Originally published September 18, 2023 7:11 am PDT
Hunter Biden filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), alleging that agents improperly disclosed his confidential tax information during interactions with congressional committees.
The lawsuit asserts that IRS agents made these disclosures while discussing a Justice Department investigation into Biden’s financial records.
According to the legal documents, the primary focus of the lawsuit is not the IRS investigation that spanned over five years, but rather the unauthorized public disclosure of Biden’s sensitive tax data.
As stated in the lawsuit, “This lawsuit is not about the legitimacy of the IRS investigation of Mr. Biden over the past five years or any decision to penalize Mr. Biden for any failure to comply with his obligations under the tax laws.”
It further mentions, “Rather, the lawsuit is about the decision by IRS employees, their representatives, and others to disregard their obligations and repeatedly and intentionally publicly disclose and disseminate Mr. Biden’s protected tax return information outside the exceptions for making disclosures in the law.”
Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, the two IRS agents under scrutiny, previously testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, suggesting that the Biden investigation faced undue delays.
The lawsuit draws attention to an alarming number of “20 nationally televised and non-congressionally sanctioned interviews” in which they discussed the probe.
These disclosures, Biden’s legal representatives argue, were not only breaches of privacy but targeted attempts to tarnish the president’s son’s image.
The lawsuit articulates this concern, stating that the IRS agents “sought to embarrass” Biden by making public statements revealing confidential tax details.
“Mr. Biden has no fewer or lesser rights than any other American citizen, and no government agency or government agent has free reign to violate his rights simply because of who he is. Yet the IRS and its agents have conducted themselves under a presumption that the rights that apply to every other American citizen do not apply to Mr. Biden,” reads a section of the suit.
Addressing the agents’ whistleblower status, the lawsuit notes that such a designation “cannot and does not shield them from their wrongful conduct in making unauthorized public disclosures that are not permitted by the whistleblower process.”
It further elaborates, “In fact, a ‘whistleblower’ is supposed to uncover government misconduct, not the details of that employee’s opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private person.”
Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, emphasized the intent of the lawsuit, stating that it wasn’t centered on the whistleblower statute or the Congress’s oversight.
Instead, it highlights an “assault” on Biden’s privacy.
He asserted, “Rather, IRS agents have targeted and sought to embarrass Mr. Biden via public statements to the media in which they and their representatives disclosed confidential information about a private citizen’s tax matters.”
For each unauthorized disclosure, Biden is seeking $1,000 in damages.
Following news breaking of Hunter Biden suing the IRS, the House Oversight Committee defended the whistleblowers in a Twitter post.
“Anyone who has read or listened to the two IRS whistleblowers’ testimony knows that they are upstanding, concerned citizens without a political agenda,” the committee tweeted on Monday.
“Both have worked at the IRS for over a decade on some of the biggest tax crime cases in our country’s history. What they witnessed while working on the Hunter Biden criminal investigation was a ‘corrosion of ethical standards and the abuse of power that threaten our nation.’ They have brought forward serious allegations of politicization and misconduct by DOJ officials.”
The committee went on to emphasize the protection afforded to whistleblowers.
“In short, these are good people who did everything right to obtain whistleblower protection with the best interest of our country in mind,” the group said. “Meanwhile, Hunter Biden is a tax cheat who hasn’t paid his fair share – something that [Joe Biden] lectures everyday Americans about.”
“These IRS whistleblowers do not deserve the smear campaign Hunter Biden’s legal team is waging,” the committee concluded. “Witness intimidation is just another dirty tactic by the Hunter Biden legal team. Despite their games, our investigation will continue.”
