The House Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight Committees jointly released an interim 78-page staff report on Tuesday about the Justice Department’s (DOJ) “deviations” in the five-year investigation into Hunter Biden, describing political interference in the probe.
The report will be reviewed by lawmakers, who are likely to vote upon a formalized impeachment inquiry in preparation for potentially pursuing articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden.
The report outlines testimony from several DOJ officials and IRS whistleblowers. IRS agents alleged in April that Biden administration political appointees politically interfered with the DOJ’s probe, though several officials appointed by Biden deny the claims.
The report outlines several key findings by the committees:
- The Justice Department twice prevented United States Attorney David Weiss from bringing stronger charges against Hunter Biden.
- Attorney General Merrick Garland refused to name a special counsel in the tax investigation, which could have provided a degree of separation between Joe Biden and his Justice Department.
- Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf refused to allow investigators to ask about Joe Biden being “the big guy.”
- Wolf stopped questioning about “the big guy” to limit where the investigation could go despite evidence of Joe Biden’s involvement.
- Wolf cautioned the investigation team from searching Joe Biden’s guest house in Delaware for evidence against Hunter Biden because of “optics.”
- Hunter Biden demanded in 2017 to be paid by Chinese Communist Party-linked Chinese businessman Raymond Zhao while Joe Biden was “sitting” next to him in a room.
- Investigators wanted to obtain the location data to confirm Joe Biden was in the room, but there is no confidence the FBI obtained that data.
- Hunter Biden deducted payments to prostitutes and sex clubs from his taxes.
- The investigation into Hunter Biden began as an “offshoot” of inquiry into a foreign adult platform.
“Even still, despite these troubling findings, there is more information that the Justice Department is keeping from the Committees,” the committees wrote:
The Justice Department has still not fully complied with requests for relevant documents, and it has impeded the Committees’ investigation by baselessly preventing two Tax Division officials—Senior Litigation Counsel Mark Daly and Trial Attorney Jack Morgan—from testifying, despite subpoenas compelling their testimony. These documents and this testimony are necessary for the Committees to complete our inquiry.
“The Committees will continue to gather evidence to determine whether sufficient grounds exist to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House of Representatives,” they stated.
Follow Wendell Husebø on “X” @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
