Today, Hunter Biden voluntarily dismissed his civil lawsuit against the IRS. Without giving IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler, who were working the investigation at the time, an opportunity to defend themselves, Biden sued the IRS and accused the agents of violating his privacy by making protected whistleblower disclosures about him to Congress and by publicly speaking about information that Congress had already released.
Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler issued the following statement:
“It’s always been clear that the lawsuit was an attempt to intimidate us. However, we were always motivated by doing the right thing, defending our work, and honoring our duty to the American people. Intimidation and retaliation were never going to work. We truly wanted our day in court to provide the complete story, but it appears Mr. Biden was afraid to actually fight this case in a court of law after all. His voluntary dismissal of the case tells you everything you need to know about who was right and who was wrong.”
Shapley and Ziegler’s legal team issued the following statement:
“Hunter Biden brought this lawsuit against two honorable federal agents in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the preferential treatment he was given by President Biden’s Department of Justice. Today, in the midst of Gary Shapley’s and Joe Ziegler’s efforts to intervene in this litigation and in exchange for nothing at all, Hunter Biden dismissed his case with prejudice—meaning he can never bring it again. Shapley and Ziegler did nothing wrong, never had to seek a pardon, and their actions have now been entirely vindicated once again.”
Seven attorneys proudly represented Shapley and Ziegler in this case, defending the legality of their conduct. The legal team included Jason Foster and Tristan Leavitt of Empower Oversight, Dean Zerbe of Zerbe, Miller, Fingeret, Frank and Jadav, Mark Lytle of Nixon Peabody, Justin Gelfand and Greg Bailey of Margulis Gelfand DiRuzzo & Lambson, and John Rowley of SECIL Law. Between them, these attorneys include three former Department of Justice Tax Division trial attorneys, four former federal prosecutors, one former Associate Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel, two attorneys who have served in various capacities with the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate, one former Acting Special Counsel at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and one former Senate-confirmed member of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.
For a copy of the filing, click here.
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