IRS whistleblower defends claims Hunter Biden got special treatment from the Justice Department

Internal Revenue Service whistleblower Gary Shapley defended his claims that Hunter Biden got special treatment from the Department of Justice in an interview on Fox News' "Special Report." 

Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency, has come forward with accusations that prosecutors put an investigation into Hunter Biden's finances "on the back burner" as the 2020 election approached. He further claims that David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, said privately on several occasions that he was not pulling the strings and that he was not in charge of the investigation. 

Shapley said he was in a meeting last fall when Weiss admitted he was not calling the shots. 

"I even had [Weiss] repeat that because I knew how important that fact was, and I wanted to make sure I understood it," Shapley told Fox News' Bret Baier. 

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"You were there, and you remember it crystal clear in your mind?" Baier asked. 

"Not only do I remember it crystal clear, but I documented it," Shapley replied. 

Shapley's claims directly contradict what Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday, when he denied whistleblower allegations that the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with Weiss' Hunter Biden probe. 

"I don't know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution, given that he has this authority," Garland said.

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The House Ways and Means Committee last week released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged officials at the Justice Department, FBI and IRS interfered with the investigation of Weiss' tax evasion case against Hunter Biden. The whistleblowers accused investigators of "trying to limit" questioning related to President Biden as part of the investigation into his son, Hunter Biden, and said decisions in the case seemed to be "influenced by politics." 

Shapley, one of the two whistleblowers, has gone public with his accusations that DOJ officials "slow-walked" the case. He told Baier there were two search warrants that were supposed to be executed on properties connected to Biden, but prosecutors got cold feet as the 2020 presidential election drew near. 

"Between April and June 2020 we drafted an affidavit to execute a search warrant at a couple different locations and the prosecutors at the time stated that probable cause had been achieved but as we moved closer to the election, it just seemed like they kept putting it on the back burner, and they didn't allow us to do that search warrant, even though the legal requirements to execute the search warrant were met," Shapley said. 

He further claims serious felony charges that could have been laid against Biden "were left on the table," including for tax evasion in 2014 and for filing a false return for 2018 and 2019.  

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Hunter Biden has pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax as part of a deal that is expected to keep him out of prison. The president's son also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement with regard to a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

The Justice Department has repeatdly said that Weiss, as a U.S. attorney, had "full authority" over the Hunter Biden investigation, "including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate."

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The White House has repeatedly said that President Biden has never been involved with his son's business dealings. They also maintain the president never discussed them with him. 

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.