Jordan seeks information from DOJ on IRS whistleblower removed from Hunter Biden case
On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) demanded documents from the Justice Department regarding allegations that the department retaliated against an IRS whistleblower investigating Hunter Biden.
Jordan told Attorney General Merrick Garland in a letter obtained by Breitbart News that he was seeking information about the removal of an “IRS criminal oversight special agent and investigative team” from a ” highly publicized and controversial ongoing investigation”.
“The timing of the Department’s withdrawal of the officer and investigation team raises serious concerns given that the investigation was the subject of the officer’s whistleblower protected disclosure,” Jordan wrote. .
Read a copy of the letter below:
The letter comes in response to attorneys for the supervisory special agent, who later revealed his identity in a CBS interview as 14-year IRS veteran Gary Shapley, asking Congress to investigate the Shapley’s removal from the case as potential unlawful whistleblower retaliation.
Shapley told CBS he was assigned to a “high-profile investigation” in January 2020, which Breitbart News confirmed from a source familiar is tied to a years-long federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Shapley is represented by Empower Oversight, a company started by former Republican aides that works to protect whistleblowers. Empower Oversight alerted Congress May 15 that Shapley and the rest of his investigative team had been removed from the case at the direction of the Justice Department, according to a letter obtained by Breitbart News.
Empower Oversight argued the move was “clearly retaliatory” and contrasted with IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel who recently pledged before Congress not to take such action against whistleblowers.
Shapley detailed his whistleblower allegations, which he originally made privately to Congress, in the CBS interview, saying that when he began investigating Hunter Biden, he “immediately saw that it was was way outside the norm.”
Shapley said he observed “several steps that have been slow under the direction of this Justice Department” and that “deviations from the normal process” seem to “always benefit the subject” of the investigation.
It remains unclear why Shapley and his team were removed from the Hunter Biden case, and the Justice Department declined to comment on the matter.
Jordan wrote that his committee “would not condone the Department’s retaliatory conduct against this or any other whistleblower.”
He asked Garland to respond to him by June 8 with the requested documents and communications.
The letter comes the same day Shapley is set to testify behind closed doors with the House Ways and Means Committee, which is conducting a concurrent investigation into the IRS’ handling of whistleblower allegations and subsequent alleged retaliation.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.
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