IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler described what they called an “unprecedented” degree of misconduct during their investigation into Hunter Biden before the probe was squandered once then-President Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son.
In an interview on Pod Force One, Shapley and Ziegler, both of whom have since been elevated to leadership roles within the Internal Revenue Service, said political considerations and the influence of the Biden family interfered with their years-long examination of Hunter Biden’s finances.
“The Biden family lived five miles down from the office or a few miles down from the office. The guest house where Hunter Biden stayed for a while, five miles from the office,” Ziegler said of Biden’s $1.4 million tax delinquency.
“Throughout the investigation,” Ziegler said, “we heard about Joe Biden coming into the FBI office. I mean, it was really, really concerning from like, ‘Is this honestly the best place to work this tax investigation?’”
According to Ziegler, the political climate in Delaware complicated nearly every aspect of the case.
“Politics were so strong in in the district of Delaware, the state of Delaware,” he said. “For the first search warrant the judge made an improper comment … and she had to recuse herself from reviewing that affidavit and signing off on it … and everyone knew of the Biden family within that state because it’s so small and it’s such a tight-knit community.”
Both whistleblowers outlined what they said was the full scope of their case, which included allegations that Hunter Biden failed to register as a foreign agent while receiving substantial compensation connected to business dealings in Ukraine, Romania, and China. Those claims were never charged, and the case ultimately concluded with what Shapley and Ziegler characterized as a “sweetheart” plea agreement, followed by a guilty plea on tax charges and a presidential pardon that left the matter “swept under the rug.”
“The money was going for the family, was always about enriching the Biden family,” said Shapley, who served as the supervisory agent on the tax fraud investigation. “Whether it was tuition … or any other types of bills.”
Shapley also pointed to Hunter Biden’s roughly five-year tenure on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company, where he earned as much as $1 million annually despite having no prior experience in the energy sector.
The New York Post reports on the messages recovered from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop — which was confirmed to be authentic during his June 2024 felony gun trial in Delaware — showed the president’s son complaining in one exchange with his daughter Naomi about financial pressures within the family.
“I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years,” Hunter Biden texted. “It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike pop, I won’t make you give me half your salary,” he added in the January 2019 message.
Referencing additional texts between Hunter Biden and a Chinese business associate before millions of dollars were transferred to accounts tied to the Biden family and their associates, Shapley said that a “shake down” for money appeared to be “like a Biden family tradition.”