The identity of the anonymous IRS whistleblower who made serious allegations of political misconduct during the Hunter Biden investigation has been revealed as special agent Joseph Ziegler, a gay Democrat with more than a dozen years of service in the agency’s criminal investigative division.
Ziegler made his first public appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, alongside his IRS supervisor Gary Shapley, who also blew the whistle on political influence surrounding prosecutorial decisions in the federal probe of the president’s son, Fox News reports.
🚨 BREAKING: IRS Whistleblower Joseph Ziegler comes forward to speak out against the the handling of the Hunter Biden investigation pic.twitter.com/vnBth51HTJ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 19, 2023
As a 13-year special agent within the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division, Ziegler is expected to testify that Hunter Biden “should have been charged with a tax felony, and not only the tax misdemeanor charge,” and that communications and text messages reviewed by investigators “may be a contradiction to what President Biden was saying about not being involved in Hunter’s overseas business dealings.”
Ziegler will shed light on the “corrosion of ethical standards and the abuse of power that threaten our nation” that he has witnessed.
IRS Special Agent and whistleblower Joseph Ziegler: "I am risking my career, my reputation, and my casework … No one should be above the law, regardless of your political affiliation." pic.twitter.com/wH8H1FMhEx
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 19, 2023
He will also address several instances where prosecutors allegedly “did not follow the ordinary process, slow-walked the investigation, and put in place unnecessary approvals and roadblocks from effectively and efficiently investigating the case.” This included blocking questioning and interviewing of Hunter Biden’s adult children.
Furthermore, Ziegler will call on Congress and the Biden administration to “consider a special counsel” for the Hunter Biden investigation and “all the related cases and spin-off investigations that have come forward from this investigation.”
EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler tells @CBS_Herridge anytime IRS investigators potentially wanted to ask questions related to President Biden, they were told "That's gonna take too much approvals. We can't ask those questions."pic.twitter.com/aitPxKpyUb
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) July 19, 2023
He will urge Congress to “establish an official channel for Federal investigators to pull the emergency cord and raise the issue of the appointment of a special counsel for consideration by your senior officials.”
Gary Shapley, the IRS supervisor, will also testify that prosecutors “had decided to conceal some evidence from the investigators” found on Hunter Biden’s laptop. He will highlight that the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office “slow-walked steps like conducting interviews, serving document requests, and pursuing physical search warrants in California, Virginia, and Delaware” until after the 2020 presidential election.
Shapley will reveal, “The warrants were ready as early as April 2020, but the Delaware USAO pushed them off until after the November 2020 election and then never pursued them.”
He will also discuss the challenges they faced in investigating Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud account due to prosecutors’ restrictions.
