Hunter Biden certainly has a lot of gall.
He just got indicted on gun charges -- three counts -- and there may still be potential tax charges hanging out there. He thought that he was going to suffer no real consequences on those gun and tax charges with the plea deal he had worked out, that it likely would clear the decks for his father's reelection run. But then the sweetheart deal fell apart in July.
Now, Hunter Biden has sued his father's administration, claiming that the IRS agents have "targeted and sought to embarrass " him. The suit particularly attacks IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, the two whistleblowers who came forward to Congress to explain the slow-walking and the problems they saw with the handling of the case. Biden argues that the whistleblowers engaged in a campaign to "publicly smear him."
The complaint argues that those appearances were outside of their whistleblower claims to Congress and that those disclosures were wrongful conduct and not permitted. Biden's action claims the IRS "willfully, knowingly, and/or by gross negligence, unlawfully disclosed Mr. Biden's confidential tax information" and he wants $1,000 for each of the "unauthorized disclosures" of his return.
The complaint argues that his rights were violated, "Yet the IRS and its agents have conducted themselves under a presumption that the rights that apply to every other American citizen do not apply to Mr. Biden," The suit also argues that the whistleblower allegations were only the most recent example of the problem.
It's sort of hilarious at this point that Biden claims to have suffered when any tax charges against him have yet to proceed with allegations of slow-walking and bias. It's also funny that he's suing his father's administration and the IRS. Not a good look when you accuse your father's administration of trying to embarrass you. His laptop would also suggest he doesn't care too much about privacy.
But now that the plea deal has gone away, his attorneys are trying to go on the attack and do what they can. It's hard to argue with what the whistleblowers revealed so this is another way to deflect around that. But it doesn't change what the whistleblowers have testified to about the matter. So they can try it but it's not going to affect that.
Initial reactions included some interesting suggestions, including that maybe looking into the IRS is the right idea.