Whistleblowers Seek Probe Of Prosecutor’s ‘Misleading’ Filing
IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have requested through their legal team an investigation by the inspector general into the conduct of Special Counsel David Weiss, who oversees the ongoing tax fraud case against Hunter Biden.
The whistleblowers allege that Weiss intentionally misled the public by implying that Shapley and Ziegler were under scrutiny for misconduct related to their disclosures about the case.
In a court filing, Weiss referenced a potential investigation into the whistleblowers’ “conduct.” However, the legal team for Shapley and Ziegler claims that Weiss twisted the facts, asserting that the actual probe is focused on allegations that Weiss and the IRS retaliated against the whistleblowers for lawfully reporting concerns about the handling of the Biden case.
The lawyers have asked the Justice Department Inspector General to examine whether Weiss engaged in “sanctionable misconduct” by creating a “false public relations narrative” that implies his office is not retaliating against the whistleblowers. They argue that this raises serious questions about possible prosecutorial misconduct by Weiss.
Shapley and Ziegler’s protected disclosures were the catalyst for the tax charges Weiss is now prosecuting against the president’s son Hunter Biden. The whistleblowers have previously testified about alleged prosecutorial misconduct by Weiss in the case, and their legal team believes that the recent court filing by Weiss is a further attempt to discredit and retaliate against them for exposing issues with the investigation.
As the investigation unfolds, it will be crucial to determine whether the clearly politically-motivated Weiss acted inappropriately in his handling of the case and his public statements regarding the whistleblowers.
