CHICAGO – According to two sources familiar with the plan, an IRS whistleblower who spoke out about the investigations into Hunter Biden’s taxes is set to be promoted to the position of IRS acting commissioner, as reported by The Associated Press.
Gary Shapley, an IRS employee who testified before Congress while Republicans were looking into the business affairs of Joe Biden’s son, claimed he faced retaliation for participating in the investigations. In March, Shapley was promoted to the Deputy Chief of IRS Criminal Investigations, and another IRS investigator, Joseph Ziegler, who also testified about Biden’s taxes, was appointed as a senior adviser for IRS reform in the Treasury Secretary’s office.
The IRS is now intending to appoint Shapley to a top position within the agency on an interim basis. This decision comes as former Missouri congressman Billy Long awaits a confirmation hearing for the permanent leadership role at the agency. The sources disclosing this information were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly.
President Donald Trump nominated Long, who worked as an auctioneer before serving six terms in the House of Representatives, to serve as the next commissioner of the IRS.
Shapley replaces Melanie Krause, who is resigning from her role as acting IRS commissioner over a deal to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and deport people illegally in the U.S.
CNN originally reported the news about Shapley’s new role. A representative from the IRS did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
Shapley and Joseph Ziegler say they were removed from the Hunter Biden case in December 2022 after they told their bosses that the Justice Department and former Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss had engaged in a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” and delaying enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The investigation into Hunter Biden ended with Joe Biden pardoning his son, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family.
Hunter Biden had been set to stand trial last September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.
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