Hunter Biden's IRS lawsuit appears to misquote whistleblower, altering facts about FBI

Hunter Biden's lawsuit filed against the IRS on Monday appears to misquote IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, altering the facts regarding testimony from an FBI official about the Hunter Biden investigation.

During an interview that aired Aug. 1, 2023, on Fox News, "Mr. Shapley alleged that FBI General Counsel, Jason Jones 'was given a letter the Sunday before [his July 17 deposition before the House Oversight Committee] from DOJ basically telling him not to talk,'" the lawsuit states.

The entire quote from Shapley on Fox News' "America's Newsroom" is: "For example, the FBI SSA that testified for the House Ways and Means Committee, he was given a letter the Sunday before from DOJ basically telling him not to talk. And I know that he could have confirmed additional material facts on this investigation."

Jones sent a letter on Sunday, July 16, 2023, to a former Senior Supervisory Resident Agent in the FBI's Wilmington Resident Agency of the Baltimore Field Office whose name was omitted from the published letter.

Jones advised the former agent, who had asked the FBI for guidance before testifying before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee, to "decline to respond to questions seeking non-public information likely covered by one or more components of executive privilege or other significant confidentiality interests."

The former agent testified to the Oversight Committee on July 17 that the FBI "asked us to, quote, decline to respond to questions seeking nonpublic information likely covered by one or more components of executive privilege or other significantly ‐‐ or other significant confidentiality interests ... we intend to abide by and follow the Department's guidance and expectations."

The New York Post identified the unnamed former agent as Joe Gordon.

The facts indicate that Biden's lawsuit appears to confuse the FBI officials' names and misrepresent Shapley's comments.

"This suit against the IRS is just another frivolous smear by Biden family attorneys trying to turn people’s attention away from Hunter Biden’s own legal problems and intimidate any current and future whistleblowers," Shapley's legal team told Just the News. "The federal judge in Delaware who oversaw the aborted plea deal shot down similar claims against the whistleblowers after they exposed the secret backroom deal between Hunter Biden and the Department of Justice. Neither IRS SSA Gary Shapley nor his attorneys have ever released any confidential taxpayer information except through whistleblower disclosures authorized by statute. Once Congress released that testimony, like every American citizen, he has a right to discuss that public information."

Neither the House Oversight Committee nor Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, responded to Just the News' requests for comment.

The FBI told Just the News it has no comment on the matter.

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