President Trump is removing Hunter Biden whistleblower Gary Shapley from his role as acting IRS commissioner only days after he was appointed, amid a feud between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and billionaire Elon Musk.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender will be the new acting IRS chief, already the third under Trump’s new administration, and Shapley will remain in his senior adviser role at the Treasury Department, the New York Times first reported on Friday.
“Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment. Gary Shapley’s passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our work, and he remains among my most important senior advisors at the U.S. Treasury as we work together to rethink and reform the IRS,” Bessent said in a statement.
“After Gary and Joseph Ziegler complete their ongoing year-long investigation, I will ensure they are both in senior government roles that will enable the results of their investigation to translate into meaningful policy changes.”
Musk did not comment on the matter directly but appears to have unfollowed Bessent on X, a sign the two are feuding. He also amplified an X post from right-wing activist Laura Loomer criticizing Bessent for working with “Trump hater” John Hope Bryant, a financial-literacy entrepreneur and CEO of nonprofit Operation HOPE.
Although the IRS reports to Bessent, Musk helped get Shapley appointed without Bessent’s consultation, the Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the dynamic. Shapley had been working in the IRS commissioner’s office.
As the outward head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has attempted to lower costs and cut staff at several federal agencies, including the IRS. Musk is also one of Trump’s largest political donors and his biggest cheerleader on social media, with over 200 million followers on X, the platform Musk owns.
Shapley’s appointment to acting IRS commissioner was seen as a triumph for whistleblowers after a watchdog concluded that the agency unlawfully retaliated against him and Ziegler for speaking out. Bessent promoted the IRS whistleblowers to senior adviser roles in March at the request of Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) a longtime whistleblower advocate.
“Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the United States Treasury’s choice to temporarily lead the IRS during its current transition toward a more efficient, more effective agency to best serve the American people,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said in a statement praising Faulkender’s stewardship of the Paycheck Protection Program and other initiatives during Trump’s first term.
“The fight against weaponization and politicization at the IRS is a top-tier priority for the Trump Administration, and Deputy Secretary Faulkender will continue to make the needed changes both durable and lasting. We urge Congress to act quickly to confirm permanent leadership at the IRS to ensure its ability to best serve taxpayers going forward.”
The Trump administration is working on dramatically cutting the IRS’s headcount and budget as part of its attempt to reduce the size of the federal government. Trump’s pick to run the IRS, former Representative Billy Long (R., Mo.), has yet to be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate.
A veteran IRS agent, Shapley gained prominence for coming forward in 2023 with detailed allegations of misconduct by Justice Department and IRS officials during the Hunter Biden tax investigation. He and Joseph Ziegler, another well-respected career IRS agent, testified before Congress multiple times and turned over hundreds of pages of documents to substantiate their allegations, which became part of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into former President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden is suing the IRS over alleged illegal disclosures from Shapley and Ziegler, a lawsuit the IRS agents have attempted to join in order to better defend themselves.
The House GOP’s impeachment probe further corroborated the whistleblower allegations and uncovered $27 million in payments from foreign sources to Hunter Biden and his business associates during and after Joe Biden’s vice presidency.
Joe Biden pardoned his son in December ahead of his sentencing dates for federal gun and tax charges. Special Counsel David Weiss prosecuted Hunter Biden on both sets of charges after the IRS whistleblowers went public with their allegations and the House GOP began investigating the Biden family. Joe Biden ended his presidency in January with pardons for other family members to protect them from the incoming Trump administration.