The Trump administration is promoting two veteran IRS agents who spoke out about irregularities during the Hunter Biden tax case after the agency retaliated against them for coming forward in 2023.
The Treasury Department named IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler senior advisers for IRS reform on Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime whistleblower champion Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) announced.
“Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler put their entire careers on the line to stand up for the truth, and instead of being thanked, the Biden administration treated them like skunks at a picnic. Far too many whistleblowers share a similar experience of retaliation,” Grassley said.
“I hope today is the first of many redemption stories for whistleblowers who’ve been mistreated. By taking a stand for whistleblowers, President Trump and his cabinet are ushering in a new era of transparency and accountability.”
Shapley and Ziegler will immediately begin working with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in their advisory positions. The promotions follow Grassley’s requests to Trump and Bessent to put Shapley and Ziegler in leadership roles at the IRS after the career agents suffered illegal retaliation for coming forward about the preferential treatment that the former president’s son received during the yearslong criminal investigation into his taxes.
“I am pleased to welcome Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler to the Treasury Department, where they will help us drive much-needed cultural reform within the IRS,” Bessent said in a statement.
“These veteran civil servants join us to help further the agency’s focus on collections, modernization, and customer service, so we can deliver a more effective and efficient IRS experience for hardworking American taxpayers. I appreciate Senator Grassley’s efforts in Congress to support whistleblower protections in order to improve transparency, accountability and root out the culture of retaliation.”
The Trump administration is pushing to significantly reduce the IRS’s workforce and budget as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s effort to streamline the federal bureaucracy. Billionaire Elon Musk, the de facto head of DOGE, and his team of engineers have attempted to gain access to sensitive IRS data to aid the cost-cutting campaign.
“We are enormously grateful to Secretary Bessent and Senator Grassley and all of the members of Congress for their leadership,” the agents said in a statement.
“We have been motivated by one singular mantra: do what’s right. It’s never been easy, and there have been more pitfalls than one would hope, but we appreciate the opportunity Secretary Bessent is giving us to utilize our skills and firsthand knowledge of the agency to further the work of the administration to root out waste and fraud from the federal government and make a difference.”
Shapley and Ziegler first came forward to the House Ways and Means Committee in spring 2023 with detailed, explosive testimony about how IRS officials and their Justice Department counterparts slow-walked and obstructed the Hunter Biden investigation, while protecting Joe Biden from its consequences. Additionally, the IRS whistleblowers released a trove of documents from the Hunter Biden investigation that corroborated their testimony and cast new light on the younger Biden’s foreign business dealings.
Their congressional testimony became a focal point of the House GOP’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his role in his family members’ foreign business dealings during his vice presidency. Shapley and Ziegler’s testimony also contributed to the collapse of Hunter Biden’s generous plea agreement with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss in summer 2023, paving the way for the criminal cases against Biden.
Once the plea deal fell apart, then–Attorney General Merrick Garland promoted Weiss to special counsel, as the House GOP’s investigation gained further momentum. Weiss eventually prosecuted Hunter Biden on federal gun charges in Delaware and tax charges in California that were very similar to Shapley and Ziegler’s recommendations. The IRS whistleblowers also provided House Republicans with additional testimony and documents in late 2023 to supplement their initial whistleblower disclosures about Hunter Biden’s taxes.
In response to their whistleblower disclosures, the IRS illegally silenced and retaliated against Shapley and Ziegler, a federal monitor tasked with reviewing whistleblower complaints recently concluded after a lengthy investigation. At one point, the IRS presented Shapley with an ultimatum to either accept a demotion or resign from his position, a move the agency reversed after pressure from House Republicans.
Shapley and his attorneys have accused Weiss of retaliating against him and getting him booted from the Hunter Biden case. House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) is seeking testimony from Weiss now that the Hunter Biden prosecutions have concluded. Weiss previously testified before Congress during the impeachment inquiry and confirmed key details of Shapley and Ziegler’s allegations.
Hunter Biden was convicted last June on three federal gun charges tied to his purchase of a firearm while he was addicted to crack cocaine and false claims about his drug usage on gun paperwork. In September, he pleaded guilty to nine federal tax charges for failing to pay $1.4 million of taxes in a timely manner during the past decade. Before his sentencing dates, his father, then-President Joe Biden, pardoned him for all potential crimes from January 2014 to December 2024, making it one of the most sweeping pardons in American history.
Hunter Biden continues pursuing legal action against the IRS for alleged illegal disclosures of taxpayer information by Shapley and Ziegler. The whistleblowers have attempted to intervene in the case to better defend themselves, thus far without success. It remains to be seen if Biden will continue moving forward with the lawsuit after he dropped another lawsuit due to his financial difficulties. Shapley and Ziegler are also pursing a defamation case against Hunter Biden’s high-profile attorney, Abbe Lowell, after he circulated letters to the media suggesting they committed criminal acts.