Below is my column in the Hill on the growing controversy surrounding the investigation of Hunter Biden. I previously wrote on the failure of Attorney General Merrick Garland to restore public trust in his department. This is far more serious. Someone is lying. The allegations raised against the Department now have potentially criminal and impeachable elements. As such, the authority of Congress to investigate is at its apex. If U.S. Attorney General David Weiss was denied the ability to bring charges in two other jurisdictions and was denied a request for special counsel status, Garland’s past statements to Congress stand contradicted. Alternatively, these whistleblowers (who offered detailed accounts, including the names of other witnesses) have lied to Congress. Even if past statements are untrue or misleading, Garland may not be aware of contradictions given his seemingly shrinking presence at Justice. Despite the unanimous vote opposition of Democratic members on the Committee, the House must move forward and demand answers from Garland, Weiss, and others. It should also finally call in Hunter Biden, if necessary under compulsion, to end the obfuscation over these messages. The solution to what I have called the “seven-percent solution” is a congressional subpoena.
Here is the column:
“I’m not the deciding official.”
Those five words, allegedly from Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, shocked IRS and FBI investigators in a meeting on October 22, 2022. This is because, in refusing to appoint a special counsel, Attorney Garland Merrick Garland had repeatedly assured the public and Congress that Weiss had total authority over his investigation.
IRS supervisory agent Gary A. Shapley Jr. told Congress he was so dismayed by Weiss’s statement and other admissions that he memorialized them in a communication to other team members.
Shapley and another whistleblower detail what they describe as a pattern of interference with their investigation of Hunter Biden, including the denial of searches, lines of questioning, and even attempted indictments.
The only thing abundantly clear is that someone is lying. Either these whistleblowers are lying to Congress, or these Justice Department officials (including Garland) are lying.
The response from both Hunter Biden’s counsel and the attorney general himself only deepened the concerns.
Christopher Clark, an attorney for Hunter Biden, responded to a shocking Whatsapp message that the president’s son had allegedly sent to a Chinese official with foreign intelligence contacts who was funneling millions to him.
“I am sitting here with my father,” the younger Biden wrote, “and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. 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.”
President Biden has repeatedly told the public that he had no knowledge or involvement in his son’s dealings. He maintained the denial despite audiotapes of him referring to business dealings, photos and meetings with his son’s business associates, as well as an eyewitness account of an in-person meeting.
Clark did not deny that the above-quoted message had been sent. He only said that it was “illegal” to release the text (he did not explain why) and then added that “[a]ny verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.”
Most of us expected a simple denial. Yet, after five years, Hunter has never even denied that the laptop was his. His team has continued with the same non-denial denials.
The transcript also details how investigators wanted to confirm the authenticity of the Whatsapp message through the company. The Justice Department reportedly shut down that effort.
If Hunter Biden was evasive, Garland was irate. He denounced the allegations as “an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy, and essential to the safety of the American people.”
The statement bordered on delusion. Polls show that a majority of the public now views the Justice Department as politically compromised and even engaged in election interference. The level of trust in the department under Garland is now lower than it was under his predecessor, Bill Barr.
These questions are not an attack on the institution, but on what some are doing with it. Garland’s reaction is akin to doctors responding to malpractice lawsuits as attacks on medicine itself.
As in the past, Garland continued to insist that the public must trust him and his department, because “You’ve all heard me say many times that we make our cases based on the facts and the law.” Once again, he reminded citizens that “these are not just words. These are what we live by.”
For those us who once supported Garland’s nomination as Attorney General, it was another maddening moment. Garland has done little to change the view of his department or to address the political bias that has plagued it and the FBI for years. That record has resulted in blistering reports from the Inspector General and most recently Special Counsel John Durham.
Garland does have a motto. Yet, as these allegations pile up it is becoming more and more of a meaningless mantra.
The attorney general has a growing problem. For years, many of us have criticized him for his inexplicable refusal to appoint a Special Counsel on the Biden influence peddling scandal. Indeed, I have written over a dozen columns on why such an appointment seemed unavoidable, given the references to the president under various code names as a possible recipient of money and other benefits from foreign deals.
Even after a respected FBI source detailed allegations of a bribery scheme involving Ukrainian figures, Garland still refused to make the appointment. Such an appointment would not only expose Joe Biden to high-risk interviews, but would also allow the Special Counsel to issue a report on influence peddling by his family.
Garland was willing to appoint a Special Counsel to look into classified records found in Biden’s various offices, yet he continues to bar an appointment on major corruption allegations implicating the president.
It was impossible to investigate these matters without tripping over the president and other family members. The whistleblowers detailed repeated occasions in which they were told to back off.
Even the narrow tax issues addressed in Hunter’s recent plea bargain relate to those broader issues, given the source of these funds. Influence peddling may be lawful, but it is also corrupt. Indeed, it is the favorite form of corruption in Washington and a virtual family legacy of the Bidens.
It is the concealment of the corruption that often results in crimes, from false statements to tax evasion to unlawful financial transactions to unlawful work as an unregistered foreign agent.
The whistleblowers allege that the Justice Department consistently cut them off in seeking searches or answers related to President Biden. However, the line that stood out the most was this: “U.S. Attorney Weiss stated that he subsequently asked for special counsel authority from Main DOJ at that time and was denied that authority.”
If true, that means that Garland was not just hearing from experts and members of Congress calling for an appointment, but that Weiss himself also saw the need for such an appointment. Moreover, the report indicates that others in the investigation believed that there was a need to create such separation from the Justice Department in light of what they viewed as the special treatment given the president’s son.
These accounts could explain why the Justice Department took five years to secure a guilty plea to two misdemeanors that could have been established in the first month of the investigation.
It would explain why there is no evidence of serious investigation into the influence peddling or a charge under FARA. It would explain why Hunter’s lawyer cannot recall ever being asked about the laptop.
It would explain why the problem is not the Justice Department’s motto, but the man who is tasked with fulfilling it.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law for George Washington University.
Can you be called out for lying when you never ask the questions that needed to be answered in the first place. The note from Hunter Biden’s attorney that he was never questioned about the laptop by the FBI says a lot, does it not.
If you are driving down a road looking for a storm and some type of unknown threat and you come to the proverbial fork in the road, you have to make a choice or decision. Do I go left and drive over into that very dark and dangerous, threatening area or do I drive right and go down the road where the sun is out and shining and children are playing in their yards. You can then honestly say, “well I saw nothing on the left but maybe a threat of rain but otherwise everything was just fine”. It’s truthful but “lacks candor”, in the talk these days.
I strongly suspect many questions were simply never asked because they knew the answers but never wanted to see them on paper or on a thumb drive. Incredibly non-searching searches by the “premier law enforcement agency” in the country. Better to be thought incompetent or stupid than actually seek real evidence in that very dark place. The only thorough searches seem to be of opponents.
Merrick Garland maybe did not lie, he just drove the car and made the decisions where to turn wherever there was a choice. “It looks like a tough one up ahead. Turn here and we maybe able to miss or avoid it entirely”.
If the Dems are so sure Garland is clean as a whistle, why not let the investigation go forward and prove to Americans that he is a pillar of truth? They love investigations.
Why would professional agents risk life and career to support Trump or anger such a family as the bidens? Merrick Garland has a much more plausible motive for his actions.
Perhaps some reflection is due for those that consider themselves ‘liberals’ and “For those us who once supported Garland’s nomination as Attorney General,”.
The 1st red flag: Obama picked Garland for the SCOTUS. ANY endorsement from the most overrated yet most under-performing politician of the 21st century should attract suspicion. And that same endorsing politician was Biden’s boss and likely knew of Biden’s activities.
The 2nd red flag: Biden picked Garland for AG. Given Biden’s history of racism, lying, suggested influence pedaling, uninvestigated accusations of sexual misconduct, seeming efforts to avoid paying his fair share of taxes and now possible money laundering….would you expect him to pick an AG that would pose a threat to the Biden organization or Biden himself?
A question that seems appropriate: Does Harvard offer an unpublicized mandatory course in ‘Evasive/Unethical Behavior’ that both Garland, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Rochelle Walensky attended? It is, by all evidence, a stunning success. Thank you Harvard!
“Does Harvard offer an unpublicized mandatory course in ‘Evasive/Unethical Behavior’ . . .”
Yes, but it’s not just a single course. It’s an ideology spread throughout the liberal arts and law school curriculum. It’s called relativism and the ends justifies the means.
The result is unprincipled graduates who do not take morality seriously.
So, according to Garland, attacking the DOJ is “an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy.” But attacking the Supreme Court and SC judges isn’t?
It goes along with his two-tiered system of justice. What’s good for me is not for thee.
GioCon: Excellent point, thank you.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…Hunter is as much of a two-bit bully as his father. And they’re both corrupt to the eyebrows. But the degeneracy of the Democrat party, and the naivety of Democratic voters will assure that Joe Biden ends up in the WH again.
Remember when some people actually supported this guy for SCOTUS and were incensed when his nomination didn’t get a hearing? He always looked like like a obsequious, careerist weasel to me. And so he is.
“Someone is lying.”
That’s easy: MG.
When as AG you think your job is to weaponize DOJ to persecute political opponents, and to use DOJ to protect political allies — you feel that lying is “noble.” After all, the ends justifies the means (lying).
Of course, Merrick Garland lied. The driving force behind every single decision that Garland has made in connection with the Hunter Biden laptop investigation and the classified document investigation is to protect Joe Biden at all costs. With the mainstream media backing your hand, it’s easy really. Just come up with lots of oblique explanations for the many “anomalies” and it all goes away. I mean Hunter’s attorney can’t recall if he was ever asked about the laptop ? Seriously ? Amazing what you can accomplish with a compliant national media on their knees like good little obedient whores. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
Garland lied! Why? Because he an china plant? Protecting fjb another china plant?
“Influence peddling may be lawful . . .”
The Bidens’ type is not.
The obvious question is: “Influence” what?
Money paid by foreign nationals to the Bidens ($10 million? 20?) was for the purpose of influencing government policy — e.g., foreign aid, regulations, permits, special exemptions.
That is called bribery. It is a felony. And it is an impeachable offense.
18 U.S.C. § 1346
It is now clear by Garland’s own words that any questions or criticism is an “attack”, that the information provided by the IRS investigators is true beyond a reasonable doubt. The only possible redress is a House Select Committee. With a Pitbull legal team that will be Starr like!!!
Garland is the liar. Two weird things in an ocean of weirdness. 1. Senior officials, current and former, call joe biden “dad.” Why? 2. No one ever mentions, the obvious, this all started under obama. What was / is he’s role in all of this? House committees need to call him up to the Hill to answer questions under oath, along with Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Page, hunter biden, joe biden, etc. Repubs must get the ‘killer instinct’ or they will forever be the Washington Generals.
want to end this….here
-Cut 50% of Fed gov
-Move 75% of DC to Heartland
-Remove entire leadership of DOJ, IRS, DHS and FBI
-5% tax Gross wall street trans & money goes offshore
-Tax all non-profits anyone gets $100k: colleges, hospitals, etc
-Ban fed aid/loans cities, states & college, make them fund themselves
-Jail Russian Hoax, COVID liars & Biden protectors, etc
-Ban public unions $ politics, only voters can fund politics
-Remove tax credits renewables, affordable housing, etc
-voting 1 day, in person, with ID, I don’t care if you vote, I care if you cheat
– 12 year limit on federal office….judge, president, senate, congress
All good points, also have to limit the permanent bureaucracy and the time they can ‘serve’ in government. See fauci as an example of this.
Or you could just elect Trump or DeSantis.
Professor, the vast majority of MSMs have echoed the evidence-backed claim of the two whistleblowers that the ’20 election was influenced by. Governmental employees. But that’s not your topic! Lately you wrote a bunch of columns like “influence peddling”, Hunter’s preferential treatment [1], Garland’s failure, now with a tabloid headline:
“Who is lying? Merrick Garland or the whistleblowers?” Only the lurid eye catcher describes you much better than the AG, who is at least loyal to his boss.
Why didn’t you ask (using your wording): “Who is lying? Merrick Garland (named 16 times) or David Weiss (nada)?
Though you mentioned 10/22/22 meeting initiated by Weiss in his office building, you didn’t notice the publicly available protocol (exhibit 10, p 148):
1) What was the purpose of this meeting with six IRS/FBI participants?
2) Indicates “I’m not the deciding official” that he has to report to someone else before he communicate his decision or that someone else dictates him what he had to decide?
3) “Refusing to appoint a special counsel” doesn’t say that AG was the culprit (he said Weiss didn’t ask him) but distracts from this question:
4) Why didn’t AG Barr appointed Weiss to “Special Counsel” during his tenure?
Given that what temporarily assesses as nothing to write home about: A misdemeanor for late arrival of taxes, that happens without major public notice.
Why did this investigation ran for five years ( (interrupted by a nap before ’20 election and eight months from cited meeting) and is – according to Weiss – still ongoing?
1) Have previously unknown facts been added that still need to be dealt with?
2) Why has the matter become so urgent that Weiss went public with an interim result?
3) Where there simply too few resources available to Weiss that his team has not yet had the time to evaluate all the many interviews they made?
AG Barr could be a reason for that. Early in 2020, he passed over confidential material generated in 2017 (!!) to Brady’s team in Pittsburgh, PA. After they had interviewed the informant, they created a “1023” on 6/30/20, closed the investigation and returned it over to sender. Barr passed it to Weiss. Had Barr promoted Weiss to a “head judge”?
As Occam’s razor failed and the litmus test wasn’t passed, let’s go back to whistleblower’s election interference claim. The candidates are talked and written. But voters decide on the agenda that affects their personal lives, possibly beyond one term. Therefore, no one should be surprised that many people still doubt the official final result.
On yesterdays column, UpstateFarmer referenced a tweed [1] from media personality Tom Elliott. The founder of “Grabien” wrote: “The more we learn about the 2020 election, the more undeniable it becomes that Biden owes his “victory” to blatant political corruption.” He identified 18 reasons, mainly criticizing FBI as organisation but staid silent who was responsable for:
AG: Bill Barr (R) – recommended by “W” Clan
FBI: Chris Wray (R) – recommended by former Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ)
“The bucks stops here” (Harry S. Truman) or as the former Senator from MBNA said in his statement regarding his affirmation of the Afghanistan withdrawal, “The buck stops with me”.
[1] https://themessenger.com/opinion/hunter-bidens-7-solution-using-addiction-to-excuse-accusations
[2] https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1672641355913330688
I wholeheartedly agree. The intel community installed their Manchurian Candidate at the direction of who?
Suspect #1 is the guy who lamented he had but two terms.
It’s the guy who wanted to sit in his basement, wearing sweatpants and calling all the shots.
It’s the guy whose people populate the leadership amongst the unelected bureaucrats who control the show.
It’s the guy who pledged to “fundamentally transform America.”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out. Study his speeches, especially in the last few months.
This is true. Dinesh D’Souza’s 2012 movie “2016: BO’s America” was prescient, it’s just that Trump got in the way and delayed fulfillment of the previous president’s vision. Now we are seeing the reality of those forecasts.
Those who have not realized by 11/22 where the journey of the Marxists are leading USA and still supported this path should not complain if they imagined something different. ’08’s “fundamental transformation of USA” could be misunderstood, and in ’20 many don’t have noticed either the Biden-Sanders manifesto nor the election interferences. If 2/3 of the voters see the USA on the wrong track and the Democrats still win, then it’s reality and not illusion. It’s like Don Quixote against the windmills.
William of Ockham, a 14th century philosopher from England, thought us to search for explanations that needs the smallest possible set of elements.
One might ask, for example, why two characters as different as the Pakistan connoisseur and the Senator from MBNA with Lisa Monaco, Avril Haynes and Susan Rice (departed) rely on the same consultants. Or maybe the better question is: Why do they trust a member of the “White Supremacy”? Maybe the answer goes back to 2014:
In 4/14 when the Communist admirer and Arab devotee flew to Kiev to represent “American interests” (in opening US intelligence resources to Ukrainian nationalists and the other met on 4/16/14 the consigliere of his son who achieved the Presidency of humanitarian World Food Program USA by his own addiction. On 4/21/14 the so called “public face of the administration’s handling of Ukraine” flew to Kiev, the next day consigliere joined Burisma board, the humanitarian President followed on 5/12/14.
Any questions why, despite extreme efforts and extensive research, the US apparatus has still not succeeded in following $$$ after almost 10 years? Reciprocal insurance policies are advantageous!
Can anyone answer why republicans JUST gave trillions to Democrats to continue their crime wave?
you keep thinking…they want an honest outcome?
pretty obvious at this point, Democrats are Fascists! And Republicans are controlled by Democrat operatives.
If you read history you will see the US is empire is failing! You have to respect the level of propaganda democrats do.
and the the efficient control someone like Soros can gain purchasing a CITY DA who WANTS to Destroy that City!
Trans, abortion, illegals, etc are just distractions from the Democrats STILLING EVER MORE Trillions!
IT IS ABOUT MONEY!
This is a scathing essay on what’s happening in Washington DC and, in my opinion, it’s well earned.
The pattern is there.
Trying to deny that we have an Orwellian styled totalitarian political left trying to control what’s happening in DC and that those totalitarian tentacles have stretched across the USA is no longer reasonable or logical. Those that deny this are either willing shills for the totalitarians or they’re willfully ignorant sheeple.
Yup. ”
“Trying to deny that we have an Orwellian styled totalitarian political left trying to control what’s happening in DC…”
I’m surprised that Garland hasn’t come out and simply said “who ya gonna believe, me or your own (lying) eyes?”
In the past you were trying to defend Garland as maybe just not strong enough or political enough. You finally see he is as corrupt as everyone else in this administration.
This harlot is given to lies and so are her patsies!:
https://sumofthyword.com/2021/01/07/mystery-babylon-the-great-and-her-beast/
If someone would just check Garland’s “Early Life” entry, they would quickly understand why he can’t help but lie.