Former U.S. attorney and MSNBC guest Harry Litman claimed Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower isn’t legitimate, arguing instead he has a political grievance.

Whistleblower Gary Shapley told CBS that the agency was prevented from taking steps during their investigation of Hunter Biden that would have led to President Joe Biden himself.

“Harry, you know Merrick Garland, and I don’t know if you know David Weiss, but they – their denials have been fierce. David Weiss was held over by the White House, even though he was a Trump appointee and all the other U.S. attorneys were replaced, precisely because he was supposed to be, you know, independent and not interfered with about Hunter, Hunter, the president’s son. And also there’s plenty of reporting that the plea deal that he got was actually a more serious criminal charge than average people would have gotten. That said, what about this?” host Andrea Mitchell asked.

“All that that you’ve just said is clearly true, it’s very implausible for starters. Second, though, I’m a whistleblower lawyer. This guy is not a whistleblower. A whistleblower goes within the agency, follows the procedure, says something wrong has happened,” Litman said. “This guy is just a complainer with maybe a political axe to grind or maybe just a professional.”

“Well, he was granted whistleblower status by the Republican-led Ways and Means committee,” Mitchell said. “That’s why we call him that. Normally, I – I defer, and I just say agent or officer, but–” (RELATED: ‘Somebody’s Lying’: Byron Donalds Alleges Merrick Garland Meddled In Hunter’s Case)

“I agree, although they’re in a great sort of Orwellian run of calling anything you know, they want to expunge the impeachment,” Litman said. “All I’m saying is a whistleblower means someone who – who reports malfeasance in the agency, goes all – all through the process, is rebuffed. This guy is – you know, has a political grievance or maybe a professional one, but he’s just one guy. He didn’t go through any process. There’s no corroboration and it’s implausible.”

Shapley, along with an unidentified whistleblower, have both testified that Weiss was allegedly blocked from bringing charges against Hunter in California. Their allegations have been corroborated by The New York Times (NYT).

Shapley testified before Congress and accused prosecutors with the Department of Justice of slow-walking their investigation into Hunter, with Shapley further alleging that Weiss tried to bring tax charges against Hunter in California for 2016-19. Shapley said the charges would require support from the Central District of California and that Weiss said in October he would request special counsel authority to investigate Hunter if charges were not brought in California. The Department of Justice denied the initial request.

Hunter was recently charged with felony gun possession and two misdemeanors for failing to pay taxes, pleading guilty to the charges. Hunter will not face jail time.