Two IRS whistleblowers who testified before Congress last year about the Justice Department's alleged interference in the tax investigation case against Hunter Biden said the president's sweeping pardon for their son was not surprising.
IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and IRS Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent Joseph Ziegler spoke Monday with Fox News anchor Martha McCollum in their first interview since President Biden granted a full and unconditional pardon. I had an exclusive interview with “The Story”. son.
“I wasn't surprised at all. This was expected,” Shapley said of the pardon. “You can see by the defense's tactics that this is what's at hand. And what's surprising is that the president of the United States lied to the American people about what he was going to do.”
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, departs from the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Delaware on June 3, 2024. Biden is on trial for a felony firearms charge. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden has repeatedly denied he would pardon his son, who pleaded guilty in September to nine federal tax charges, including three felonies and six misdemeanors.
The eldest son was also convicted in June of three felonies related to the illegal purchase of firearms.
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Biden announced on Sunday that he would pardon his only surviving son, arguing that he had been “selectively” and “unjustly” prosecuted. The pardon covers crimes that the younger Biden committed or may have committed between 2014 and 2024 for 10 years.
President Joe Biden (left) and his son Hunter Biden (right). (Fox News)
“No rational person considering the facts of Hunter's case could come to any other conclusion than that Hunter was chosen solely because he is my son, and that is wrong. He is five and a half years old. “There was an effort to break down Hunter, who has maintained years of sobriety in the face of relentless attacks and selective prosecution,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. “In trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me too—and there's no reason to believe it'll stop here. Enough is enough.”
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Special Agent Ziegler told McCallum that the claim that Biden's son was “selected” was “absolutely ridiculous.”
“I'm a Democrat and I'm a person who believes in the rule of law. When you look at what he's been charged with, what he's charged with tax evasion and what he's pled guilty to, there are thousands of taxpayers who have come forward in good faith. “They pay their taxes on time, but I think they should be disappointed because they are held to a different standard than the political elite,” Ziegler said.
IRS Special Agent Gary Shapley (left) and IRS Criminal Investigation testify during a House Oversight Committee hearing related to the Justice Department's Hunter Biden investigation on July 19, 2023, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Official Joseph Ziegler will be sworn in. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
He added that he was disappointed that Hunter Biden got a “free pass” after all.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (Democratic) I wrote to Xpreviously said on Twitter that he was “disappointed” in Biden's decision to pardon his son because the commander-in-chief made the decision to put his family “before his country.”
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“This is a bad precedent that could be exploited by future presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation,” Polis wrote. “Hunter brought upon himself the legal problems he faced, and one can sympathize with his struggle while at the same time recognizing that no one is above the law, including the president and the president's son. ”
