Hunter Biden whistleblower out as IRS commissioner after 2 days, amid struggle involving Elon Musk (2025)

Just two days after being named interim IRS commissioner, Gary Shapley is out of the job, CBS News has confirmed.

His roughly 48 hours heading the agency where he's spent most of his career was marked by an internal struggle involving billionaire Elon Musk, who backed Shapley taking the job, according to two sources familiar with the dispute.

Shapley's appointment to the agency's top post triggered a series of back-channel discussions. Sources have told CBS News they centered on Musk's role in bypassing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's authority to have Shapley — best-known for speaking out about alleged political influence in the Hunter Biden tax probe — installed in the post.

Bessent complained to President Trump that Shapley had been installed at the urging of Musk and sought Mr. Trump's approval to undo the decision, according to multiple sources.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender — who is now the agency's acting head, a Treasury spokesperson confirmed — also voiced concerns with Shapley's appointment, and Bessent sided with Faulkender, multiple sources said.

The New York Times was the first to report Shapley's ouster Friday.

Bessent voiced support for Faulkender's appointment in a social media post Friday afternoon, saying, "trust must be brought back to the IRS" and calling Faulkender "the right man for the moment."

Shapley is expected to continue serving as an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sources said. Bessent also confirmed that Shapley will continue working at the Treasury Department.

"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," Bessent wrote.

Shapley was placed at the top of the IRS while President Trump's pick for the job, Billy Long, has been awaiting Senate confirmation. Long, a former congressman from Missouri, has faced questions about his qualifications.

A former supervisor at the agency, Shapley became famous after speaking out about the Hunter Biden tax case. Shapley was a supervisory special agent in his 14th year at the IRS when he came forward in a 2023 interview with CBS News chief investigative correspondent Jim Axelrod. He alleged internal misgivings about improper pressure to go easy on former President Joe Biden's son.

Shapley was one of two IRS whistleblowers to testify before Congress about alleged misgivings in the Hunter Biden probe. The IRS agents alleged the Department of Justice "slow-walked" the investigation and told them not to probe leads related to Joe Biden. They were removed from the case and temporarily sidelined with pay. Hunter Biden later pled guilty to tax crimes and was pardoned by his father.

Shapley and another agent who said they faced retaliation after blowing the whistle to Congress and speaking out to CBS News about their investigation have already retained high ranking positions in the Trump administration. Shapley was initially assigned to Bessent's office as a senior adviser for IRS reform, and later named deputy director of criminal investigations at the agency.

Sara Cook contributed to this report.

In:
• Internal Revenue Service
• IRS
• Trump Administration