IRS agent who investigated Hunter Biden expected to be named IRS acting
chief
[April 16, 2025]
By FATIMA HUSSEIN
CHICAGO (AP) — An IRS whistleblower who testified publicly about
investigations into Hunter Biden’s taxes is expected to be promoted to
IRS acting commissioner, two sources familiar with the plan tell The
Associated Press.
Gary Shapley, an IRS employee who testified to Congress as Republicans
reviewed the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son, said he was
retaliated against for cooperating in the investigations. In March,
Shapley was promoted to Deputy Chief of IRS Criminal Investigations, and
another IRS investigator who testified about Biden's taxes, Joseph
Ziegler, was assigned to the Treasury Secretary’s office as a senior
adviser for IRS reform.
Now, the tax collection agency is planning to name Shapley to one of the
highest-ranking roles at the agency — in an interim role — as former
Missouri congressman Billy Long awaits a confirmation hearing to lead
the agency permanently, the people say. They were not authorized to
speak publicly about the plan.
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.
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“Gary is a long-tenured civil servant who has dedicated the last 15
years of his professional life to the IRS,” a Treasury spokesperson said
in an email Tuesday. “Gary has proven his honesty and devotion to
enforcing the law without fear or favor, even at great cost to his own
career. He’ll be a great asset to the IRS as we rethink and reform this
crucial organization.”
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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