Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal challenged the integrity of IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley and his work on the ongoing Hunter Biden case.
Neal, the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, released a statement Friday attacking Shapley and Republicans on the committee ahead of Shapley and IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler's upcoming testimony.
His press release appears to omit significant details from the witness testimony related to Shapley's removal from the Hunter Biden case and his decision to come forward.
Supervisory IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigator Joseph Ziegler talk with each other as they arrive for a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden, on Capitol Hill July 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. The committee heard testimony from two whistleblowers from the Internal Revenue Service who allege that the Hunter Biden criminal probe was mishandled by the Department of Justice.
His statement cites testimony given to the Ways and Means Committee by Darrell Waldon and Michael Batdorf, two IRS officials who worked with Shapley on the Hunter Biden case and spoke to the committee in September.
Neal uses selective excerpts from their testimony to defend the integrity of the ongoing Hunter Biden investigation and claim Shapley was removed by the IRS officials from the case because the Hunter Biden case was dormant.
Batdorf did clarify that he did not believe Weiss had Shapley removed out of retaliation and he did not decide to take Shapley off the Hunter Biden case as an act of retaliation.
Waldon suggested to Shapley that there were paths he could take to address his concerns about ethical and prosecutorial misconduct, according to an email exhibit from page 172 of Shapley's testimony.
Later in December 2022, Shapley was removed from the case by Waldon and Batdorf following a conversation they had with Weiss, Batdorf testified.
As a result of Graves' decision, the statute of limitations expired for alleged tax offenses related to Hunter Biden's income from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings during the 2014-15 tax years, Shapley and Ziegler testified.
Batdorf repeatedly praised Shapley's work ethic as an IRS agent and Waldon recalled Shapley receiving a performance award for his work at the agency.
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