House Republicans launch probe against Office of Special Counsel for alleged IRS whistleblower retaliation
House Republicans notified the Office of Special Counsel Monday that they are investigating whether the agency retaliated against the IRS whistleblowers who alleged a coverup in the Hunter Biden probe.
The whistleblowers – Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler – filed a complaint with the OSC last year after they were removed from the first son’s case by Special Counsel David Weiss, weeks after notifying Congress about possible “preferential treatment” being given to Hunter Biden and potential false testimony to lawmakers delivered by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The OSC investigates retaliation against federal employees, and House Republicans are seeking a briefing from the agency to determine whether there has been “improper influence” related to the pending claims filed by Shapley and Ziegler.
“IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have been wholly consistent in their testimony about misconduct and politicization in the Department of Justice’s criminal investigation of Hunter Biden,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said in a statement.
“They did exactly what an honorable government employee should do: when they witnessed wrongdoing, they reported it responsibly and made legally protected disclosures,” they added. “Because of their bravery and integrity, we are finally beginning to see steps toward accountability. But this has not come without great cost to them. Mr. Shapley and Ziegler have faced retaliation for doing the right thing.”
The GOP leaders noted that OSC “must conduct an impartial investigation of the claims of Mr. Shapley and Ziegler without improper influence from those seeking to smear these courageous individuals.”
Shapley, who supervised the IRS team on the Hunter Biden case for more than three years, and Ziegler, who worked on the case since it opened in 2018, told House lawmakers last year that political appointees interfered throughout the probe and that prosecutors blocked standard investigative steps.
The whistleblowers alleged that they were not allowed to investigate President Biden’s role in his son’s finances or interview members of the Biden family; Weiss was blocked from bringing tax fraud charges against Hunter Biden by his father’s appointed US attorneys in California and Washington, DC; Hunter was tipped off on planned FBI search; and files from Hunter’s abandoned laptop were not shared with investigators.
In a letter to OSC Acting Principal Deputy Special Counsel Karen Gorman, the GOP leaders explain that their probe will examine whether the OSC “has contributed by action and/or inaction to retaliation” against Shapley and Ziegler.
“The House Republican leadership and the Committees request a briefing to better understand OSC’s conduct and to ensure that there has not been any improper influence on OSC’s investigation,” the congressmen write.
The congressional leaders also expressed concern with a March filing in Hunter’s tax crimes case out of California, in which “phrasing” and “redactions” made it seem as if the whistleblowers were under investigation for wrongdoing. The lawmakers note that OSC took months to correct the “unnecessary impression.”
“However, the Committees now understand, based upon information provided by counsel for the Whistleblowers, that they are not under investigation,” the letter states. “Rather, it is OSC that is investigating the Whistleblowers’ allegations of retaliation.”
The lawmakers write that ��it appears that OSC specifically requested that the information be filed with the Court under seal, which necessitated the redactions to the publicly available version.”
“The Committees are concerned both about OSC’s request and the nature of the subsequent redactions because they were interpreted by many to reflect negatively upon the Whistleblowers,” the letter continues. “Additionally, the Committees were surprised to learn that OSC did not take any meaningful action for nearly two months to correct this unnecessary impression.”
“[T]he Committees seek to understand why OSC did nothing to mitigate the harm and correct the public record.”
