The IRS supervisor made famous for speaking out about alleged political influence in the Hunter Biden tax investigation has been sworn in as the agency’s acting commissioner, CBS News has confirmed.
Gary Shapley took an unusual path to the top IRS job. He was a supervisory special agent leading dozens of staff, in his 14th year at the agency, when he came forward in a 2023 interview with CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod. Shapley revealed internal misgivings about what he described as improper pressure to go easy on the president’s son.
Shapley was the first of two IRS whistleblowers to make this case before congress. Biden ultimately pled guilty to tax crimes and was pardoned by his father. They alleged the Department of Justice “slow-walked” the investigation and instructed them not to pursue leads related to Joe Biden. They were removed from the case and temporarily sidelined with pay.
Shapley was given the top IRS post as President Trump’s pick for the job, Billy Long, has been awaiting Senate confirmation. Long, a former congressman from Missouri, has faced questions about his qualifications.
Shapley and another agent who said they faced retaliation after blowing the whistle to Congress and speaking out to CBS News about their investigation have already retained high ranking positions in the Trump administration.
Shapley and Joseph Ziegler were assigned to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s office as senior advisers for IRS reform, and Shapley was named deputy director of criminal investigations at the agency.
President Trump revoked Secret Service protections for former President Joe Biden‘s adult children, despite an executive order signed by Mr. Biden, extending those protections through July.
An attorney for Hunter Biden did not immediately return a request for comment.
Hunter Biden entered a guilty plea to the tax crimes after a Delaware judge rejected a plea deal that would have given him broad immunity. He was separately convicted in July 2024 on three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018.
He was pardoned by his father in December, a controversial move since it was a “Full and Unconditional Pardon” that applied to any federal crimes Hunter Biden may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024.
