Hunter Biden’s high-priced attorneys again tried to turn the president’s son into a victim by portraying IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley as a partisan leaker and a criminal — but on Monday, Shapley responded. Shapley’s counter was a devasting blow to Hunter Biden’s legal strategy and also represented a shot across the bow of the Biden-friendly Washington Post.
On Friday, Winston and Strawn attorney Abbe David Lowell dispatched a 10-page missive to Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, regarding what Lowell called the Republican House’s “obsession with attacking the Biden family.” While the letter complained of the House’s supposed abandonment of congressional protocol and rules of conduct, Hunter Biden’s attorneys’ real focus was Shapley, whom they painted as a partisan hack, not a whistleblower — and a criminal to boot.
The June 30 letter from Hunter’s attorneys strongly implied Shapley was responsible for leaking information to The Washington Post that served as the basis for an Oct. 6, 2022 article authored by Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein. The article claimed that “federal agents investigating President Biden’s son Hunter have gathered what they believe is sufficient evidence to charge him with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase…” Biden’s lawyers then challenged the House to ask the whistleblowers if they had leaked information to the Post.
Shapley didn’t wait for the House to ask, instead submitting an affidavit to the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday in which he unequivocally swore he “was not the source for the October 6, 2022, Washington Post article.” Shapley further attested that he had never “had any contact with Barrett or Stein,” the authors of the article. He also stated under oath that he “never leaked confidential taxpayer information.”
The whistleblower then expressly authorized “the Washington Post and/or journalists Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein, or any other Washington Post reporter to release any communications directly or indirectly to or from me,” agreeing “to waive any purported journalistic privilege and/or confidentiality that would have arisen had I been a source for the Washington Post.”
At the same time, Shapley’s lawyers wrote to Washington Post authors Barrett and Stein, noting that “Biden family attorneys have falsely accused SSA Shapley of illegally leaking to you for your story, ‘Federal agents see chargeable tax, gun-purchase case against Hunter Biden.’”
“As you know, SSA Shapley was not a source for you on that story, or any other story for that matter,” the letter continued. “SSA Shapley has never communicated with either of you, either on or off the record.”
Then, after stressing that Shapley had waived any confidentiality that would have arisen, the whistleblower’s lawyers asked them “to correct Mr. Biden’s attorneys and clear SSA Shapley’s good name of these false and retaliatory charges.”
The Federalist asked both Barrett and Stein whether Shapley was a source for their article, but the reporters did not respond to the inquiries. Whether they will respond to Shapley’s entreat remains to be seen.
What is clear, however, is that Hunter Biden’s attorneys don’t care whether Shapley was the source. They are being paid to defend Hunter Biden, and beyond cutting a sweetheart deal with Joe Biden’s DOJ, that means attacking everyone else. With Shapley and his testimony representing the most serious threat to the Biden family, the attacks on the IRS whistleblower are likely to continue.
While there is little that can be done to stop Hunter Biden’s lawyers from smearing Shapley, congressional oversight committees should ensure the Biden administration’s DOJ isn’t providing an assist. A recent New York Times article suggests Hunter Biden’s attorneys are attempting to inveigle the DOJ in the attack on Shapley.
“Hunter Biden’s lawyers have told the Justice Department that Mr. Shapley has broken federal laws that keep grand jury material secret,” The New York Times reported last week. In his Monday affidavit, Shapley also refuted this point, saying he never knowingly released grand jury material. But that might not matter to a Justice Department that answers to Hunter’s father.
Thankfully, Shapley and the other whistleblowers have a strong advocate in Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who seems two steps ahead of everything the DOJ and other Biden apologists pull. It is unfortunate, though, that the left-wing press that once championed whistleblowers seems intent now to serve as scribes for Hunter Biden’s attorneys. If the Post reporters remain silent, we’ll know they intend to keep things that way.