Hunter Biden investigation: Garland says ‘I stand by my testimony’ despite whistleblower claims
Jerry Dunleavy
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Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “I stand by my testimony” about U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s independence to criminally investigate Hunter Biden free from political interference, despite IRS whistleblower claims contradicting his sworn testimony.
In early February 2021, President Joe Biden asked nearly all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys for their resignations, with Weiss as an exception, who was asked to stay on as he investigates the president’s son. Garland has repeatedly vowed to ensure that Weiss would be insulated from any political pressure, and he said Tuesday that that was still true.
HUNTER BIDEN INVESTIGATION INFECTED BY “POLITICS”: IRS WHISTLEBLOWER
“Yes, it’s still the case,” Garland said when asked by a reporter during a DOJ press conference. “I stand by my testimony. And I refer you to the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware who is in charge of this case and capable of making any decisions that he feels are appropriate.”
An IRS whistleblower provided Congress with “protected disclosures” last month about the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, alleging “preferential treatment and politics” infected the case against the president’s son. The IRS agent’s allegations also “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.”
A source familiar with the whistleblower letter confirmed to the Washington Examiner last month that Garland is the unnamed senior Biden official whose testimony before Congress is being challenged.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) pressed Garland in March about the attorney general’s prior vows, suggesting that Garland’s testimony “could be misleading because without special counsel authority he could need the permission of another U.S. attorney’s office in certain circumstances to bring charges” beyond Delaware.
“He has been advised that he should get anything he needs,” Garland said of Weiss during that Senate testimony. “I have not heard anything from that office that suggests they are not able to do anything that the U.S. attorney wants them to do.”
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told the Washington Examiner in a statement last month that “it’s deeply concerning that the Biden Administration may be obstructing justice by blocking efforts to charge Hunter Biden for tax violations.”
Then-Attorney General William Barr rejected the idea of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden in December 2020, but now says Garland should grant those powers to Weiss.
Dozens of Senate Republicans have said Weiss must be given special counsel protections and authorities, and dozens of House Republicans called upon Garland to appoint a special counsel for the investigation.
“He is supervising the investigation,” Garland said of Weiss in April 2022. “There will not be interference of any political or improper kind.”
The president’s son revealed he was under federal investigation for his taxes shortly after the 2020 election, and he is reportedly being scrutinized for potential money laundering, as well as for possible foreign lobbying violations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Republicans have long contended that Hunter Biden’s lucrative business dealings in Ukraine and China indicate he may have committed crimes related to foreign lobbying or money laundering, although recent reports have indicated federal investigators may have narrowed the focus to Hunter Biden potentially committing tax fraud in 2016 and 2017 and lying on a federal form when purchasing a handgun in 2018.
One of Hunter Biden’s lawyers, Chris Clark, told multiple outlets last month that “it appears this IRS agent has committed a crime, and has denied my client protections that are his right.”
Mark Lytle, the lawyer for the unnamed IRS whistleblower, criticized Clark’s remarks.
“My client wrestled with whether or not to come forward. He had a lot of sleepless nights about coming forward with this. At the end of the day, he decided that he could not live with himself if he stayed quiet and said nothing,” Lytle said on Fox News.
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Another Hunter Biden lawyer, Abbe Lowell, who also recently began helping with the efforts by the president’s son to fight his child support payments, has been engaging in a newly aggressive legal strategy on behalf of Joe Biden’s son.
Lowell sent letters to DOJ’s National Security Division and the Delaware attorney general in February, pressuring them to launch investigations into a number of figures involved in helping disseminate the contents of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop hard drive, including Delaware computer repair shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.