When does a government bureaucracy move quickly? When it's threatened by a whistleblower, among other things. IRS-CI Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley, one of the two whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden tax evasion case, had already experienced the speed with which his agency could move in retaliation, but was reminded of it once again when he received a "be demoted or resign" letter less than an hour after his latest interview with journalist Catherine Herridge dropped.

Tristan Leavitt of Empowr Oversight, which represents Shapley and Ziegler, shared the letter, which was dated October 15 (emphasis added):

Less than an hour after @C__Herridge posted this story yesterday about the retaliation against the IRS whistleblowers, the IRS sent SSA Shapley this notice telling him he had 15 days to choose whether to be demoted or to resign. (Apparently they were sitting on it for two weeks before the story.) 

@US_OSC should issue an immediate stay while they conduct their investigation into the 4 promotions SSA Shapley has been passed over for since he blew the whistle, and provide a briefing to Congress on what they have done to date. It's been 17 months since we filed with OSC about the first promotion the IRS passed over SSA Shapley for, and OSC has yet to issue any findings.

As Hunter Biden's lawsuit against the IRS progresses, the IRS will no doubt also use that against SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler. They meticulously followed the law when they came forward. Please help @EMPOWR_us fight the false allegations from Hunter Biden and Abbe Lowell by donating at http://DefendWhistleblowers.com.

It's clear that there has been some type of retaliation occurring given that Shapley's been passed over for four promotions, yet his supervisor is ready to demote him without a full investigation into the retaliation allegations. All while there's no investigation into suspected Pentagon leaker Ariane Tabatabai (if you believe Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin) and she gets a promotion. Simply amazing.

And there's more. In the cover letter, Shapley's supervisor ends with a disingenuous, "Thanks - hope you are well!"

Catherine's team sent the IRS questions last week about the retaliation against SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler.

The IRS also learned last Friday that we are appealing Judge Scarsi's decision not to allow SSA Shapley and SA Ziegler to intervene in Hunter Biden's lawsuit falsely… pic.twitter.com/AKqjKldquW

— Tristan Leavitt (@tristanleavitt) October 30, 2024

The first paragraph of the October 15 letter sheds some light on the management priorities at (arguably) the nation's most hated federal agency:

"[D]evelopment of future leaders is paramount to the continued growth, success, and sustainability of our organization. In an ongoing effort to successfully meet our organizational and operational challenges, national exposure will be required through career progression and movement throughout Field Office and Headquarters' positions. The mobility of our leaders will showcase diversity of thought, breadth of experience, and technical and interpersonal expertise for a successful future."

Gobbledygook, but the parts of the gobbledygook that are understandable are also laughable. They don't want "diversity of thought" in any way. National exposure? Shapley has that in spades, depending on what they actually mean by "national exposure." And "organizational and operational challenges"? You just got 83,000 (or however many) new agents. How can you have organizational and operational challenges. And lastly, no red-blooded American wants your organization to have continued growth or sustainability. We'd like you to be obsolete.

And, the agency knew that Herridge was interviewing Shapley and Ziegler and when the interview would drop because Herridge's team reached out to the IRS with 8 questions and a request for comment and they didn't reply. It would be interesting to know when Herridge's team reached out, and if it was before this letter was drafted.

There was a bit of sad foreshadowing by Shapley in the interview:

"IRS just has a smothering blanket on me hoping that I quit, that they find some way to terminate me, or they probably hope that I commit suicide or something. My career is over, the way IRS is treating me, the way DOJ is treating me."

Because the IRS whistleblowers are career civil servants, they need the pro bono legal help Empower Oversight provides to help them defend their good names. Donate to our #FightTheLies fund today to support defamation claims like the suit against Hunter Biden attorney Abbe… https://t.co/ppD61GewvC

— Empower Oversight (@EMPOWR_us) October 30, 2024