Republicans sue to force DOJ testimony in Hunter Biden investigation
House Judiciary Committee Republicans are suing the Justice Department to compel testimony from two line attorneys who worked on the Hunter Biden investigation.
The GOP previously subpoenaed the two men alongside a suite of other DOJ officials, arguing in the Thursday filing the committee still wishes to question the two tax attorneys they allege shifted gears after initially recommending tax charges for Biden.
“The Judiciary Committee is investigating whether the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is committed to impartial justice in light of evidence that it has given Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden), President Joseph Biden’s son, favorable treatment,” the committee wrote in its suit.
“To craft effective legislative reforms and to determine whether President Biden has committed an impeachable offense, it must have all the facts. And to uncover all the facts, the Committee requires testimony from both Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two current or former Tax Division attorneys who have firsthand knowledge of the irregularities in DOJ’s investigation that appear to have benefited Hunter Biden.”
The suit for testimony from the two attorneys comes as Hunter Biden is already facing serious tax charges in California, running from 2017 to 2020.
But Republicans wish to discuss with the attorneys information related to Biden’s taxes in 2014 and 2015, the year he served on the board of Ukrainian company Burisma.
“After DOJ refused to make Daly and Morgan available for voluntary interviews with the Committee, the Committee subpoenaed them to appear for depositions. But they defied the Subpoenas because their employer, DOJ, directed them not to appear. By refusing to appear, Daly and Morgan are frustrating Congress’s ability to conduct oversight and investigate Executive Branch corruption,” Republicans allege.
The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
But in a February letter in response to the subpoena, the Justice Department raised concerns over the scope of the committee’s investigation, calling its efforts to comply “extraordinary, not least because this matter is ongoing.”
“The Committee has identified no reason to believe that any evidence exists of improper interference by President Biden in the Department’s work, including as described in the impeachment resolution, much less evidence that would justify the additional testimony you seek in these subpoenas,” the Justice Department wrote to the panel.
“The Department has already taken extraordinary steps that address your interest in this matter, including by authorizing testimony by six senior Department officials. One of those individuals was Special Counsel [David] Weiss, who testified he was responsible for deciding whether and when to bring charges and resolved the Committee’s questions about improper interference.”
The suit shows Republicans remain laser-focused on Biden’s taxes, in spite of the arrest of the former FBI informant for lying to the agency about an allegation Biden and his father took a bribe. The indictment says the informant fabricated the matter given his support for former President Trump.
The suit also escalates a long-running battle between House Judiciary conservatives and the Justice Department.
The GOP has accused the department of being “weaponized” against conservatives, seeing the Biden investigation as evidence of a failure to pursue even-handed justice.
Hunter Biden, however, is facing charges in two states, tax charges in California and gun charges in Delaware.
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