01/09/2026
Meeting - Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 7:15-8:15 am
Iowa Machine Shed - 11151 Hickman Road, Urbandale
Our Westside Conservative Club speakers for Wednesday, January 14 will be Gary Shapley, the coauthor of The Whistleblowers vs the Big Guy and Tristan Leavitt, President of Empower Oversight.
Gary Shapley and his coauthor Joe Ziegler, are IRS Special Agents turned whistleblowers who exposed the shocking truths behind their investigation into the Biden family and the powerful forces that tried to silence them. They made headlines when they testified before Congress, revealing political interference, bureaucratic stonewalling and outright obstruction in the Hunter Biden criminal case. Their investigation led to Hunter Biden’s criminal conviction, which Joe Biden blanket pardoned, along with other Biden family members actions as he was leaving office.
Shapley risked everything to expose corruption, retaliation, isolation and intense public scrutiny in a high stakes battle between truth and power.
After volunteering with AmeriCorps Shapley earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Maryland and his Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Baltimore. He worked in the Inspector General’s Office at the National Security Agency before joining the IRS’s Criminal Investigations in 2009. From 2013 to 2018 he was detailed to the DOJ Tax Division, investigating foreign financial institutions, including Credit Suisse and HSBC PBRS as part of the Swiss Bank Program. He also worked on the Joint Terrorism Task Force at the FBI’s DC and Baltimore field offices. In 2018 Gary was promoted to supervisory special agent in Baltimore. He later led the International Tax and Financial Crimes group overseeing elite agents specializing in complex tax fraud cases and was recently promoted to Deputy Chief of IRS Criminal Investigations and has been designated as a senior advisor working on IRS reform with the Secretary of Treasury.
He will be available to sign copies of his book following his presentation.
Tristan Leavitt is President of Empower Oversight. He is also a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates and formerly served in several roles at the U.S. Merit System Protection Board, including as a member, acting Chair and General Counsel. Prior to joining Empower Oversight, he began his investigative career working on the Senate Finance Committee for Senator Chuck Grassley where he helped expose schemes like Operation Fast and Furious, the gunwalking scandal that armed the murderers of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
In 2015 he joined the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee where he investigated Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email while Secretary of State. He helped negotiate the passage of the FBI Whistleblower Protection Act.
Leavitt is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Georgetown University Law Center.
