Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, has taken legal action against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) following allegations made by IRS whistleblowers that the Biden administration had interfered in an IRS investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax infractions.
In a lawsuit filed on September 18, 2023, Hunter Biden accuses the IRS of repeated and intentional leaks of his tax returns, claiming they failed to protect the confidentiality of his tax documents. The lawsuit, which spans 27 pages and was filed in Washington, DC, requests the court to declare the IRS’s actions as unlawful disclosure of his tax records. Hunter Biden also seeks access to all documents related to the disclosure of his tax information and demands US$1,000 in damages for each unauthorized disclosure, as reported by The Washington Times.
This legal action comes shortly after Hunter Biden was indicted on three criminal counts related to the possession of a handgun while under the influence of illegal drugs.
The lawsuit specifically singles out IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, though they are not named as defendants. Hunter Biden’s legal team alleges that these agents engaged in a campaign to smear him by disclosing his tax information in over 20 televised interviews, public statements, and congressional testimony.
According to Hunter Biden’s attorneys, “The lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden’s protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law”.
The IRS has declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
In response to the lawsuit, Shapley’s lawyers issued a statement, dismissing it as a frivolous attempt to divert attention from Hunter Biden’s legal issues and intimidate potential whistleblowers. They emphasized that Shapley had never released confidential taxpayer information except through authorized whistleblower disclosures.
During testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, the two IRS agents, Shapley and Ziegler, alleged that the federal government had covered up Hunter Biden’s alleged tax crimes and detailed extensive corruption that hindered their investigation. They claimed that the IRS had been deliberately slowing down investigative procedures related to Hunter Biden and that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss lacked the authority to bring charges in other jurisdictions.
Additionally, retired FBI agent Timothy Thibault, the former No. 2 supervisor in the FBI’s Washington field office, revealed in a recent interview with the House Judiciary Committee that he was asked to shut down a “politically connected” informant who was providing information relevant to the Hunter Biden investigation just before the 2020 election.
Best-selling author Peter Schweizer told Just the News that he believes he is the person described in the transcript based on past comments from Thibault and after The New York Times recently suggested the FBI had received information in the Hunter Biden case from a “right-wing author”.
Schweizer said the FBI approached him and he provided evidence about possible criminality in fall 2020.
Just the News noted that Schweizer “said there was no politics involved, just facts and he pushed back on the narrative of the Times, noting its journalists reported on the Hillary Clinton-funded Steele dossier submitted to the FBI in 2016”.
Schweizer said: “There are no ‘right wing facts’ or ‘left wing facts.’ There are only facts. And of course they happily accepted the unsubstantiated and unsourced dossier from Hillary Clinton’s lawyer without reservation”.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan summoned Thibault for the interview as he investigates allegations that US Attorney David Weiss and is team did not follow normal investigative procedures when probing Hunter Biden and his family’s overseas business dealings.
This latest development adds to the ongoing investigations into allegations that US Attorney David Weiss and his team deviated from normal investigative procedures when probing Hunter Biden and his family’s overseas business dealings. Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has disclosed an informant report suggesting that the FBI was alerted to bribery allegations involving Joe and Hunter Biden in connection with Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings gas firm. These allegations have further fueled political debate and scrutiny surrounding the Biden family.
