The whistleblowers who exposed the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office for protecting President Joe Biden’s son are not currently under investigation, contrary to previous court filings. Instead, individuals who allegedly retaliated against the whistleblowers are the focus of the investigation. This revelation comes after lawyers for the whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, requested an investigation into Special Counsel David Weiss’s office for misleading the public.
The lawyers sent a letter to the Department of Justice’s Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility, claiming that Special Counsel Weiss falsely implied that the whistleblowers were under investigation when it was actually the individuals who retaliated against them. In a separate letter to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the lawyers detailed Weiss’s alleged deception in response to a motion filed by Hunter Biden in his tax fraud case.
Weiss’s office had referenced sealed documents and potential ongoing investigations in court filings to counter Hunter Biden’s claims. However, it was later revealed that the OSC was investigating the whistleblowers’ claims of retaliation, not the whistleblowers themselves. This information was hidden and twisted by the IRS and Special Counsel Weiss’s office to create a false impression that the whistleblowers were under investigation.
Empower Oversight, the legal team for the whistleblowers, requested the OSC to correct the record and clarify that the investigation was of the whistleblowers’ claims of retaliation and not of any supposed misconduct by Shapley and Ziegler. They also accused Special Counsel Weiss of generating a false public relations narrative and reprisal against the whistleblowers.
The misleading court filings potentially impacted the criminal case against Hunter Biden, as Weiss failed to address the whistleblowers’ protected whistleblower activities. Whether Hunter Biden was aware of Weiss’s actions remains unclear, but his legal team may renew their attack on Weiss’s team based on prosecutorial misconduct. Although dismissal of the indictment may not be appropriate in this situation.
