Below is my column in the New York Post on the recent rebuke of the Justice Department by a federal judge in a hearing on the refusal to comply with House subpoenas in the Biden corruption investigation. The Justice Department appears little concerned over the glaring disconnect in how it treats its own attorneys as opposed to other citizens — a pattern that we have discussed previously.
Here is the column:
Those are four words that no lawyer wants to hear from a judge in a hearing. But that was not the least of it for Justice Department lawyers fighting House subpoenas into the Biden corruption scandal.
U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes slammed the DOJ for stonewalling Congress on the subpoenas while imprisoning figures like former Trump adviser Peter Navarro for doing the same thing.
The Biden Administration has blocked the testimony of prosecutors Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, who were involved in an inexplicable decision of the Justice Department to allow major felonies against Hunter Biden to lapse.
In prior hearings, IRS whistleblowers testified that they had an agreement on the table to extend the statute of limitations on the crimes, but Special Counsel David Weiss allowed the period to lapse without any explanation. Since the DOJ was in the midst of a plea negotiations, it made no sense that the DOJ would simply kill potential charges.
The handling of the Hunter Biden investigation has been widely criticized as affording special treatment to the President’s son, including scuttling searches of Biden property and giving Hunter a heads up before attempts to interview him.
Ultimately, the DOJ cut a plea bargain with Hunter that many of us rejected as laughable. It not only failed to charge the full array of still viable criminal allegations (including being an unregistered foreign agent), but included an absurd immunity agreement that would bar future charges.
The plea agreement fell apart in open court after the judge asked the lead prosecutor a simple question of whether in his long career he had ever seen such an immunity deal. He answered no.
Yet even after that meltdown, the DOJ admits that it tried to restore most of the agreement, but Hunter Biden’s team was insistent that the original deal remained enforceable — a position repeatedly rejected by later courts.
The DOJ was in a bizarre position. Its effort to give Hunter a sweetheart deal — or at least most of the original deal — could not occur because the beneficiary wanted it all. It had little choice but to charge him with the tax and gun crimes.
The House is in the midst of an impeachment inquiry that includes allegations of influence over the Hunter investigation. While insisting that there was no pressure or special dealing in the matter, the DOJ has blocked key sources of evidence.
That led to the House subpoenas.
I also have previously written on the sharp contrast between the Hunter Biden charges and those against Sen. Menendez despite the underlying similarities.
The only way for the House to investigate such corrupt special dealings is to interview the principle actors, including these two attorneys. Otherwise, as Democratic members have done, critics can insist that they have no direct evidence of wrongdoing.
It appears that confusion expressed by many of us is shared by Judge Reyes.
Judge Reyes noted the obvious: “There’s a person in jail right now because you all brought a criminal lawsuit against him because he did not appear for a House subpoena.” The DOJ demanded six months in prison. Navarro is now serving a four-month sentence.
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon also received a four-month sentence.
Reyes noted that “I think it’s quite rich you guys pursue criminal investigations and put people in jail for not showing up . . . And now you guys are flouting those subpoenas. . . . And you don’t have to show up?”
Reyes noted that the DOJ lawyers were “making a bunch of arguments that you would never accept from any other litigant . . . I imagine that there are hundreds, if not thousands of defense attorneys . . . who would be happy to hear that DOJ’s position is, if you don’t agree with a subpoena, if you believe it’s unconstitutional or unlawful, you can unilaterally not show up.”
The Justice Department insisted that it is different when its own prosecutors refuse to testify and noted that the House had also refused to a demand to have other Justice Department lawyers present for the depositions. They then stressed that the decision to defy the subpoena came after lengthy deliberations “at a high level.”
Reyes then asked if the DOJ would drop its opposition if it were allowed to have DOJ lawyers in the room for the questioning. When the lawyers said that they could not answer that question at this time, Reyes exclaimed, “Are you kidding me?”
The answer is that they really are not kidding about any of this stuff. The Justice Department continues to act with utter impunity in these cases. It abandoned consistency years ago with any semblance of restraint.
Breath taking hypocrisy on display at the highest levels of the US government… and this is only the latest, and more obvious, display of abuse of government power.
Can more and better speech cure this aliment…?
Or will indoctrinated children (and their professors) on college campuses simply shout it down, working in concert with the deep state as it deep sixes any mal-information, dis-information or mis-information on the internet which exposes its hypocrisy and raw exercise of anti-Constitutional power?
What other remedies might there be…?
excellent comment!
DOJ = Do As We Say, Not As We Do
I was an attorney for the Department of Justice, Tax Division. We were told that if we allowed a statute of limitations to expire, we would be immediately terminated. We were provided referrals from the IRS six months before expiration of the statute. Our instructions were to either obtain an extension or file suite prior to the expiration of limitations. I would like to know if anybody was terminated for allowing the Hunter Biden statute of limitations to expire.
Anonymous said: “I would like to know if anybody was terminated for allowing the Hunter Biden statute of limitations to expire.”
Terminated? Surely you jest. Probably praised, with plans for promotion should Biden be reelected.
This nation is under full assault by radical activists who hate this country. This is happening right under our noses and there is barely a whimper of protest. Oh, I forgot, they have gone out of their way to teach dissenters a lesson. “If you dare raise your voice in protest, we will bury you in frivolous lawsuits and toss you in prison.”
Shall we depend on our government? It takes three committees of highly educated government employees to determine if it is possible and feasible to drill a hole in a wall.
I heard a story once about a man who left a game at halftime. His friend said, “Why are you leaving? Our team is ahead!”
To that the man replied, “It doesn’t matter what the score is right now, because the way we are playing the game, we will eventually lose.”
This is what’s happening in our nation right now. We may have been the greatest nation in the world and can still be the greatest nation in the world, but it will not occur if we continue doing what we are presently doing. This is madness!
E.M.
Well said and I agree.
At the same time the DOJ is helping its employees to defy a Congressional subpoena, its “special” counsel is trying to put Donald Trump in jail for the rest of his life for defying an FBI subpoena for records.
It was not an FBI Subpeona – it was a subpeona by a Grand Jury attorney in the J6 case.
It was also an illegal subpeona.
Subpeona’s are demands for information.
To take posession of something requires a court order.
Even a Warrant, is really only a temporary grant of possession.
The DOJ subpeona is a non-issue and Cannon should drop all claims related to it.
You can not demand posession through a subpeona.
Frankly you can not even demand access to classified information via subpeona.
Even the courts have to jump through hoops to order classified information to be provided by one party to another.
The DOJ attorney would have to prove sufficient clearance to access the information he was demanding, and a need to know, That would require a hearing in court.
The elephant in the room for the classified documents case is that the only PROPER procedure for Governemtn to obtain classified docs in Trump’s posession was for NARA to go to court and demand their return. That did not happen because NARA would have lost – Chenney v Crew and JW v NARA.
What the courts likely would have done – had this been done correctly is ordered an inventory of Trump’s presidential records and Ordered Trump to provide access or copies to NARA of everything that did not already have copies of.
To feel a rebuke would necessitate the judge would needs have a character of good quality and comprehend the depth of this error…I doubt he even has the ability to feel shame at this point in his indoctrinated, brainwashed dead soul. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=avi+kaplan+change+on+the+rise+
Jail the DOJ attorneys at the trial until the subpoenas are honored or the two referenced individuals are out of prions for ignoring subpoenas.
They did not ignore subpoenas. The claimed executive privilege.
In the first instance ever that I am aware of the current administration refused to defend a claim of executive privilege by advisors of a prior president.
Worse DOJ jumped to prosecuting without adjudicating the claim of priviledge and Judge Carter precluded the claim of priviledge in court as a defense.
Navarro and Bannon were railroaded.
I am surprised that DCOTUS refused to grant cert for Navarro.
Frankly I am surprised they did not reverse and remand.
This was simple – you can not prosecute a current or former presidential advisor for refusing a subpoena where executive privilege is claimed until AFTER a hearing has taken place on the claim of privilege.
That appears to be too complicated for the simple emotional instability of the “concerned parties”.
‘𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨’: 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐱-𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭’𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐯. 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐎 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭
Noting that Donald Trump lost out multiple times when trying to remove a judge from his failed Trump v. Hillary Clinton RICO lawsuit based on the president who appointed the jurist and the political nature of the case, Hunter Biden argued Thursday that the request of a onetime policy analyst in the Trump White House for the recusal of a Joe Biden appointee and campaign donor should likewise go nowhere.
By: Matt Naham ~ Apr 5th, 2024
[Link] lawandcrime.com/high-profile/legal-equivalent-of-multiplying-by-zero-hunter-biden-argues-ex-policy-analysts-push-for-judges-recusal-should-fail-just-like-in-trump-v-clinton-rico-suit/
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𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐚: 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐬
Hunter Biden’s legal team was at the White House days before he defied a congressional subpoena, raising questions about coordination between the two camps, critics said.
Hunter Biden’s white-shoe attorney Abbe Lowell and Anthony Bernal, a top aide to First Lady Jill Biden were both at the White House on Dec. 11 in the East Wing, according to White House visitor logs.
By: Jon Levine ~ April 6, 2024
[Link] nypost.com/2024/04/06/us-news/white-house-meets-with-hunter-bidens-legal-team-visitor-logs/
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‘𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧’ 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭
𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐤, ‘𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧’ 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱-𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭
After Dominion Voting Systems moved to disqualify her from the case due to a discovery leak of the company’s emails, an indicted Michigan “Kraken” lawyer is trying to lift a protective order that’s been in place for nearly a year.
Stefanie Lambert and her client, ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, on April 3 first filed a sealed motion with exhibits attached. The next day, the filing was rejected for running afoul of local rules [see: 5.1(h)]. Two days after that, the duo sought the court’s permission to file under seal a motion to lift the protective order that U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Washington, D.C.-based Donald Trump appointee, put in place back on June 16, 2023.
Matt Naham ~ Apr 8th, 2024, 8:07 am
[Link] lawandcrime.com/high-profile/after-discovery-leak-kraken-lawyer-and-ex-overstock-ceo-client-are-now-trying-to-lift-judges-order-in-dominion-lawsuit/
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-TRA
Leftist drivel.
The stench of the rotting corpse that resides in the White House and the Dept. of Justice only grows greater and greater.
Well stated!
GEB,
Biden is not polling well in swing states, with Trump beating him outside the margin of error.
Biden has lost the Hispanic community, the Asian community, the “uncommitted” Muslim movement is bigger than anyone thought with their “genocide Joe,” and the Jewish community seems to be at a loss. Biden has also lost support from the Black community.
The real problem is if Trump wins, to what lengths will the swamp go to hamstring his second term.
The real problem is if Trump wins, to what lengths will the swamp go to hamstring his second term. — UpstateFarmer
To the ends of the earth… and the most obvious route will be to co-opt Trump himself. Is Jamie Dimond’s backhanded endorsement of Trump a signal to the financial powers-that-be… or merely a reaction to the James-Engoron tag team “win”.
Could be described an internal government civil war.
Which casts, accurately, JP Morgan as a power center behind the throne…
UpstateFarmer said: ” if Trump wins, to what lengths will the swamp go to hamstring his second term.”
To whatever lengths are possible. That potential will, to some extent, depend on whether he is able to bring a decent House and Senate majority with him. However, I must also note that there seems to be considerable, plausible, circumstantial evidence that JFK was assassinated by the CIA because he was planning to withdraw U. S. military advisors from Vietnam, and attempt to negotiate an end to that conflict.
Number 6,
Be interesting to see if Trump facilitate a peace agreement between the Ukraine and Russia.
Oh, I am sure there will be those declaring Trump would be a Russian asset or the like. Meanwhile millions of Ukrainians and Russians will be thankful for the war ending.
UpstateFarmer said: “Be interesting to see if Trump facilitate a peace agreement between the Ukraine and Russia.”
That will be very interesting. I expect him to try, and I strongly suspect that Putin would also be willing to talk. The biggest question in my mind is whether NATO (at the behest of our own Deep State, of course) might do something just before Trump takes office to escalate the conflict to the brink of world war, in an attempt to eliminate any negotiating room for him. I think that they are more than capable of trying that. Conversely, if Trump fails to even make a serious attempt to end US involvement ind investment in the Russia – Ukraine conflict, then I will lbe convinced that we have “just been fooled again” and that he is nothing but another political tool of special interests (neocon; possibly others) who was persuaded to participate in a massive masquerade. His recent flip-flop on Tik Tok (possibly at the behest of a large donor of his who is also heavily invested in Byte Dance), while not of tremendous import to me in and of itself, has made me a bit apprehensive about his fidelity to his articulated positions, and to his rank and file supporters.
Number 6,
Read an article about how NATO countries were confident others would come to their aid, but they were not so willing to offer up aid in the defense of others.
Their non-military citizens were even less inclined to get involved in a war.
Seems the only ones who want this war are those profit off it.
…the only ones who want this war are those profit off it. — UpstateFarmer
Bingo — wasn’t there an America First movement, immediately prior the the Second World War, which was derailed by Pearl Harbor?
Since history rhymes, what will the trigger be this time to end MAGA and begin stuffing body bags?
His recent flip-flop on Tik Tok (possibly at the behest of a large donor of his who is also heavily invested in Byte Dance), while not of tremendous import to me in and of itself, has made me a bit apprehensive about his fidelity to his articulated positions, and to his rank and file supporters. — Number 6
re: …the most obvious route will be to co-opt Trump himself.
First things first.
Trump needs to win.
On the first day in office cancel all of the Executive Orders signed in the first 3 Obama administrations. Let congress make the laws.
Drill Baby Drill!
On the second day of salvation, clean house at the DOJ, FBI, CDC, DOD, DOE and Homeland Security for starters.
On the third day of salvation, notify congress that he won’t sign any bills that can’t be explained by the dumbest member of congress. So, keep them simple!
On the fourth day of salvation, notify congress that he won’t sign any bill funding any university that doesn’t promote free and respectful speech.
On the fifth day of salvation, tell Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador to be a good neighbor and stop the flow of illegals to our border and to clean up the cartels. Good fences make good neighbors.
On the sixth day of salvation, tell Putin that Ukraine will not become a Nato member and tell Zelenskyy to prove that Ukraine is a Democracy and hold regularly scheduled elections.
On the seventh day of salvation, go play some golf. Back to work on the eighth day.
The real problem is if Trump wins, to what lengths will the swamp go to hamstring his second term.
Upstate, they’ve already taken steps toward hamstringing him. If, he somehow manages to stay ahem healthy, we will see an entire executive branch at war with his administration.
I meant to add this:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/2953594/biden-protect-federal-workers-trump-deep-state-purge/
The ani-DOJ and anti-Biden vitriol in these comments is understandable and justified. However, there is another aspect that needs to be mentioned. Kudus to Judge Anna Reyes! She was appointed by Biden in 2023 to her current position. Yet she has chosen to uphold the law, rather than serve the interests of the politician who appointed her. This is the way that an independent Federal judiciary was intended to function.
And this is where Turley just doesn’t remember–recall the case of Daryl Foster, and numerous other DOJ creeps getting away with crimes, and yet no prosecution or super sweetheart deals. Disgusting.
Utter impunity indeed Jonathan. The DOJ double standard for Team Biden is so glaring, you need Ray-Bans.
Yes, but what is to be done?
Eric Holder defied Congress, and never was even prosecuted or disbarred. Peter Navarro is therefore a political prisoner.
let me know WHEN one criminal democrat goes to jail
Democrats have THROWN 1000’s of republicans in jail…eg Peter Navarro?
NOT one person went to jail for the RUSSIAN HOAX…biggest Crime in US history!
Time for the republicans to go Scorched Earth
End all Federal Aid(including Student Loan backing) to colleges, cities, states, non-profits….DEFUND Fascist Democrats!
Guyventner, You may be interested in this article that lists recent Federal cases against congressional Republicans and Democrats. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/23/politics/bob-menendez-democrat-republican-what-matters/index.html
The hypocrisy is amazing.
Have they no self-awareness?
it isn’t self-awareness…it is a SHOW OF POWER. Democrats are lawless…and Republicans FUND IT!
Joe Biden is in charge of the DoJ. In the absence of any other remedy, Comer should consider whether his refusal to comply is an impeachable offense.
This is not entirely true as a matter of constitutional law. Any lawyer would point to you to Morrison v. Olson, which upheld the Independent Counsel Act. It is constitutional for Congress to impose statutory limitations on the President’s removal power, even with respect to those within the executive branch.
Just another day on Doublestandardstan.
I am not young and I have followed politics all of my life and I have never seen such a politicized DOJ, such a brazen WH or such appeasement by the media.
When was the last time that a non-Fox “reporter” asked a tough question of Biden’s team or, heaven forbid, asked a follow-up question? Peter Doocey does ok, but frankly even he could be a bit tougher. Just once I would like Peter or Jacqui Heinrich to give KJP the Jim Acosta treatment. Be aggressive, be mean, be belittling, be honest and shut her up when she lies.
My lord, is the public watching? People need to understand that if they don’t walk the line, it could be their turn. And MSM acts like all is okay. So scary.
The Democrats want us to believe that there’s nothing to see here. Ol’ Joe just wanted a bunch of shell companies so he have something to work with in his old age.
they know you can see it….THEY DON’T CARE!!! THE DOJ is 100% criminal for Democrats…same FBI, IRS, CDC, DHS, etc
And GOP keeps funding the Democrats Civil War Against America…their 2nd
How is the GOP funding it?
They tacitly fund it when they lack the spines to stand up to the left – they rino is a quivering mass of protoplasm just hoping to keep enough votes to stay in office to make all the money he can (see mitch mcconnell as a source).
… “Ol’ Joe just wanted a bunch of shell companies ” …
This whole Executive Branch Administration is a ‘Shell Company’. Its work is not being done for the American People.
Can someone tell me, Why is Janet Yellen Secretary of Treasury over in China doing the work of the Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) ?
The United States is a ‘Shell Company’.
This whole Biden administration appears to be corrupt.
And you just noticed???
Defund the DoJ
That would require a nation with a spine and enough political representatives of the same stripe… good luck finding that.