Staff Reports
In an unexpected turn of events, the Bidens' attorneys have launched an offensive against IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, calling his credibility into doubt. Attorney Chris Clark tried to minimize Hunter Biden's actions and referred to Shapley as a "very biased individual." In the meantime, attorney Abbe Lowell launched a vitriolic attack against Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith and Shapley, insinuating that IRS agents claiming whistleblower status may be doing so to avoid responsibility for their own malfeasance. The attorneys for Shapley have responded to this mudslinging by calling the Biden attorneys' bluff.
NEW: IRS Whistleblower's Lawyers Call Biden Attorneys' Bluff, Challenge WaPo to Repudiate Leak Claims https://t.co/AYKcseGDbv
— RedState (@RedState) July 4, 2023
In a letter to Washington Post reporters Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein, Shapley's attorneys provide a detailed chronology of events leading up to the publication of an article disclosing possible tax and firearms charges against Hunter Biden. The attorneys insist that Shapley was not the article's source and has never contacted the reporters. They challenge the reporters to corroborate this information and exonerate Shapley from the accusations made by Hunter Biden's attorneys. The letter also calls attention to deceptive statements made by attorney Chris Clark about Shapley's alleged offense and the release of documents, as well as errors in attorney Abbe Lowell's attack on Shapley.
BREAKING: IRS Whistleblower's lawyers called out Biden's mud-slinger ones w/ Shapley filing affidavit attesting under oath he was not the leaker & asks Washington Post reporters to clear his good name. 1/ pic.twitter.com/V6Nhi3wW23
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) July 4, 2023
2/2 pic.twitter.com/dI7Qxc065S
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) July 4, 2023
Whistleblower protections do not shield employees from confronting consequences for misconduct, as made plain by Shapley's attorneys, who state that their client's 14-year tenure with the IRS has been flawless. They assert that Lowell's insinuations are mere conjecture and accuse him of teetering on the edge of defamation. The attorneys also note that Biden's attorneys have lobbied the Department of Justice to launch a retaliatory criminal investigation against Shapley, which they characterize as a chilling threat that merits scrutiny. The letter concludes by requesting that the Post reporters affirm publicly that Shapley was not their source and refrain from disseminating false narratives constructed by attorneys for the Biden family to intimidate whistleblowers like Shapley.
Shapley affirms in an appended affidavit that he is not the source for the Post article and authorizes the dissemination of any communications between himself and the reporters. The letter functions as a reminder to Biden's counsel to mind their Ps and Qs, as well as a call to the Washington Post and corporate media to investigate and report on these serious allegations, as opposed to blindly reiterating information.
