House Republicans said that the Department of Justice gave Hunter Biden preferential treatment in its year-long investigation into his tax and gun crimes. An interim staff report released by the House Judiciary Committee, House Ways & Means Committee, and the House Oversight Committee revealed that the department deviated from “standard processes” and even went as far as trying to cover up the president’s son’s alleged crimes.
DOJ deviated from 'standard processes,' gave Hunter Biden 'special treatment' in probe, House GOP report says https://t.co/HwTxLiwsMg
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Per evidence uncovered by the committees, the DOJ slow-walked the federal tax crime inquiry into Hunter and stopped investigators from probes that mention President Joe Biden.
“The Department’s concerning actions and kid-glove treatment of Hunter Biden serves as yet another example of the two-tiered justice system at the Biden Justice Department,” the report concludes.
“The Department’s concerning actions and kid-glove treatment of Hunter Biden serves as yet another example of the two-tiered justice system at the Biden Justice Department,” the report states.
The report comes as the panels look into alleged attempts by the Biden administration to hinder the criminal investigation into Hunter’s financial dealings amid a broader investigation into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.
This investigation started after two whistleblowers from the IRS, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, came forward earlier this year, claiming that the DOJ had “impeded, delayed, and obstructed the criminal investigation of the President’s son, Hunter Biden.”
According to Tuesday’s reports, Ziegler and Shapley revealed that the DOJ “allowed the statute of limitations on certain charges against Hunter Biden to lapse, prohibited line investigators from referring to or asking about President Biden during witness interviews, withheld evidence from line investigators, excluded the investigative team from meetings with defense counsel, and tipped off defense counsel about pending search warrants.”
As part of the investigation, the committees took the testimonies of ten federal officials, who testified that the tax probe into Hunter was tampered with by both the DOJ and the FBI. According to the witnesses, which include Special Counsel David Weiss, the agencies informed the president’s son of what was meant to be a surprise interview in December 2020.
As written in the panels’ report, “Evidence shows Department officials slow-walked the investigation, informed defense counsel of future investigative actions, prevented line investigators from taking otherwise ordinary investigative steps, and even allowed the statute of limitations to expire on the most serious potential charges. These unusual – and oftentimes in the view of witnesses, unprecedented – tactics conflicted with standard operating procedures and ultimately had the effect of benefiting Hunter Biden.”
The report further posits that the DOJ would have let Hunter’s misconduct slide had it not been for the IRS whistleblowers.
“When forced to act, the Biden Justice Department worked closely with Hunter Biden’s counsel to craft an unprecedented plea deal that was so biased in the direction of Hunter Biden it fell apart in open court,” the report stated.
It read further, “When a federal judge rejected the Department’s attempt to push through a sweetheart plea deal and quietly end the five-year investigation of Hunter Biden, Attorney General Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel and refused to answer questions about the case on the basis of the existence of an ‘ongoing investigation.’”
Even though Weiss, at the time, denied allegations of the DOJ’s meddling in the case, he later admitted that his charging authority was “geographically limited to my home district.”
Per House GOP, the investigation continues as they are yet to determine whether Biden’s actions warrant articles of impeachment.