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Acting IRS Commissioner Gary Shapley is out days following his appointment, The New York Times reports.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly took issue with Shapley’s appointment.
Shapley gained notoriety for being an IRS whistleblower “who exposed the DOJ’s cover-up of the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden,” the House Oversight Committee noted.
🚨 BIG NEWS: Gary Shapley, the IRS whistleblower who exposed the DOJ’s cover-up of the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden, is now Acting IRS Commissioner.
Congratulations, Gary—your courage and professionalism will transform the IRS. pic.twitter.com/DhotnPsCUU
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) April 16, 2025
From The New York Times:
Mr. Shapley, a longtime I.R.S. agent, gained fame among conservatives after he publicly argued that the Justice Department had slow-walked its investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency pushed Mr. Shapley’s appointment through White House channels, but Mr. Bessent was not consulted or asked for his blessing, the people with knowledge of the situation said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Mr. Bessent got Mr. Trump’s approval to unwind the decision within days of it being made, the people said.
“Trust must be brought back to the I.R.S., and I am fully confident that Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment,” Mr. Bessent said in a statement Friday afternoon.
Mr. Bessent said that Mr. Shapley remains an important adviser and that he and another I.R.S. critic of the Hunter Biden tax investigation, Joseph Ziegler, will be assigned to senior roles at the Treasury Department or the I.R.S.
“Gary Shapley’s passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our work, and he remains among my most important senior advisors at the @USTreasury as we work together to rethink and reform the IRS,” Bessent said.
“After Gary and Joseph Ziegler complete their ongoing year-long investigation, I will ensure they are both in senior government roles that will enable the results of their investigation to translate into meaningful policy changes,” he added.
Trust must be brought back to the IRS, and I am fully confident that @TreasuryDepSec Michael Faulkender is the right man for the moment.
Gary Shapley’s passion and thoughtfulness for approaching ways by which to create durable and lasting reforms at the IRS is essential to our…
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 18, 2025
IRS Hunter Biden whistleblower Gary Shapley ousted as acting commissioner https://t.co/5rFVGoFDFi pic.twitter.com/12NJTJtqo6
— New York Post (@nypost) April 18, 2025
Per Axios:
Trump selected former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) to lead the agency, but he hasn’t had a Senate confirmation hearing yet.
The previous interim head, Melanie Krause, resigned after the Treasury Department agreed to release immigrants’ tax data to Immigrations and Customs enforcement.
The IRS has previously kept undocumented taxpayers’ returns private.
Sharing this information could help the immigration enforcement agents find undocumented immigrants faster.
Shapley, as a career, nonpartisan official in 2023, was one of two IRS whistleblowers in a probe into former President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
Shapley alleged that the Justice Department slow-walked its tax investigation into the president’s son and gave him special treatment.