In a joint statement, IRS special agents Gary Shapley and Joe Ziegler blasted Joe Biden’s explanations for the pardon of his son as “excuses” covering up the fact that Hunter Biden pled guilty to his tax crimes in federal court in September of this year.

“No amount of lies or spin can hide the simple truth that the Justice Department nearly let the President’s son off the hook for multiple felonies. We did our duty, told the truth, and followed the law. Anyone reading the President’s excuses now should remember that Hunter Biden admitted to his tax crimes in federal court, that Hunter Biden’s attorneys have targeted us for our lawful whistleblower disclosures, and that we are suing one of those attorneys for smearing us with false accusations,” they said.

Shapley and Ziegler were targeted by Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell over information they disclosed about Hunter’s tax information. At the time, Hunter Biden alleged the pair did not partake in protected whistleblower activity by bringing their claims to Congress but rather illegally disclosed his confidential tax information in “non-congressionally sanctioned” media interviews. Shapley and Ziegler said any information they gave in the interviews was already made public by Congress and was no longer confidential.

While lamenting that the pardon marks a “sad day for law abiding taxpayers,” the two whistleblowers added in their statement that at least Joe Biden had to issue it publicly “for all the world to see rather than his political appointees doing it secretly behind the scenes.”

“President Biden has the power to put his thumb on the scales of justice for his son, but at least he had to do it with a pardon explicitly for all the world to see rather than his political appointees doing it secretly behind the scenes. Either way it is a sad day for law abiding taxpayers to witness this special privilege for the powerful,” Shapley and Ziegler said.

Joe Biden issued his pardon of his son Hunter Sunday night, saying in a statement that while he struggled with the decision, he concluded that Hunter was “treated differently” and was unfairly prosecuted in the Department of Justice‘s nearly six-year investigation.

The pardon effectively erases Hunter Biden’s charges, including three gun felonies and nine tax charges, and prevents him from being sentenced, which was scheduled to happen in less than two weeks.