House Republicans are demanding answers about potential retaliation against IRS whistleblowers who brought claims of political influence in the Hunter Biden investigation to Congress.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.; Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.; House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky.; Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., began investigating in June whether the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) contributed to alleged retaliation and a “smear campaign” against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.
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Fox News exclusively reported on that initial letter requesting a briefing to determine whether there had been improper influence surrounding the IRS whistleblowers’ claims pending before the OSC.
But on Friday, Comer, Jordan and Smith sent another letter to the acting principal deputy special counsel, Karen Gorman, demanding answers.
IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, left, and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler are sworn-in as they testify during a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 19, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The lawmakers notified Gorman that Shapley’s attorney “recently revealed that approximately one hour after an investigative journalist released an interview with the whistleblowers in which they discussed damaging evidence of the IRS’s disparate treatment of U.S. taxpayers, the IRS issued [Supervisory Special Agent] Shapley a 15-day notice to either accept a demotion or resign.”
Shapley and Ziegler sat down with a journalist on Tuesday to “discuss their disclosures to Congress and how their lives have been affected by making those disclosures.”
During the interview, Shapley said the IRS “has a smothering blanket on me. [They’re] hoping that I quit, that they find some way to terminate me. Or they probably hope that I commit suicide or something,’” the lawmakers wrote.
IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley. (Fox News)
Less than an hour after the release of the interview, the IRS sent Shapley a memo informing him that he “could no longer keep his position,” the lawmakers wrote.
“This reassignment appears to give SSA Shapley effectively two options: accept a demotion or resign,” they wrote. “The IRS is giving SSA Shapley 15 days to decide.”
They added: “This is egregious, and OSC must take immediate steps to pause this action while it examines the IRS’s decision.”
IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler testifies during a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 19, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The lawmakers are now requesting a “prompt” update on the OSC’s investigation into the whistleblowers’ allegations and for OSC to “use its lawful authority to seek an immediate stay at the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board pausing the IRS’s latest threatening action.”
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“SSA Shapley’s and SA Ziegler’s whistleblowing took courage and bravery,” the lawmakers wrote. “Because of their important disclosures, Americans learned how the IRS treats individuals differently based upon their last names.”
Comer, Jordan and Smith reminded that Shapley and Ziegler “made lawfully protected disclosures to Congress that resulted in unrelenting personal and professional attacks on them.”
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“But they have not wavered,” the lawmakers wrote. “As this case has rightfully garnered significant public attention, OSC must show the whistleblower community that OSC will take appropriate and immediate action to stand up for whistleblowers.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the IRS and OSC for comment.