Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has promoted two agents with the Internal Revenue Service who said they faced retaliation after blowing the whistle to Congress and speaking out to CBS News about political interference into their investigation of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes.
IRS special agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler were assigned to Bessent’s office as senior advisers for IRS reform, and Shapley was named deputy director of criminal investigations at the agency.
The promotions stand in stark contrast to President Trump’s decision on Monday to revoke Secret Service protections for Hunter Biden, despite an executive order signed by his father, former President Joe Biden, extending those protections through July.
Shapley and Ziegler first came forward in 2023, alleging the Department of Justice “slow-walked” the yearslong tax probe into Hunter Biden, and that prosecutors told them not to pursue investigative leads related to his father.
The duo’s disclosures came ahead of a series of court decisions that ultimately led President Biden to pardon his son for the crimes related to the agents’ investigation. Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to those crimes after a Delaware judge rejected a plea deal that would have given him broad immunity.
“We have been motivated by one singular mantra: do what’s right,” Shapley said in a statement. “It’s never been easy, and there have been more pitfalls than one would hope, but we appreciate the opportunity Secretary Bessent is giving us to utilize our skills and firsthand knowledge of the agency to further the work of the administration to root out waste and fraud from the federal government and make a difference.”
In an interview with Fox News Tuesday, Bessent said he is giving Shapley and Ziegler “a year to investigate the wrongdoing that’s going on at the IRS,” adding that they will make sure “this Hunter Biden nonsense” doesn’t repeat itself.
The new assignments come as the IRS is drafting plans to cut its workforce by as much as half through layoffs, attrition and buyouts, part of the Trump administration’s effort to downsize the federal government. And the prominent postings are an abrupt departure from the tenuous relationship the two IRS whistleblowers previously had with the tax agency.
In December, the federal watchdog that investigates whistleblower complaints substantiated claims by Shapley and Ziegler alleging the IRS had retaliated against them when agency leadership had removed the two agents from the Hunter Biden case at DOJ’s request.
The retaliation claim was part of an effort by Shapley and Ziegler to push back against what they believed was a wide-ranging effort by Hunter Biden’s attorneys to discredit them. In September, the two men sued Abbe Lowell – one of Hunter Biden’s attorneys – for defamation. Lowell responded by strenuously disputing the allegations and calling Shapley and Ziegler “disgruntled.”
As for Hunter Biden, he recently was granted approval by a California judge to drop a lawsuit he filed against a former Trump White House aide he accused of illegally publishing private photos, emails, and other materials from his now-infamous laptop.
In court documents, Hunter Biden cited financial reasons for dropping the lawsuit. He said his “income has decreased significantly” as sales of his art have dried up in the past year, and he was forced out of the house he was renting due to the fires that ravaged Los Angeles in January.
