family&#8217;s international influence-peddling activities. <\/p>\n<p>As it became clear that the DOJ&#8217;s superficial efforts to pursue President Biden\u2019s son were about to be unveiled, they hurriedly arranged a favorable plea deal for Hunter. This was seen as an attempt to shield him from serious legal consequences related to his father while allowing the DOJ to appear proactive regarding Hunter\u2019s evident illegal activities.<\/p>\n<p>When this questionable plea agreement unraveled under scrutiny from Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika, she compelled action from the Justice Department. To remedy this situation, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss\u2014who had been overseeing Hunter&#8217;s stalled case\u2014as special counsel. After years of protecting the Bidens and letting statutes of limitations expire on significant offenses, Weiss\u2019s team finally brought gun-related charges in Delaware and tax evasion charges in California\u2014though these remain somewhat disconnected from allegations concerning the family business.<\/p>\n<p>Shapley and Ziegler allege they faced retaliation for reporting their findings through proper channels to Congress and thus informing American citizens. They claim that after lobbying by Biden&#8217;s legal team, both were removed from their case by the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter Biden\u2019s lawyers have not only disparaged these agents in court documents but also accused them and their attorneys of unlawfully disclosing his confidential tax information when they filed suit against the IRS last fall.<\/p>\n<p>Since Hunter is suing rather than targeting individual employees within government agencies, this situation places both IRS agents under defense by a government that is simultaneously being accused of wrongdoing\u2014a clear conflict of interest. Despite this contradiction, federal authorities maintain that Shapley and Ziegler did not improperly disclose any tax records belonging to Hunter\u2014aligning with established facts\u2014which underscores how baseless Hunter&#8217;s lawsuit appears.<\/p>\n<p>However, federal officials have inadequately defended these whistleblowers; their acknowledgment of innocence appears only as a footnote in support documents for dismissing part of Hunt&#8217;s claims regarding wrongful disclosures made by personal attorneys representing IRS employees.<\/p>\n<p>The government has stated it will respond fully only after a ruling on partial dismissal occurs; thus leaving those who reported alleged governmental misconduct without robust protection.<\/p>\n<p>Given this evident conflict along with an unreasonably passive approach taken by authorities, Shapley and Ziegler sought intervention in May for self-defense within this case\u2014but both sides opposed such intervention. The government contended it alone should dictate its litigation strategy while asserting that Shapley and Ziegler lacked standing.<\/p>\n<p>On August 7th, Shapley and Ziegler filed jointly seeking transparency about what they view as punitive actions taken against them following opposition from both parties involved\u2014the Bidens\u2019 team as well as governmental representatives\u2014to allow them participation in defending themselves legally.<\/p>\n<p>In their motion filing dated August 7th:<br \/>\nThey pointed out how unusual it was for an agency like theirs\u2014the very one being challenged\u2014to resist intervention aimed at securing dismissal against itself while insisting on waiting until all facts are presented before making defenses typically expected during civil litigation processes.<\/p>\n<p>The agents emphasized their precarious position where those whom they reported (Hunter Biden alongside entities like DOJ) collectively seek judicial measures preventing them from defending themselves effectively.<\/p>\n<p>They articulated concerns over potential personal or professional repercussions if not adequately defended\u2014a strong argument supporting their right to intervene.<\/p>\n<p>Shapley and Ziegler concluded with skepticism towards why exactly would an agency oppose enabling those whose actions are scrutinized access at such proceedings unless its goal isn\u2019t genuinely winning cases but rather silencing dissenters challenging authority under current political leaderships perceived as weaponized or hyper-politicized.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Weingarten serves as editor-at-large for RealClearInvestigations among other roles across various publications including Newsweek where he contributes columns regularly; follow him via Twitter @bhweingarten or subscribe directly through weingarten.substack.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":2328182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Untitled-design-1200x675-2.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[3620,7076,8362,5894,14982],"class_list":["post-2328181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-biden","tag-doj","tag-irs","tag-politics","tag-whistleblowers"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Untitled-design-1200x675-2.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2328181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2328182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2328181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2328181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2328181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}