Two IRS employees who were granted whistleblower protection for sharing their concerns about the government's alleged mishandling of the Hunter Biden investigation are asking a federal judge to throw out a civil lawsuit filed by the son of the president against the federal tax agency.
Those whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, have also asked to intervene in the matter, arguing that the IRS has a conflict of interest in trying to defend its decision to speak publicly and to Congress about its experience investigating the son of president
“The Whistleblower Protection Act gave them the right to discuss with the media information they believed constituted serious mismanagement and abuse of authority, such as the mishandling of the Hunter Biden case,” say lawyers for the two agents in arguments presented before a federal judge. Friday.
The civil case in question was filed by Hunter Biden in September against the IRS, alleging that Shapley and Ziegler were part of a “campaign to publicly defame” the president's son by leaking confidential taxpayer information about him. The lawsuit does not name Shapley and Ziegler as defendants.
“IRS agents have targeted and attempted to embarrass Mr. Biden through public statements to the media in which they and their representatives disclosed confidential information about a private citizen's tax matters,” the lawsuit alleges.
The case, which is still in its early stages, offers no explicit role for Shapley and Ziegler to defend their decision to speak publicly, including to CBS News, about their observations during the long-running prosecutorial investigation into Hunter Biden. This criminal case is scheduled to go to trial in June. Instead, it is up to the IRS to defend the two whistleblowers' decision to speak publicly.
In two separate motions filed Friday, the veteran IRS agents argue that they should be allowed to participate in the case to defend their actions and that the case should be dismissed.
“Shapley and Ziegler have a significant vested interest in the outcome of this action: their careers, their reputations, and defending themselves from adverse collateral consequences,” a motion reads.
The two are arguing the firing because they say they were careful to avoid identifying any confidential taxpayer information, and when they released information about Hunter Biden, it was done in a way that is protected by Congress and whistleblower statutes.
The Justice Department declined to comment when asked about the filings Friday. Neither the IRS nor Hunter Biden's lawyers have yet filed a formal response to the two agents' requests. It's up to U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras to determine whether they can step in, after Biden and the IRS respond to the requests.
A year ago, Shapley appeared in an interview with CBS News to raise questions about what he alleged was special treatment in the investigation of the president's son, telling CBS News that since the administration of Trump was repeatedly prevented from taking steps the IRS investigation would have considered routine in other cases.
“We have to make sure as an IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent that we treat every person exactly the same,” Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, told CBS News at the time. “And that just didn't happen here.”
The Justice Department has denied that Hunter Biden received favorable treatment.
Hunter Biden's legal team did not respond to a request for comment.
There are strict laws governing the need for confidentiality regarding how IRS employees handle taxpayer information. At the time of his first interview with CBS News in May, both Shapley and his attorneys told CBS News that they were being very careful in how they navigated the decision to speak publicly.
Biden's lawsuit against the IRS cites specific statements Shapley and an attorney made at the time. It claims that during interviews on April 19 and May 24, Shapley and attorney Mark Lytle, who is not named in the lawsuit, publicly disclosed the existence of the investigation without Hunter Biden's consent. And the lawsuit claims that during a June 28 CBS News interview, Shapley made comments that revealed confidential information about Hunter Biden's taxes and finances. Complainants dispute both claims.
IRS lawyers argued in filings last week that part of the case should be dismissed because private citizens working on behalf of IRS agents are not covered by tax privacy provisions. The government also argued that disclosures are permitted if an IRS agent believes “such return or refund information may be related to potential taxpayer misconduct, maladministration, or abuse.”
In motions filed Friday, the two agents take issue with the fact that the IRS did not request a full dismissal of the lawsuit, opting instead to dismiss the claims based on alleged disclosures made by employees who they are not from the IRS, like Shapley's lawyer. They argue that the IRS, as the target of whistleblower complaints, is in no position to defend the agents' actions.
“The conflicts of interest could not be clearer,” they write.
Hunter Biden's lawsuit seeks $1,000 for “each act of unauthorized disclosure” as well as an unspecified amount of punitive damages.
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