CBS Evening News displayed a random act of journalism Wednesday night when correspondent Jim Axelrod sat down with the IRS whistleblower in the Hunter Biden tax fraud scandal for an exclusive interview. While CBS doesn't deserve full credit or accolades for sitting down with the whistleblower since they have all but ignored the story since April 19, they at least returned to the story unlike ABC's World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.
Instead, ABC wasted time on local weather reports while NBC whined that Target was forced to remove from their stores a whole array of satanic bathing suits and other clothing for "transgender" children.
During the interview, the whistleblower Gary Shapley told Axelrod that when he "took control of this particular investigation" he "immediately saw it was way outside the norm" of how previous investigations were handled in the past.
"Gary Shapley is a supervisory special agent for the IRS. Where he’s worked for 14 years. In January 2020, he was assigned to what he calls a high-profile investigation," Axelrod explained.
While Shapley couldn't legally confirm when asked who the subject of the investigation was, since it's an ongoing investigation, Axelrod revealed that "CBS News has learned the investigation was the probe of Hunter Biden by the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware."
Despite the Biden administration vowing to let the Hunter Biden investigation "run its course without interference," Axelrod reported that "CBS News has obtained this letter Shapley's lawyer sent to Congress Monday alleging irregularities in DOJ's handling of the investigation."
They also discussed how the Department of Justice was directing them to deviate from their protocols and slow-walk parts of the investigation:
SHAPLEY: There was multiple steps that were slow-walked at the direction of the Department of Justice.
AXELROD: Had you ever encountered that before?
SHAPLEY: I have not, no. These deviations from normal process, and each and every time, it seems to always benefit the subject.
"Shapley says he decided to blow the whistle after a heated meeting last October with federal prosecutors," Axelrod reported. "That was my redline meeting. It just got to that point where that switch was turned on, and I just couldn't silence my conscience anymore," Shapley explained.
This bias by omission from ABC & NBC was made possible by Progressive on ABC, and Capital One on NBC. Their information is linked.
The transcript from CBS is below:
CBS Evening News
5/24/2023
6:45:08 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: We turn now to a CBS News exclusive. For more than three years, the Department of Justice has been investigating the President's son, Hunter Biden, for possible tax crimes. Last fall, FBI sources told us they had sufficient evidence to bring charges. CBS's Jim Axelrod spoke to the IRS agent who is blowing the whistle on what he says was preferential treatment in his first public interview.
GARY SHAPLEY (IRS WHISTLEBLOWER): When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw it was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.
JIM AXELROD: Gary Shapley is a supervisory special agent for the IRS. Where he’s worked for 14 years. In January 2020, he was assigned to what he calls a high-profile investigation. Who’s the subject of the investigation?
SHAPLEY: I can't confirm or deny the subject of this investigation.
AXELROD: Why not?
SHAPLEY: Because, you know, part of the tax secrecy laws don't allow it.
AXELROD: Shapley can't say it, but CBS News has learned the investigation was the probe of Hunter Biden by the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney in Delaware. Senior Biden administration officials have vowed to let it run its course without interference.
ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND: Not restricted in its investigation in any way.
AXELROD: But CBS News has obtained this letter Shapley's lawyer sent to Congress Monday alleging irregularities in DOJ's handling of the investigation. Shapley is seeking legal protections from Congress so he can share specifics of his allegations.
SHAPLEY: There was multiple steps that were slow walked at the direction of the Department of Justice.
AXELROD: Had you ever encountered that before?
SHAPLEY: I have not, no. These deviations from normal process, and each and every time, it seems to always benefit the subject.
AXELROD: Shapley says he decided to blow the whistle after a heated meeting last October with federal prosecutors.
SHAPLEY: That was my redline meeting. It just got to that point where that switch was turned on, and I just couldn't silence my conscience anymore.
AXELROD: Did you let prosecutors know you were unhappy?
SHAPLEY: I don't think I can answer that.
AXELROD: Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing.
The IRS agent told us he is a registered Republican. His whistle-blowing is being assisted by an advocacy group with past ties to the GOP, but Shapley says this is not about politics. Why do you want to navigate these waters?
SHAPLEY: I don't want to do any of this. I took an oath of office, and when I saw the egregiousness of some of these things, it no longer became a choice for me, it's not something that I want to do, it’s something that I feel like I have to do.
AXELROD: The IRS told us it can’t comment on specific cases, but is committed to supporting whistle-blowers in general. Both the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware declined to comment. Norah?
