WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said Wednesday’s testimony from two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers alleging political interference in the Hunter Biden criminal probe underscores the “two-track” system of justice in America.
Meanwhile, the Iowa senator is leading a group of Republican senators demanding the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation protect whistleblowers who disclosed records alleging a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national.
Long-time IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who until Wednesday, was known only as “Whistleblower X,” testified before the House Oversight Committee about alleged meddling in the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden.
Shapley, who works in the IRS’ Criminal Investigation division, and Ziegler, part of the agency’s International Tax and Financial Crime Section, detailed examples of Biden administration interference in the probe — a years-long investigation ending with what critics call a “sweetheart” plea deal for the president’s troubled son.
“I have a reason to believe that there was gross mismanagement present throughout this investigation, that there was a gross waste of funds relating to the tax dollars spent on investigating this case, and that there was an abuse of authority with DOJ-Tax and the Delaware United States Attorney’s Office,” Ziegler said in opening remarks to the committee.
Democrats scoffed at the whistleblowers’ testimony, with leftist New York U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) calling the allegations “a new conspiracy theory.”
Grassley said the men are true professionals with distinguished careers in going after “tax cheats” like Hunter Biden.
“I’m outraged to hear that they were taken off the case by somebody in the Justice Department to say, in a sense, ‘You’re not going to go after the Bidens,” the senator told The Iowa Star Wednesday on the Simon Conway Show on NewsRadio 1040 WHO in Des Moines. “That’s entirely wrong. That gives us a two-tiered system of justice.”
Shapley testified that he was prevented from taking “investigative steps” in the probe. The whistleblowers assert the IRS had recommended charging Hunter Biden with attempted tax evasion and other felonies, much stiffer charges than the probation-filled plea deal ultimately offered by David Weiss, the Delaware U.S. attorney who oversaw the criminal probe.
Grassley said he met with Shapley days before his testimony before the House committee this week. Shapley thanked the senator for the work he’s done in helping federal whistleblowers over the years, Grassley said. He added that those who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse in government are helping congress perform a vital role in representative democracy.
“We don’t just pass laws or appropriate money. We’ve also got a responsibility to make sure the president and his people do what the constitution requires to ‘faithfully execute the laws,’” Grassley said. “And this two-track system of justice in this country is contrary to the constitution and the spirit of our whole revolution against Great Britain 240 years ago.”
Grassley has led Republican efforts in uncovering evidence of possible corruption involving President Joe Biden and his family. Recently, he released an unclassified FBI-generated record describing an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a Ukrainian business executive. Grassley acquired the record, an FD-1023, via legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers.
He told The Iowa Star he expects to make more announcements on possible Biden family wrongdoing “in the near future.”
On that front, Grassley and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) are leading a group of 23 of their Republican colleagues in calling on the Department of Justice and the FBI to commit to protecting agency whistleblowers who disclosed the existence of FBI records alleging the criminal scheme involving Biden when he was vice president.
“Whistleblowers have and continue to play a vital role in exposing government misconduct at all levels. Without whistleblowers, Congress would have never known the existence of the unclassified FD-1023 form involving an alleged multi-million dollar bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and a foreign national,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter this week to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Accordingly, we demand that you commit that no taxpayer funds will be used by DOJ or FBI to expose the identity of or retaliate against any whistleblowers,” the senators wrote.
Federal law prohibits agencies from retaliating against employees for whistleblowing. The senators are seeking express commitments from Garland and Wray to following the law.
Grassley said his office is working “28 lives cases” involving government whistleblowers. Noting that not a single Democrat signed the letter, the senator said his colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen politics over whistleblower protection.
“I think the difficulty of getting Democrats [to sign on] now is because they see every effort to protect whistleblowers as taking on the Biden Administration,” Grassley said.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Chuck Grassley” by Chuck Grassley.
