House Republicans are seeking interviews with more than a dozen figures involved in the Hunter Biden investigation as part of a probe into whether there was “equal enforcement of the law.”
Biden, the president’s son, agreed to a plea deal yet to be approved by a judge that charges him with failure to pay taxes and would also require him to enter a diversion program on a separate gun charge.
The news of the agreement was followed the next day by the release of a transcript from an interview with IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, who alleged Biden was given preferential treatment and that the investigation was slow-walked.
The request from a trio of committee leaders seeks to speak with David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware who led the investigation, as well as a deputy, Lesley Wolf. It also requests an interview with U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves; Shapley alleged Graves opposed Biden being charged in D.C.
The request also seeks interviews with numerous other FBI, IRS and Department of Justice employees.
“Recent startling testimony from Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers raises serious questions about the Department’s commitment to evenhanded justice and the veracity of assertions made to the Committee on the Judiciary,” lawmakers wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The letter was sent by Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.).
“Specifically, the Committees seek to examine whistleblower claims that the Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden was purposely slow-walked and subjected to improper and politically motivated interference,” the men wrote.
Biden’s lawyer has refuted that investigators were anything other than diligent in their five-year investigation into the matter.
“This was a five year, very diligent investigation pursued by incredibly professional prosecutors, some of whom have been career prosecutors, one of whom at least was appointed by President Trump,” Chris Clark said during an appearance on MSNBC with Katy Tur last week.
Clark later said he’s unsure whether someone who was not as high-profile as Biden would have been prosecuted for the crime.
“It’s very clear he didn’t timely pay the taxes he was supposed to pay at the time. He subsequently has paid them, but he didn’t timely pay them. I think it’s a very hard question whether I would have been prosecuted for that or not. And I think I could have been, but I think that’s a hard question, and it’s one I can’t answer,” he said.
Garland’s office acknowledged receipt but declined to comment further. Neither Wiess’s nor Graves’s offices responded to request for comment.
Shapley said Weiss’s office relayed it was told it could not bring charges in D.C., where he believed the strongest case could be had regarding Biden’s tax evasion. He alleged that Graves, the U.S. attorney for D.C., would not allow Weiss to bring charges in his district.
Justice Department officials have sharply denied that.
Garland has maintained before lawmakers and under questioning from reporters that Weiss had the authority under both the Trump and Biden administrations to handle the case as he saw fit.
“I certainly understand that some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department, and its components, and its employees, by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike. This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the American people. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Garland said Friday.
“You’ve all heard me say many times that we make our cases based on the facts and the law. These are not just words. These are what we live by.”
Weiss has also told lawmakers that he had total authority.
“I want to make clear that, as the Attorney General has stated, I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges,” Weiss told House Judiciary Committee members in a June letter.
Graves has also contested Shapley’s assertion.
“As the Attorney General has said, U.S. Attorney Weiss was given full authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction he deemed appropriate. He did not need approval from this office or the U.S. Attorney to bring charges in the District of Columbia,” Graves’s office previously said in a statement about Shapley’s testimony.