A second whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service claims to have faced retaliation for raising concerns about the agency's investigation into Hunter Biden, a week after an initial whistleblower said he was removed from his role in the probe for alleging it was being stalled for political reasons.
The new whistleblower says they also raised concerns about officials at the Department of Justice hampering the investigation into the first son's taxes, according to the initial whistleblower's lawyers. Last month, the first whistleblower, a longtime IRS criminal supervisory special agent, asked for whistleblower protections to discuss bombshell claims that the Biden administration is showing "preferential treatment" toward the president's son and holding back in the investigation. He also alleged that Attorney General Merrick Garland gave misleading testimony in March when he said that the U.S. attorney in Delaware, who has been in charge of the Biden probe since 2018, has been allowed to proceed without influence.
After coming forward, the whistleblower and his entire team were taken off the Biden probe.
The second whistleblower was also removed and threatened with criminal punishment, the Washington Examiner reported:
Both whistleblowers were removed from the federal investigation into possible Hunter Biden tax violations this month. Communications obtained by the first whistleblower's lawyers show that the second whistleblower was threatened with allegations of criminal conduct after raising concerns about the handling of Hunter Biden's case.
The lawyers for the initial IRS whistleblower, Tristan Leavitt and Mark Lytle, the president of Empower Oversight and a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, respectively, fired off a new letter to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel on Saturday in which they outlined the alleged retaliation.
"Our client learned that one of the agents he supervises — the case agent on the case our client is blowing the whistle on — sent you an email" on Thursday in which the IRS case agent raised concerns about the Hunter Biden investigation, the lawyers wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner from congressional sources. But IRS leadership quickly responded "with accusations of criminal conduct and warnings to other agents in an apparent attempt to intimidate into silence anyone who might raise similar concerns."
The IRS must desist from "intimidating," the lawyers wrote, "lest they chill the disclosures of other IRS whistleblowers who may wish to come forward."
Hunter Biden's lawyer said last month that the initial whistleblower broke the law by telling Congress about his concerns.