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.
Merrick Guardland.
(from lin to Estovir and Darren)
Joe Biden whisks Hunter off to private Camp David this weekend on Marine One…https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/d6e977f13a2138607da5132e4f7dd539/President-Biden-Departs-Joint-Base-Andrews-for-Camp-David
“let’s do a little fishing, deep breathing exercising, getting our stories straight…”
Lloyd Bridges = Hunter Biden @ Camp David
🙃
Estovir: Joe to Hunter, or Hunter to Joe: “Amphetamines or amphetayours?
One simple thought.
Was not the 2nd Trump impeachment based upon his attempt to get Ukraine to investigate this exact thing? Influence peddling? Meanwhile that video of Joe bragging about getting the chief Ukrainian prosecutor fired was out there.
Strange how Trump gets impeached and Biden get rich.
My bad, it was the first impeachment. D’oh.
For the lying fools like “Anonymous” I want to point out a very telling “event” that happened over the weekend and how it augurs badly for Biden. The other day there was a column in Realclearpolitics, a great site that Turley readers should check out, if you don’t already read it, by Albert Hunt, a true blue Democrat operative if there ever was one. Now as background let me state that Al Hunt has been a true Biden toady for the last two years and even in this story he mentions Biden’s “awesome” accomplishments etc etc. But the big new here is that the gist of the column is that Democrat governors Whitmer of MI, Cooper of NC and Newsome of CA should start preparing to step in in case Biden isn’t the nominee!!!!
This is a momentous event in the Democrat blogosphere, a truly telling admission by a front line Democrat and a sign that the party is starting to realize that Biden needs to go.
Once the cracks start to appear, once the polls continue to show how hated Biden is, once the party realizes that Biden is actually hurting THEM, we will see the end of this nightmare.
I can’t wait for fools like “Anonymous”, GIGI and Dennis whateverhisnameis start writing how it is time to move past Biden. It is like when the party turned on a dime after 2016 and blamed everything on how bad Hilary was. It was like nobody remembered “being with her”.
HullBobby,
The Hill had an opinion piece that the GOP is afraid of three Democrats: Newsome, Michelle Obama, and RFK Jr.
Newsome’s CA is his biggest liability. Apparently Newsome want on Hannity and tried to make himself look presidential. I read an article that dismantled his entire platform.
Michelle Obama. She has name recognition. That is about it.
RFK Jr. That is a different story. He is a old time, traditional Democrat, like the good professor. He will attract a lot of old time Democrats and even moderate Democrats and I think a number of Independents. I know I would consider him.
But guess who is afraid of RFK Jr.?
The DNC.
I agree, the DNC may eventually see Biden is a liability to them. The question I have is how many people are dependent on another Biden term to keep their jobs, or even going to jail?
When interacting with the American people, to their great credit, Joe and Hunter don’t try to come across as anything other than the lying, cheating scoundrels they are.
President Trump’s foible’s, Jeff, Bill, Wray, Mad Dog, Rex, Rick, Reince, Scott, Gina, Ryan Z and others! Whoever recommended these appointments to their various posts where true blue Swamp critter. They all failed the President in numerous ways, but it all ends up at the desk of the leader (the buck stop here). President Trump none the less had a somewhat successful term under all that ensued during his 4 years. Another failure which in my estimation was the grandest of all, was the Republican leadership in Congress, with more specificity it being the election of Paul Ryan as the House Speaker. The fool Ryan led an effort to place as many road blocks to the President as possible and cowed to the Democrats at every juncture. Mitch was also there to assist Paul, adding another element of a swamp flood against President Trump’s administration. Neither started or even requested an investigation into the Russian issue. The national republican leader(slop) was of no help either.
I bring this up to make notice why we now have a failed administration of Biden and the tyranny we are now encountering. The Republican Party and its RINO movement is living the aftermath of its failed ideology along with the all the citizen of this great country the United States of America.
As an aside I will still vote for President Trump over all the other candidates, most who are Swamp denizens of a high order.
Obama insider: LISA MONACO. Deputy to Garland. Let’s not forget to keep her name front and center. She also needs to be subpoenaed to be questioned under oath.
The clean exit for the junta is simple. Weiss lied top the whistleblower and his co-workers. That’s not a crime. Easy peasy, Lemon squeezy.
The mild-mannered, soft-spoken Merrick Garland is a lying SOB.
Bingo.
What a difference a week makes. Just seven days ago in his post “The Utter Failure of Merrick Garland” Turley wrote that Garland is a principled man who would have made a great supreme court justice, but because Garland is not one to upset the status quo and second guess the actions of the DOJ he is also not one to change the DOJ. As one who prefers to get along as opposed to shake things up, Garland might still be the virtuous person Turley has known, but in the week that has followed that may now be called into question. I expect the recent events that shadow AG Garland have unsettled and even saddened Turley as they should all of us.
“I expect the recent events that shadow AG Garland have unsettled and even saddened Turley as they should all of us.”
************************************
Sad? I’m ecstatic when a public servant is exposed for the lyinmg weasel he so obviously is and I’m heartened by the whistleblower who are real lawyers. Now we get to see if the cadre of lying weasels we send to Congress to fleece us are so mortified that one of their own is caught that they fire him to keep whatever pretense to virtue they have left.
“Politicians were mostly people who’d had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers.”
― George R.R. Martin, Ace in the Hole
“Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” ~Haile Salassie I
Siring words from the Zelenskyy of the 20th century while he lords over violent warlords, slavers and leapers.
The article was brutal. Do you have dual citizenship anywhere? Do you own horses and keep them in a stable near your residence? Maybe it is time to identify as a potted plant. That or buy wigs and falsies from the many drag queens at DOJ.
Humor is my way of dealing with stress. Like most patriotic Americans, our national collapse is very stressful.
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.
the NY Post is reporting Garland’s comment as follows:
Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department by claiming that we do not treat cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy … Nothing could be further from the truth.”
These are the same partisans who have orchestrated a carefully coordinated and deadly attack on the SCOTUS for years, with AG Merrick Garland defending said deadly attacks, e.g. Democrats withering threats against Catholic Justices, Leftists appearing outside of their homes, intimidating, their families in their homes and children’s schools. Americans agreed these were unacceptable but Merrick Garland laughed. Look who is not laughing now.
Humor aside, I knew the country had turned into a very dark space when physicians in 2020 were calling for the death of sick patients who had not received the COVID vaccine. I knew none locally, thankfully, but they were making their sick opinions known online. Then there was the false argument that all of academic and community medicine speak with one voice. Political zealots in public health claimed critics of their fiats were “medieval”, resorting to that tired trope dripping with pretentiousness.
So now it is official. Americans have reason to distrust and possibly disregard the medical opinions of those in the highest levels of public health, to their possible peril. Additionally, Americans also now have reason to distrust but can not disregard the legal decisions of the DOJ. FBI raids are on everyones minds. Thus we live in these un-United States with very real cognitive dissonance which has innumerable deadly affects on human health. We can not live this way and expect to be sane
We must look past the reality of our nation’s pathologies, find meaning in life, and live with a sense of purpose. It is more than possible. Viktor Frankl wrote a book about it after enduring life in Nazi concentration camps for years, and losing his parents, wife and a sibling. Additionally, people who live in totalitarian countries deal with these types of inner conflicts every day. Their struggle is real. Been there, done it. Those who seek asylum in America are testimony of living life with resilience.
Either choose to live life with fear or with resilience. The result of either could not be more impactful to our children’s future and our present already frayed health in America
Estovir,
Well said and inspiring.
When faced with a situation like this, it always helps to examine motives. garland is a corrupt piece of s**t, that should have never been on the judiciary.
“For those us who once supported Garland’s nomination as Attorney General, it was another maddening moment.”
It’s a maddening moment for many of us to think that many legal scholars supported his nomination for SCOTUS. I am not a fan of McConnell, but that sure was a big bullet the country dodged. At least as AG we can see an endpoint…sort of.
Garland reponding to criticism by declaring that attacking him was the same as attacking “Democracy” reminds me exactly of Fauci (is he really a Dr.? kidding) declaring that attacking him was the same as attacking “science”. Bureucratic despots always hide behind their instituions when criticised, as if they ARE the institution.
“Bureucratic despots always hide behind their instituions when criticised . . .”
Well, if you’re going to be a megalomaniac, go big: Declare yourself an entire institution (the FBI/DOJ) or an entire subject matter (science).
“At least as AG we can see an endpoint…sort of.”
That “endpoint” is what has me concerned. You and I may picture it a bit differently than what Biden, Garland and their supporters have planned for our nation. I suspect our goals vary greatly from that of those on the left.
The Good Professor overlooks yet another avenue by which these words can be investigated and be done judicially…..just as was done by Judge Sullivan was it where the District Court Judge overseeing the Hunter Plea Bargain can call in a retired Judge and empower that Judge to conduct an investigation into the Plea Bargain BEFORE deciding to approve the Bargain.
The investigation is simple….call Weiss, the Whistle Blower(s), and every person named in the Whistle Blower’s Contemporaneous Notes, and put them under Oath with penalty of perjury…..and ask each and every one to confirm or deny the allegation Weiss uttered those words.
If they confirm the Whistle Blower account…..then the District Court Judge should not approve the Plea Bargain and implement the DOJ Standard Sentence upon Hunter.
Then the Judge should call Merrick Garland and Weiss into Court and demand they explain exactly how Hunter was offered the Plea Bargain he was.
Folks….commonsense tells us that the DOJ told Hunter’s Lawyers the terms of the Bargain and concocted the least possible sentence possible rather than following DOJ policy of indicting for the most serious crime provable.
Either Garland or Weiss (or both) should find themselves standing before a Judge answering to charges of obstruction of justice and/or conspiracy.
At the. minimum Garland should be impeached for lying to the American People if the Whistleblowers are being truthful and Weiss did not have the authority that Garland has said he. had.
We have to ask a couple of questions of the DOJ….meaning the Attorney General, his subordinates who had oversight over Weiss and his investigation.
The most important question to begin with is whether the District Court Judge shall have the backbone to deny the Plea Bargain until all of these issues are resolved or not.
My money says he fix is in….Hunter walks….and no one is held accountable ….and the only people that get their butts kicked are the Whistle Blowers particularly if they are telling the truth and thereby force the Establishment to go to difficult methods of controlling the narrative and ensure Biden gets re-elected no matter his crimes.
If a person can not see the plain unvarnished truth of this. whole sordid affair….they are blind, deaf, and stupid.
All we have to see is Garland hoisted on his own Petard….which if the Whistleblowers when proven are telling the truth…..then the entire Hunter Biden/Biden Crime Family Investigation has been a sham…..and proves our very own DOJ is the threat to our Democracy that the Democrats accuse the American People of being.
Joe and Hunter spent the weekend at Camp David…..would you not have loved to have been a bug in the room and listen to those conversations…..what do you think they talked about?
You cannot possibly think the family business was ever mentioned and have the IQ. almost equal to that of a head of cabbage.
A brilliant explanation for those of us way out in the hinterland. JW Logan
The truth can be uncovered here, either by the judge as you suggest or by the House. Here are the steps:
1. Interview under oath the six witnesses named by Shapley to confirm Weiss said what Shapley reported;
2. Obtain any and all communications between Weiss and the USAs in D.C. and California to see if he requested charges and if the requests were denied. Interview under oath the relevant officials;
3. Obtain any and all communications between Weiss and main DOJ about Weiss’s alleged request and denial to become special counsel. Interview under oath the relevant officials;
4. Obtain any order Garland made have issued to the nations’s USAs conferring on Weiss the authority to bring charges in any and all jurisdictions. In the absence of such an order, Weiss would appear to have no such authority, and Garland would appear to have been lying to Congress and the public; and
5. Interview Weiss and Garland under oath.
Any refusal to comply should be met with contempt orders and every other enforcement mechanism the House has at its disposal, including impeachment.
Ralph Chappell: It’s so ‘yesterday’ to consider accountability to be a real consequence of poor or unlawful behavior. It is a pleasant daydream perhaps.
Ralph Chappell, thank you for your excellent analysis. The situation is extremely disconcerting. Many of us who went to law school did that because we care deeply about justice. When we see the workings of the Justice Department as it exists today, are rightfully angry. The citizens of our great country deserve so much more.
I worked in the DOJ under JFK and LBJ. The same things went on then but not so often and not so obviously.
I understand the legal aspects in play here, and I believe in fairness of law, but come on: after everything that has transpired since 2008, isn’t the answer obvious? Not a single true statement has come out of a dem politician or operative’s mouth since *at least* 2016, and it’s obvious in the extreme. Not a single one. Under Nancy’s leadership over the past eight years, the fabrications and disregard for law outpaced the lies (her latest, to impose term limits on justices but not Congress, having served 1000 years herself, is hilariously evil) This naive faith some still have in the integrity of the democratic party is positively head scratching. They are not good people, they no longer bother to hide their chicanery, and they do think you and I are irrelevant and stupid. They *know* if they have their way we will be powerless.
So what if Garland is lying? He and others like him are helping bring forth a leftist utopia where no one will go hungry, every racial group (though race really doesn’t exist) will achieve the same results on tests and societal outcomes and evil whites will become a hated minority and know their place.
What a glorious day out future holds and non-birthing people like Merrick Garland are helping bring it about.
You have to break eggs to fry an omelette.
antonio
Merrick Garland is a politician and the two IRS Agents are rank-and-file employees who were so incensed by what they experienced that they’re willing to risk their careers. Whistleblowers always get retaliated against and every federal employee knows that. So my money is on the Agents who had the integrity to speak out when they saw corruption at the highest levels. Respect!
I agree. The agents have no upside and tons of downside to come forward with intentional lies. If they are wrong, then their mistakes are likely honest one. It’s unlikely they are motivated by malice or evil intent.
That said, my money is on Weiss going under the Greyhound. He’s the man in the middle. He has no constituency to defend him.
Biden and Garland benefit from a huge industry of clever pundits who take kernels of truth then remove context, distort, embellish, misrepresent, etc. to create a narrative that does not comport with the “truth” of the situation. It’s often not technically a “lie”, but it is dishonest. They are the absolute masters at it.
My guess is Weiss becomes the fall guy.
Fall guy ? LOL
As Matt Gaetz pointed out while he cleaned the clock of Durham repeatedly, the Operative who changed the email from CIA ASSET to never a cia asset to the FISA court so the whole cabal could spy on everyone in the Trump campaign has his law license back and is practicing in DC now.
Weiss will be a HERO till the day he dies, just like the vile piece of garbage John Dean, who secretly, without Nixon’s knowledge or approval, ran the Watergate Breakin and paid the money for it, set it up and made it happen 100%.
I listened to the entire Nixon tape which used to be on youtube as he confessed and explained to President Nixon what he had done.
John Dean has been a lib dem superhero ever since. He was also their star witness in the Congress as they railroaded Nixon out.
Weiss will be a superstar till the day he dies. So will Garland. So will Comey, the lurid adulterers Strozk and his paramour, andrew mcccabe, the lying traitor communist muslim Brennan, and all the rest of them. They might not endow with a golden statue Mueller, though he certainly by their non standards earned at least one, but he’s “the wrong party”.
You’re looking at an entire line of a new Marvel Universe my friend.
Enjoy one of the few who has a clue and uses his 5 mins to make it known to the public.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8LOQjp1lJY
I doubt Gaetz and all the rest can ever do anything about it, but at least we have someone showing they have a clue what we citizens are up against.
That was the wrong one, but at least Gaetz plainly states IT WAS (ALL) AN OP.
Here is the correct one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8KsKyq9j7c
There is nothing but the downside for these whistleblowers to come forward. They are literally destroying their careers in doing so. For them to come forward and lie? I don’t think so. Only a troll would think that.
True that. I would add they are putting their lives at risk as well given the high stakes if in the end such corruption as that being alleged is proved.
Someone whose first thought is that the whistle-blowers are lying is someone who themselves would lie to Congress all in order for political gain. Since they would have no problem in lying, they assume others would as well.
Several persons here have enumerated the misfeasants, malfeasants, and non-feasants in the Biden administration who have acted with impunity, e.g., Spirit1776, “Comey, McCabe, Strozk, Page, hunter biden, joe biden…” (I would add Blinken, Mayorkas).
But what bothers me more is the amount of time taken to resolve questionable conduct, and the likely spoliation of any incriminating information/evidence. Think JFK, the Wuhan Lab, the Nord pipeline….
Such protracted questions and answers only create a vacuum for MEDIA propaganda to fill the gap….
(Correction: Those listed by Spirit1776 are not now all part of the Biden administration. I typed too fast…)