House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened the door for an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland over the alleged partisan “weaponization” of the Department of Justice.
Summary
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened the door for an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland over the alleged partisan “weaponization” of the Department of Justice. McCarthy’s comments came after IRS whistleblowers came forward alleging political interference into the criminal probes into Hunter Biden.
- House Republicans publicly released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers alleging the Justice Department improperly interfered with their investigation into Hunter Biden. The testimony from Gary Shapley and another IRS agent detailed a pattern of “slow-walking” the investigation and delaying law enforcement actions.
- Garland and the Justice Department have denied those claims and insists that US Attorney for Delaware David Weiss had full control over any charging decisions – a claim directly contradicted by Shapley’s testimony.
- Shapley recounted a fall 2022 meeting where Weiss admitted that he was not in charge his decisions were being overruled by the DOJ. As Shapley told Fox News, “I even had [Weiss] repeat that because I knew how important that fact was, and I wanted to make sure I understood it.”
- One of Shapley’s key claims has already been confirmed by the New York Times, as Mediate’s Isaac Shorr observed. Weiss requested that Los Angeles-based federal prosecutors pursue charges against Hunter Biden, but that was rejected. A second whistleblower told House Republicans about this incident, and an additional independent source confirmed this episode to the Times.
- McCarthy called for Weiss to testify before Congress to determine which federal prosecutor is telling the truth. “If the whistleblowers’ allegations are true, this will be a significant part of a larger impeachment inquiry into Merrick Garland’s weaponization of DOJ,” McCarthy tweeted.
- The whistleblower testimony also included a 2017 WhatsApp message Hunter Biden sent to a Chinese businessman where he apparently threatens the businessman by referencing Joe Biden’s political connections. “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter wrote. “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.”
- Hunter continued, “And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”
- White House spokesman John Kirby refused to answer questions from reporters about the 2017 WhatsApp message, as National Review highlighted. Kirby would not engage with the press, saying “Let me save you some breath if you’re going to ask about this. I am not going to address this issue from this podium. “I’m just not going to do it. All right? I’m not going to do it.”
- The White House dismissed House Republicans’ efforts as a “distraction,” despite the contradicting public statements of two senior Biden Justice Department officials. Republicans see Garland in particular as a point of vulnerability for the administration, and House GOP leadership has made it clear this investigation is far from over.
- The New York Times reported on how Hunter Biden’s public appearances are even making some Democrats “uncomfortable.” Hunter’s appearance at the Modi State Dinner “came across as an in-your-face message of defiance by a president determined to show that he stands by his son in the face of relentlessly toxic attacks. Yet some Democrats, including current and former Biden administration officials, privately saw it as an unnecessary poke-the-bear gesture.”
- MSNBC’s Hayes Brown called McCarthy’s impeachment threats “hollow” and an indication of his “monomaniacal focus on owning the Biden administration.” Brown allowed that “securing even a hyperpartisan impeachment vote will require evidence of wrongdoing that simply hasn’t emerged against Mayorkas or Garland, let alone Biden.”
- CNN covered Garland’s response to the allegations of Justice Department politicization. The Attorney General characterized all criticism of the Justice Department as an attack on American democracy (whatever happened to free speech?). “Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department … by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike,” said Garland. “This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy … nothing could be further from the truth.”
- Adding fuel to the fire is President Biden’s insistence that he has never discussed business with his son, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, as Fox News noted. One of Shapley’s disclosures was a 2017 WhatsApp message from Hunter Biden to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao where Hunter alleged his father was directly involved in his business affairs. “I am sitting here with my father, and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” Hunter wrote. “Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.”
- The Editors of National Review wrote the “explosive” whistleblower testimony adds yet more evidence that “President Biden was up to his neck in his family’s lucrative business of cashing in on his political influence. Given that this business involves millions of dollars in suspiciously structured payments to Biden family accounts from corrupt and anti-American regimes, prominently including the Chinese Communist Party, national security demands that Congress prioritize this investigation.”
- The New York Post editorial board urged prosecutors to freeze Hunter Biden’s plea deal until it can be determined which prosecutor is lying – David Weiss or Merrick Garland. Either Weiss lied to IRS investigators about his attempts to indict Hunter Biden in other jurisdictions, or Garland lied to Congress. Either way, allowing the plea deal to go forward would be “the rankest, most blatant injustice of this entire already historic series of abuses.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
