BREAKING: House Oversight demands IRS pause forced demotion or resignation of whistleblower Gary Shapley

Reps. James Comer (R-KY) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote in a letter to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and said that they are demanding that OSC "provide an immediate update on OSC’s investigation into the [IRS] whistleblowers’ allegations and to seek an immediate stay at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to pause the IRS’s latest threatening action" of forced demotion or resignation against Shapley.

"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," the letter said.

Reporter Catherine Herridge sat down with Shapley and Ziegler, two IRS whistleblowers earlier this week. Afterwards, Shapley was immediately given an ultimatum to resign or get a demotion, per National Review. The two spent years on the Hunter Biden tax evasion case. Shapley and Ziegler have alleged that there is a "double standard for "elites and large companies" in the United States.

After they tried to expose this alleged double standard by testifying to Congress in mid-2023 and taking other steps, Shapley told Herridge that the agency has retaliated against him: "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 said, "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 read of 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 that was sent to them from an IRS supervisor read, "I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for your efforts in the investigation and conviction on the Sportsman investigation. I know this was multi-year, requiring significant sacrifices and dedication on behalf of you all. Thank you to your commitment to the mission, which culminated in a great conviction."

“Those are words that are not supported by the actions of the agency," Shapley said. “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 told Herridge about what are called "sensitive investigations" which he said that the IRS required extra approvals for investigations against powerful people in the US such as politicians, business leaders, and wealthy individuals, which he said can create the alleged "double standard" when the IRS investigates more powerful people in the US versus your average businessman.

"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, Shapley added during the interview.

They also alleged a double standard with political campaigns and the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ). Ziegler spoke on the topic of Jack Smith’s investigation into Donald Trump, with a filing against Trump that was released earlier this month, just a few weeks before Election Day regarding Trump’s J6 case.

"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,” Ziegler said.

The tax evasion investigation into Hunter Biden, the pair of IRS whistleblowers said, reached back before the 2020 election, and Hunter’s laptop was a prime piece of evidence in the case. Both alleged that, despite what reports were saying 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 whistleblower said that they also corroborated that emails and messages found on Hunter’s laptop speaking about deals with business partners, the “Big Guy,” did in fact refer to President Joe Biden.

Both Shapley and Ziegler said they felt vindicated from Hunter Biden’s conviction, but that the pressure from the IRS has been continual. Hunter Biden has sued the IRS over the case, and made allegations in the filing against the employees. However, the two whistleblowers do not feel that the IRS as a whole will adequately defend them because of the agency's past actions in the Hunter Biden case.