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Hunter Biden sued the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, saying the agency’s investigators violated his privacy rights by disclosing details to Congress and the public about his taxes and the investigation into his conduct.
Biden, the president’s son, filed the lawsuit days after the Justice Department indicted him on separate charges related to the purchase of a gun in 2018. The decision to move forward with the lawsuit shows that he and his legal team continue to take an aggressive stance to fend off investigations by congressional Republicans even as he faces the possibility of further prosecution on tax charges by the Justice Department amid his father’s re-election campaign.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, claims that IRS investigators violated the agency’s rules on taxpayer privacy and “targeted and sought to embarrass Mr. Biden through public statements to the media in the that they and their representatives revealed confidential information about a private company.” tax affairs of citizens.”
He points to public testimony and statements from two IRS investigators, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who have been providing information to House committees seeking evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden and his family. Shapley and Ziegler have told House Republicans they believe the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes was influenced by politics.
That claim has been disputed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and David C. Weiss, the Delaware federal prosecutor who oversaw the case and who was recently granted special counsel status by Mr. Garland.
Hunter Biden “has the same responsibilities as any other American citizen, and the IRS can and must ensure that he meets those responsibilities,” the lawsuit says.
“Likewise, Mr. Biden has no fewer or lesser rights than any other American citizen, and no government agency or agent is free to violate his rights simply because of who he is,” it says. “However, the IRS and its agents have behaved under the presumption that the rights that apply to all other American citizens do not apply to Mr. Biden.”
IRS agents, their lawyers and House Republicans have said they followed the law in releasing the information about Biden to Congress. They have said the disclosures were legally protected because they were covered by whistleblower protections and were ultimately made public by the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax matters.
In a statement, Shapley’s attorneys described the lawsuit as “just another frivolous smear by Biden family attorneys attempting to divert people’s attention from Hunter Biden’s own legal problems and intimidate current and future whistleblowers.” ”.
Neither Mr. Shapley “nor his attorneys have ever disclosed confidential taxpayer information except through whistleblower disclosures authorized by law,” the attorneys said. “Once Congress released that testimony, like every American citizen, you have the right to discuss that public information.”
The lawsuit, filed by Biden attorney Abbe Lowell, challenges that argument. Aside from the disclosures to Congress, the lawsuit says, the agents and their attorneys released other details about the investigation to the media in more than 20 interviews and public statements. Some of those statements went beyond what the agents had told Congress, according to the lawsuit.
“Mr. Shapley and Mr. Ziegler went a step further and revealed new allegations that had not previously been published by the Ways and Means Committee,” the lawsuit says. “For example, in a July 20, 2023 interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Mr. Ziegler alleged for the first time publicly that he had recommended felony and misdemeanor charges against Mr. Biden for fiscal year 2017. Under oath, Mr. Ziegler had previously stated that he was only recommending felony charges lower for Mr. Biden for fiscal year 2017.”
In addition to claiming that Biden received preferential treatment from the Justice Department, IRS agents have revealed details of the investigation that were potentially damaging to Biden and his father. Shapley told a House committee that a search warrant had uncovered evidence that Hunter Biden had invoked his father, who was out of office at the time, while pressuring a Chinese businessman to move forward with a proposal. according to energy agreement.
“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of control, and now that means tonight,” Biden wrote, referring to other participants in the proposed deal. “And, Z, if I get a call or a text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the president, I will make sure that the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to hold forever a grudge that you will regret for not having followed my instructions.”
House Republicans have maintained that investigators’ disclosures to Congress were legal because they revealed government corruption.
While the lawsuit involves the IRS, it is not directly related to the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s conduct.
Biden’s lawyers sent a letter to Weiss on Monday outlining similar complaints about investigative material that was revealed to the public during the investigation.
In June, Biden and Weiss’ office announced they had reached a deal in which Biden would plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and a separate deal to avoid a weapons charge.
Biden’s camp believed the deal marked the end of a long-running investigation, which Republicans and former President Donald J. Trump hoped would inflict political damage on the president.
But the deal fell apart at the last minute during a court hearing in July. Weiss’ office charged Biden last week with three counts of violating gun laws, alleging that he had lied about his drug use on a federal form when he bought a gun in Delaware five years ago.
Biden could also be indicted on tax charges related to late filing of his returns for several years and disputes over deductions he made.
Samuel Hughes and Lucas Broadwater contributed with reports.