Attorney General Merrick Garland has long maintained that he is a completely apolitical figure who only follows the law. Critics have challenged that claim on key cases, including those related to Hunter Biden. However, Garland may now face one of the clearest tests of his claim in his tenure. The House committees have issued a public report alleging three different instances where Hunter Biden allegedly committed perjury. The question is now what Garland is prepared to do about it.
When Hunter testified, I wrote columns suggesting that he might take the Fifth Amendment to remain silent because the risk was too great that he might lie or mislead investigators in his answers. With months of preparation, he decided to run the gauntlet and now appears to have exposed himself to the possibility of additional criminal charges.
Hunter Biden has still not responded to the specific allegations, but on their face they appear strong. Notably, the Justice Department spent considerable time and money to pursue false statements against figures like Michael Flynn over just one statement describing a meeting with Russian diplomats. These are instances where Hunter was under oath, prepared for months, and had counsel present.
One of the instances concerns the controversial WhatsApp message where Hunter not only threatened a Chinese businessman to send him massive amounts of money but said that his father was sitting next to him at the time. Millions were later sent to the Bidens. The infamous WhatsApp message stated in part:
“I am sitting here with my father 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.”
The response of Hunter to questions about the message was curious and evasive. Hunter said that he had only two things to say about that message. He denied that his father was sitting next to him despite saying that he had no memory of sending the message. Second, and most importantly, he stated “the Zhao that this is sent to is not the Zhao connected to CEFC” who “had no understanding or even remotely knew what the hell I was even Goddamn talking about.”
The Committee staff maintains that Biden’s WhatsApp account shows that he only ever communicated with one Zhao – Raymond Zhao – and that he most certainly did not know what he was “talking about.”
Another alleged lie was Hunter’s denial that he ever helped people associated with Burisma secure visas. He told Congress that he was unwilling to provide “any work as it related to visas that they needed” and that he would “never pick up the phone and call anybody for a visa.” The Committee has produced an email in which Hunter’s associate Devon Archer references the revoking of Burisma CEO Nikolay Zlochevsky’s visa. It states that “Hunter is checking with Miguel Aleman to see if he can provide cover to Kola on the visa…Please send Hunter an email with all Kola’s passport and visa documents and evidence and copy me. We’ll take it from there.”
Hunter also swore that he had no part in shell companies that received foreign payments. Yet, Archer testified that he and Hunter had an equal stake in Rosemont Seneca Bohai and the Committee has evidence from the IRS whistleblowers showing that Hunter received benefits as owner of the entity’s associated bank account.
The most damning evidence may be a document reading “I, Robert Hunter Biden, hereby certify that I am the duly elected, qualified and acting Secretary of Rosemont Seneca Bohai, LLC.” He used that document as part of his contract with Porsche Financial Services for a sports car.
Those would seem pretty clear and well-founded allegations for a referral to the Justice Department. After fast-tracking false statement claims against Trump officials, the question is whether Garland will even submit the matter to a grand jury. He could also give the matter to the Special Counsel prosecuting Hunter.
Ordinarily, a prosecutor pursuing a defendant in two different felony cases would jump at any alleged illegality. You would not want to stand between him and a grand jury. However, Special Counsel David Weiss has been accused of minimizing charges against the President’s son and attempting to push through a notorious sweetheart deal that collapsed in court.
Now Garland faces an unavoidable choice in treating this referral as he did Trump cases (in sending this to a grand jury) or scuttling alleged perjury made by the son of the President before Congress. It is far less challenging legally than it is politically for Merrick Garland.
If the rule of law still governs at the Justice Department, Hunter Biden could be facing a third front in his ongoing legal struggles.
One of the most humiliating things about Garland’s many SS troops armed with authority to shoot raiding the Trump residence is the fact that everyone knows that 3 unarmed Boy Scouts in uniform could have knocked politely and gotten everything.
What a disgrace. I imagine the SS SWAT team will storm a kindergarten next. What makes it even more unbecoming is that if they had to deal with real bad guys they would likely cower behind local law enforcement, real police, while scheming to take the credit.
LOL — Nice posturing, Turley troll. Now why don’t you reply to my other comment about Turley having teamed up with multiple felon Michael Avenatti …
https://jonathanturley.org/2018/04/18/turley-and-avenatti-to-appear-at-gw-event/comment-page-1/#comments
… to bash Trump in 2018, even though Avenatti’s felonies were already well-known and widely published in the news.
Do you really think Turley and his former student, Avenatti, weren’t applauding while whe FBI was pounding on Trump’s door? Do you really think Turley isn’t hoping for the bogus NY jury to convict Trump in a few days?
Long past time for somone to take out the trash at this hired-troll-infested garbage site.
Good idea. I don’t think you will be missed.
Oh, the old “I know you are but what am I” kindergarten taunt. Very impressive, Fox bot.
Young,
Well said.
Meanwhile, Fox GARBAGE “News” strikes again:
“You’ll never believe who tops the list of Trump running mates in a new swing state poll”
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/youll-never-believe-who-tops-list-trump-running-mates-new-swing-state-poll
Fox GARBAGE “News” has been peddling Tulsi Gabbard for YEARS, always forgetting to mention that she’s an avowed SOCIALIST who voted for Obama, Hillary, AND Fake President Joetard. And when you read the comment section for that disgraceful article, it’s not surprising that the Fox trolls gushing over Gabbard being the perfect VP choice are completely unaware of Gabbard’s socialist politics and voting record.
This comment from a DNC troll shows that Democrats greatly fear Tulsi Gabbard as Trump’s running mate.
We should remember that Ronald Reagan was a red-hot New Dealer at one point in his life. We need to make it easy for uncomfortable Democrats to cross the bridge to the world of the wise.
I’m a TRUMP supporter, you lying peice of garbage Turely troll. And it’s a well-known FACT that Gabbard is a socialist who was second in command at the DNC but dropped out to support Bernie Sanders vs. Hillary in 2016 because she is a socialist first and a democrat second.
Where does Turley dig up you lying attack trolls?
The level of hysteria in your voice gives you away as someone who is scared to death of both Trump and Gabbard because they are a threat to your corrupt dictator FJB and all the destruction he stands for.
Another of Turley’s hired, lying trolls heard from. The FACT is that I’ve been posting comments here in Turleyville for many years, dating back to when Turley was teamed up with multiple felon Michael Avenatti to bash Trump:
Turley and Avenatti To Appear At GW Event
https://jonathanturley.org/2018/04/18/turley-and-avenatti-to-appear-at-gw-event/
My posted comment is the one that reads as follows:
As impressive as the list of Avenatti accomplishments detailed in this promotional advertisement of JT’s are, that list is nothing compared with the remarkable accomplishments Turley failed to mention:
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/before-stormy-daniels-her-attorney-faced-allegations-of-dubious-business-dealings/
It amazes me how one article currently up rightfully condemns James Comey, his book, and his book tour for what they are, and at the same time there’s this article, which only provides half of Avenatti’s resume. If Turley had treated the Comey-book article the way Avenatti is treated in this article, we’d all be praising James Comey as the righteous defender of justice that Comey (and virtually nobody else) thinks he is, and Comey’s book would be described as the greatest thing since canned beer.
Edwardmahl,
As I have noted here on the good professor’s blog previously, I donated to the Gabbard campaign twice and was going to a third time, but then she dropped out.
Note, her campaign lasted longer, had more support than kackling, word salad Harris.
Gabbard would make a great running mate.
The DNC convention this August will be a fabulous event for democracy and all thing virtuous, good and American … because DNC conventions in Chicago in August always go swimmingly well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention
This is especially true when the world’s on the “Eve Of Destruction” :
“And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin … If the button is pushed, there’s no runnin’ away. There’ll be no one to save with the world in a grave. Take a look around you boy, it’s bound to scare you, boy. And you tell me over and over and over again, my friend how you don’t believe We’re on the eve of destruction.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_38SWIIKITE&ab_channel=BarryMcGuire-Topic .
OT
Apropos for Memorial Day Weekend and Democrats destroying America
Teach Your Children to Love America
We live in an age…..in which children are instructed in 100 different ways through 100 different portals that America is and always was a dark and scheming place, that its history is the history of pushing people around, often in an amoral quest for wealth but also because we aren’t very nice. And we never meant it about the Declaration. Ideology and idiocy imposed this view, shallowness too. …
I’ve spent the past few days reading an old book, one that couldn’t possibly be published today because it’s so full of respect for America. “Manual of Patriotism: For Use in the Public Schools of the State of New York,” runs 461 pages of text and was published in 1900. …The manual was written after the Legislature passed an 1898 law requiring public schools to display the American flag and “encourage patriotic exercises.” Organized veterans of the Civil War and of the Women’s Relief Corps, who were nurses on the battlefield, pushed for it to “awaken in the minds and hearts of the young” an “appreciation” for “the great deeds” of their nation. Memorial Day meant a lot to those old veterans, but more was needed. Their generation was passing; they’d given everything to hold the nation together; they wanted the young to understand why.
What a book the manual is, what a flag-waving old classic.
– Peggy Noonan, WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/teach-your-children-to-love-america-memorial-day-7c97666e
Skinner, C. R. & Alfred Whital Stern Collection Of Lincolniana. (1900) Manual of patriotism, for use in the public schools of the state of New York. [Albany, N.Y., Brandow printing company] [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/01029818/.
Estovir,
Thank you for posting that.
Have a good, safe and patriotic Memorial Day weekend!
Merrick Garlnd is one of the most principled persons I’ve ever encountered.
Of course, the principle underlying all of his actions and decisions is what is the most corrupt and depraved thing that can be done in any given circumstance. He rarely, if ever, deviates from this ironclad principle.
Professor Turley is well aware that Trump’s pal Roger Stone was convicted of 5 felony counts of making false statements to Congress, witness tampering & obstructing a Congressional investigation. Trump pardoned Stone. Hey, what’s the big deal about a close friend of Trump’s repeatedly lying to Congress, right JT?
As we all know, David Weiss was nominated by Trump to be US attorney for Delaware & confirmed by a Republican led Senate. This week, Weiss released a 97-page document which includes the law and evidence prosecutors plan to use to prove that Hunter Biden committed three felonies when he bought a firearm in 2018 while under the influence of drugs.
Turley apparently believes that proves Weiss is minimizing charges against the President’s son & an assault on the rule of law.
Don’t dare try to argue with Professor Turley.
Keep it up, troll. Turley’s comment section is garbage anyway — populated by Turley’s hired trolls that upvote each other’s silly comments — so you can’t really make it worse by piling on your own garbage.
Thanks for the update on the rules of engagement on Turley’s website. If someone mentions a Trump associate who was convicted of repeatedly lying to Congress, they’ll be called a troll. Got it.
You mean like Genarl Flynn? Face it, the Swamp is the Swamp and the human garbage that exists there is all for self gain. All you have to do to see the corruption is look at their networth before and after their “public service “.
Petulant. yep that the word Petulant
[moved to or showing sudden, impatient irritation, especially over some trifling annoyance:]
As we all know, David Weiss was nominated by Trump to be US attorney for Delaware
This is how leftist lie.
President Trump, following the “Norms and Tradition” appoints US attorneys submitted by the Senators from that state. Of course Delaware has two Democrat Senators, Technically President Trump nominated Weiss, but Wiess was hand picked by Democrats.
All we need to know is the Facts. Wiess fashioned a sweet heart deal that no Prosecutor had ever seen, or heard of ever. It was so unusual it collapsed on the weigt of its own corruption with one question from the presiding Judge.
I have come to think that anyone sitting on a federal jury should be very hesitant to give a win to the DOJ and associated three letter agencies on any case. Seems it’s a bit like having the Mafia sitting at the prosecution table. Who wants to give the Mafia a win on anything? But I suspect the real Mafia would be much less of a threat to the nation than the Garland Gang.
By the way, wasn’t there a Mafia boss who pretended to be demented to avoid prosecution? Sounds familiar except that Biden isn’t pretending. An administration for the history books if there is anyone left to write books after the administration continues with its foreign affairs ‘policies’. The expensive dock in Gaza is a failure but we all knew that before it was built because..Biden. it could only be worse if it had been left to Newsom to build.
No wonder billionaires are going deep underground to create shelters. It isn’t because they see a market in growing mushrooms for table, more like they are thinking about cloud type mushrooms.
I think that unless the defendant mumbles something about Allah, always vote to acquit. He may be scum but he won’t be the scummiest in the courtroom.
“It appears the largest problem is in the DOJ with no checks on partisan actors embedded within . We need to purge these individuals that seem to have no checks to their ignorance” @chasminicozzi
“Yes — that is a HUGE problem.
It became a problem during the Obama Admin. when hiring overt and committed progressive social justice warriors was a staffing priority. Hundreds of liberal progressive attorneys flowed out of Ivy League schools and into DOJ starting around 2010.
Now, 12 years later, these same people are running most of various divisions and offices within DOJ, and hiring over a decade has staffed the entire Department in the same fashion.
I see folks here say the same has happened at DOD and State Department.
A GOP Administration will need to be as committed at running those people out as the Obama/Biden Admins have been at giving them jobs and positions of power.
There is no longer any sense of “nonpartisanship” at DOJ.” -@shipwreckedcrew
————–
If they cheat and install Biden again, there goes the Supreme Court. And the country.
The abject, base, and corrupt Merrick Garland illicitly and unconstitutionally filed an antitrust suit against Ticketmaster.
The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.
Ticketmaster is being persecuted and prosecuted for succeeding and defeating its competition.
Will Merrick Garland next sue Taylor Swift for succeeding and defeating her competition?
Congress has no power to regulate the ticket industry.
Congress has the enumerated power to regulate ONLY the value of money, commerce (i.e. exchange, or buying and selling) among nations, States, and Indian tribes, and land and naval Forces.
Private-sector free market competition is the sole constitutional resolution and redress of grievances against Ticketmaster.
A dearth of competition does not constitute a valid and legitimate grievance.
Wise and self-described aggrieved parties would do well to establish and conduct competition for Ticketmaster.
The sole function of government in this regard is to ensure general Welfare, or the basic infrastructure, to facilitate freedom, free enterprise, and free markets, not to conduct or interfere in commercial operations.
Start by evaluating your skills, hobbies, and interests. Determine what you’re passionate about or what skills you possess that can be monetized. >>>
anymore
I’m still waiting for Andrew McCabe to be indicted for lying to the FBI, which the DOJ Inspector General Horowitz developed ironclad proof for 3 instances of. That’s 3 counts of lying to the FBI. He got to retire with pension, instead of 5 years in federal prison.
The self-serving corruption at the highest levels of DOJ/FBI is shocking. The problem is there is no oversight with any teeth to national law enforcement. They can break rules with impunity.
The DOJ/FBI are The Untouchables
“The DOJ/FBI are The Untouchables”
I think what you mean is: The DOJ/FBI are the *antithesis* of The Untouchables. In that great TV series, the untouchable ones (Ness, et al.) were incorruptible.
Garland is seriously deserving of a stiff jail sentence.
Blessed are they who expect nothing in that they shall never be disappointed.
What?…give up? Those who set and maintain positive expectations of what they can accomplish, they rule the world. Those who succumb to negative thinking lose. It’s rule or be ruled. Expectations are ground zero. It all begins or ends in the privacy of your own brain.
Blessed are they who expect nothing in that they shall never be disappointed
Tonight I cooked Fricasé de pollo a la criolla per Nitza Villapol’s recipe. She was the Julia Child of Cuba before Castro. I used 5 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and fresh spices. It was one of my favorites as a child, my mother was a magnificent Cuban cook, and so my expectations of my attempt were quite low. To my surprise it came out quite good and the family loved it too.
We used to share cooking recipes on this blog, and Darren Smith and others enjoyed the cultural / ethnic dishes to pick up our spirits. Here is one to consider. Cooking Cuban food never fails to stir the memories and emotions just right.
MarxistsDemocrats can never take away our thoughts and memories.Fricasé de Pollo a la Criolla
Ingredients
1⁄4 cup fresh lime juice
1⁄4 cup fresh orange juice
3 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
1 (3 1/2–4-lb.) chicken, quartered (backbone discarded or saved for stock)
1⁄3 cup olive oil
1 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
1 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces
1⁄2 cup cup jarred alcaparrado or 1/3 cup pimento-stuffed olives
1⁄4 cup raisins
1 can sweet peas
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
https://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/fricasse-de-pollo-cuban-style-chicken-stew/
This is embarrassing, about the American reporter held hostage in Russia
Trump:
“Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office. He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY,”
“Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!”
Russia:
“When asked about the remarks, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, ‘There aren’t any contacts with Donald Trump”
Biden should be embarrassed.
He probably should be embarrassed.
But not as embarrassed as this orange fool who makes ridiculous claims that never come to pass.
You mean like all the claims he has made that absolutely came to pass?
Oh, yeah, those!
First, you don’t provide a link. Second, those two statements are not incompatible. Third, you believe everything the Kremlin says as if it’s gospel truth? Now who’s Putin’s tool?
Trump’s comments were a Truth Social post.
I am sure you have already seen that.
Here is the Russian denial:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/23/russia-denies-trump-claim-us-journalist#:~:text=But%20when%20asked%20about%20the,carried%20out%20in%20total%20secrecy.
No, I have no connection to Truth Social. I didn’t even realize it was still a thing. And again, those two statements you quoted can both be true at the same time. And again, you just accept whatever the Kremlin says as gospel truth.
No you probably can’t believe the Kremlin.
But the fact that Trump is saying these things suggests the Kremlin is playing him for the sucker he is.
The only Putin tool is Trump. He has proven that repeatedly.
How do you figure the Kremlin is playing him? Do you think the Kremlin somehow induced Trump to make that claim? If so, could you please point to specifics?
And as for Trump being a Putin tool . . . how does that square with actual events? As I recall, Putin did not invade Ukraine while Trump was president; it waited until Biden was president. Biden’s reaction has led to (a) a strong Russian friendship with China and movement toward an alternative currency to the US dollar, (b) the slaughter of an entire generation of Ukranian men, (c) America being another several hundred billion dollars in debt, and (d) the world on the brink of WWIII and nuclear annihilation. Trump may be oafish like Frank Vallelonga, but like Vallelonga he’s an effective bodyguard. The proof is in the pudding. I prefer the state of the world when Trump’s in charge to the utter chaos, border erasure, runaway inflation, pending national insolvency, sky-high crime in our cities, suppression of our domestic energy production, increased terrorism at home and abroad, and international instability of the Biden presidency, which by any measure is a miserable failure.
You just walked straight into his obvious ambush.
Marine Corp. veteran Trevor Reed posted this in his Twitter today:
“As a former wrongful detainee in Russia, I would just like to remind everyone that President Trump had the ability to get myself and Paul Whelan out of Russia for years and chose not to,”
https://x.com/trevorrowdyreed/status/1793808284140339384
Excitement is building in the South Bronx. Here’s one outstanding rap scene:
I stand with Trump, I stand with Trump
United we stand, divided we fall
Indict our our president you better indict us all
United we stand, with Biden we fall
Indict our president you better indict us all . . .
https://x.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1793728640821399738
‘I wish he would just disappear’: Trump’s Bronx rally gets a big thumbs down from locals”
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bronx-rally/
I can understand if you’re jealous of the palpable excitement of the happy optimistic Trump supporters. Trump drew 100,000 enthusiastic fans in deep blue New Jersey, and now he is in deep blue NYC drawing happy, loving supporters.
By contrast, nobody is enthusiastic about the dementia-addled corpse that goes by the name of FJB, who constantly slurs out gibberish with an angry contorted face, falls down for no apparent reason, and can’t make his way off a stage. He could maybe draw 23 people in a deep blue state, and they’d have to be paid to show up.
‘He has no right to be here’: Trump motorcade met with boos by angry Bronx locals”
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bronx-boos/
Woman with ‘Trump is a Nazi’ sign crashes ex-president’s Bronx rally
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-nazi-rally-bronx/
‘That’s it?!’ Police at Trump rally express surprise at small size of crowd
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bronx-rally-2668367553/
‘Steady stream of people leaving’ Trump’s Bronx rally while he was still talking
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/stream-of-people-leaving-trump-rally/
A steady stream means there was a large crowd
‘Loser!’ Trump protesters outshout MAGA supporters at Bronx rally
Read about it here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-bronx-rally-2668367632/
My my, so much jealousy of Trump’s popularity. Must suck to be you.
Last test of what principles? The principles Garland has spent 4 years stomping on, shredding, making a mockery of, feeding to the baboons who pooeyed them out again, and generally treating like toilet paper? Those principles? I kind of feel we’re past that by now don’t you think? It’s understandable that Turley really really wants Team Democrat to save face but it’s not realistic.
And ps, it’s still me, even if Garland pretends to go after hb in a sham trial that we all know will end in acquittal and/or presidential pardon, that would not restore Garland’s credibility.
Hold On to your Pantyhose Ladies – He’s getting ready for the DNC Chicago Convention Stage ~ Aug. 19th-22nd, 2024
Newsom Picks Pontificating Over Governing
He’s interested more in traveling to Rome than in solving his state’s budget crisis.
By: Steven Greenhut ~ May 22nd 2024
https://spectator.org/newsom-picks-pontificating-over-governing/
The DNC convention will be a fabulous event for democracy and all thing virtuous, good and American … because DNC conventions in Chicago in August always go swimmingly well. Especially when the world’s on the “Eve Of Destruction” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_38SWIIKITE&ab_channel=BarryMcGuire-Topic
There is no rule of law anymore Professor. Stop pretending.
Turley and his anti-Trump boss at Fox “News” have to pretend that there’s a rule of law in order o sucker morons into taking them seiously, so that when the time is right they can stick a knife in the backs of Trump and his supporters AGAIN, same as in 2020.