Three House Republican chairmen are demanding the Biden-Harris administration pause the “latest threatening action” against one of the IRS whistleblowers involved in the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s laptop.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on Friday after an attorney for IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley said the IRS demanded he accept a demotion or resign.
Shapley, an IRS Supervisory Special Agent, and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler told independent journalist Catherine Herridge in an interview that aired this week that every investigating federal agency knew the Hunter Biden laptop case was real but ordered them to stand down given the timing of the 2020 election.
Attorney for whistleblower Tristan Leavitt said that less than an hour after Herridge posted the interview, the IRS sent Shapley a notice telling him he had 15 days to accept a demotion or resign. Leavitt posted the letter to X.
“This is egregious, and OSC must take immediate steps to pause this action while it examines the IRS’s decision,” the chairmen wrote.
The chairmen are demanding that Acting Principal Deputy Special Counsel Karen Gorman “seek an immediate stay” of the IRS' “threatening action” against Shapley. They also want “a prompt update on OSC’s investigation into the Whistleblowers’ allegations.”
In their letter, the chairman commended Shapley and Ziegler for their “courage and bravery.”
“They made lawfully protected disclosures to Congress that resulted in unrelenting personal and professional attacks on them,” the letter read. “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.”
The infamous "laptop from hell" was originally abandoned by first son Hunter Biden at a Delaware computer repair shop before being retrieved and authenticated by the FBI.
In October 2020, the New York Post first reported the abandoned laptop included evidence of influence-peddling, drug use, and other lurid activity.
Government officials, social media companies and the mainstream media refused to acknowledge the authenticity of the laptop, instead saying it was part of a Russian disinformation effort.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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