By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LINDSAY WHITEHURST (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans clashed with Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, accusing him and the Justice Department of the “weaponization” of the division’s work in favor of President Joe Biden ‘s son Hunter.
Garland’s look earlier than the House Judiciary Committee was the primary in two years and got here at an unprecedented second within the division’s historical past: He’s overseeing two circumstances towards Donald Trump, the primary former president to face legal prices, and one other towards the sitting president’s son.
Republicans on the committee — led by Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman — set the tone with accusations that the Justice Department is favoring the Biden household, whereas concentrating on his opponent, Trump.
“There’s one investigation protecting President Biden. There’s another one attacking President Trump,” Jordan, Republican of Ohio, mentioned in his opening assertion. “The Justice Department’s got both sides of the equation covered.”
Garland — fastidiously and intentionally — defended the nation’s largest legislation enforcement company of greater than 115,000 staff at a time when political and bodily threats towards brokers and their households are on the rise.
“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” the legal professional common mentioned.
He added, “I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”
The central line of questioning in Republicans’ arsenal surrounded allegations that the Justice Department interfered within the yearslong case into Hunter Biden and that the prosecutor answerable for that case didn’t have the complete authority he wanted to convey the required prices to the youthful Biden.
Early within the listening to, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana requested Garland whether or not he had talked with anybody at FBI headquarters concerning the Hunter Biden investigation. The legal professional common’s response started with an extended pause earlier than he mentioned: “I don’t recollect the answer to that question,” later including “I don’t believe that I did.”
Garland then mentioned repeatedly that he purposely stored the small print of the investigation at arms size, to maintain a promise to not intrude.
His testimony additionally comes simply over every week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., launched an impeachment inquiry into his boss, President Biden, with a particular give attention to the Justice Department’s dealing with of Hunter Biden’s yearslong case.
The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as baseless and labored to focus the dialog on coverage as an alternative. Hunter Biden’s authorized crew, however, has gone on the offensive towards GOP critics, most not too long ago submitting go well with towards the Internal Revenue Service after two of its brokers raised whistleblower claims to Congress concerning the dealing with of the investigation.
Republicans contend that the Justice Department — each beneath Trump and now Biden — has failed to completely probe the allegations towards the youthful Biden, starting from his work on the board of Ukrainian vitality firm Burisma to his tax filings in California and Washington D.C.
An investigation into Hunter Biden had been run by the U.S. Attorney for Delaware, Trump appointee David Weiss, who Garland stored on to complete the probe and insulate it from claims of political interference. Garland granted Weiss particular counsel standing final month, giving him broad authority to research and report his findings.
Asked by Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina whether or not he had tried to determine if Weiss was dealing with any hurdles in bringing prices towards the president’s son, Garland mentioned he had purposely stored his distance to maintain a promise to not intrude.
“The way to not interfere was to not investigate an investigation,” Garland mentioned.
Weiss, since 2018, has overseen the day-to-day working of the probe and one other particular counsel, Jack Smith, is answerable for the Trump investigation, although Garland retains last say on each as legal professional common.
Garland mentioned nobody on the White House had given him or different senior officers on the Justice Department route concerning the dealing with of the Hunter Biden investigation. Asked whether or not he had spoken with Weiss, Garland mentioned he had adopted his pledge to not intrude within the investigation however declined to say whether or not or how typically he had spoken with the newly named particular counsel, citing the continuing investigation.
Democrats, for his or her half, sought to give attention to different criminal-justice points, together with home terrorism, hate crimes and gun violence. Rep. Jerry Nadler, the highest Democrat on the committee, decried what he known as Republicans’ give attention to “long discredited conspiracy theories” about Hunter Biden and a laptop computer mentioned to have belonged to him.
“That is their goal. They want to divide this country and make our government appear like it’s broken,” Nadler mentioned.
Democrats labored to undermine what they see as Republican misinformation of their ongoing protection of Trump, who’s now the Republican front-runner to problem Biden in subsequent 12 months’s election. They say Republicans try to detract consideration from the indicted former president’s authorized challenges and switch a adverse highlight on Biden.
Last week, Weiss used that new authority to indict Hunter Biden on federal firearms prices, placing the case on observe towards a attainable trial because the 2024 election looms.
Jordan, together with the Republican chairmen of the Oversight and Ways and Means committees launched an investigation into Weiss’ dealing with of the case, which was first opened in 2018 after two IRS brokers claimed in congressional testimony in May that the Justice Department improperly interfered with their work.
Gary Shapley, a veteran IRS agent assigned to the case, testified to Congress that Weiss mentioned in October 2022 that he was not the “deciding person whether charges are filed” towards Hunter Biden. That testimony has been disputed by two FBI brokers additionally in that assembly who informed lawmakers that they don’t have any recollection of Weiss saying that.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”