House GOP asks Justice Dept. to indict Biden’s son and brother, and other Biden family members for making false claims.

Marianna Sotomayor

06/06/2024

A trio of GOP-led House committees wrote to the Justice Department on Wednesday recommending that President Biden’s son Hunter and brother James be charged for making false statements to Congress during Republicans’ long-running impeachment inquiry into the president.

In the form of a 65-page note in a 65-page letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland The Republican chairmanmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees – Representatives. James Comer (Ky.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Jason T. Smith (Mo. ) and Jason T. Smith (Mo.) -in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, theyoutlined their views of “overwhelming evidence” that Hunter Biden and James Biden should be prosecuted for perjury and false statements regarding their business dealings when Joe Biden was vice president.

Hunter Biden, through his lawyer Abbe Lowell, has denied any wrongdoing. James Biden did immediately respond to a request for clarification.

The Justice Department has no legal obligation to take action based on Republicans’ recommendations.

However, Comer who is chair of the Oversight Committee, previously suggested that the Justice Department could bring new charges against Bidens in the event that Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November. House Republicans have returned on Washington this week and promised to pursue more aggressively Biden’s administration. Biden administration following a New York jury found Trump guilty of faking documents to conceal an hush-money payment to an actress from the adult film industry.

Biden’s Justice Department is prosecuting Trump in two separate instances both in D.C. and Florida, Trump has made it a point to stay clear of involvement in or even discussing the case in anything other than the broadest terms. In a hearing before Congress on Wednesday, Garland firmly denied allegations made by House Republicans who have repeatedly stated it was they believed that the Justice Department was engaged with New York state prosecutors. Garland has also appointed special counsels who will oversee probes regarding Trump as well as Hunter Biden, as well as the handling of classified documents. Garland said it was not appropriate for him directly manage probes against his boss as well as Trump when they are competing during the presidential race that is coming up.

“When President Trump returns to the White House, it’s critical the new leadership at the DOJ have everything they need to prosecute the Biden Crime Family and deliver swift justice,” Comer wrote in an email to the White House March email to raise money.

Criminal referrals appear toto be the conclusion of a lengthy investigation conducted by House Republicans who have attempted and failed to prove Biden was involved in or personally profited from his brother and son’s international business deals as vice president.

The impeachment investigation has splintered the slim House Republican majority of hard-liners who seek to swiftly take away Biden from office, and conservatives who believe in governing and intend to move forward in the direction ofwithout any evidence that links Biden to a crime he could be committing.

In the absence of the votes needed to remove Biden as president, the panel investigating Biden’s family have shifted their concentration on recommending criminal charges and threat to keep officials of the Cabinet in disobedience to Congress.

“My opinions on impeachment in general? It’s a high bar which they have to reach, and they had be able to persuade their fellow lawmakers that impeachment was the correct decision,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) declared in an interview in interview with the Washington Post in March. “If they are declining to bring articles of impeachment, I think that is the right decision.”

The Justice Department is prosecuting Biden’s son, Hunter, on tax escape charges and accusations that he made up his drug usage when he bought the gun. A trial in the second case is currently underway in Delaware the state where Hunter’s ex-wife, his ex-girlfriend, and the Delaware gun store salesperson who bought him the revolver were in court on Wednesday.

The criminal referral to a criminal investigationissued from Congress for the Justice Department would be a symbolic gesture that has no legal significance by itself and leaves prosecutors with the option of deciding the need to pursue criminal criminalcharges. However, the referrals to criminals could be used as a way to communicate that could be used by Republicans who have tried to validate unsubstantiated claims as well as theories regarding Biden as well as his family.

The House committee members assert that Hunter Biden perjured himself by giving evidence earlier this year to prove that he did not send an WhatsApp message to an executive from a Chinese energy conglomerate executive urging Biden to pay, citing the presence of his father. Smith Chairperson of the Ways and Means Committee, revealed the text message exchange earlier this month.

They also say Biden’s child “made false statements” about his work at a company organization that conducted deal with international clients.

“This is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Republicans to twist Hunter’s testimony so they can distract from their failed impeachment inquiry and interfere with his trial,” said Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer.

The chairmen claimed James Biden lied before Congress regarding whether the president Biden was as a private person had a meeting the with Tony Bobulinski, a onetime business acquaintance of Hunter Biden in the month of May 2017, while Hunter was in the process ofpursuing an agreement with CEFC the Chinese power conglomerate.

In a hearing held earlier this year Bobulinski was able to point out the meeting, which was organized through Hunter Biden and James Biden, as proof that Joe Biden was aware of his son’s business relationships with foreign companies. However, it is unclearwhen Bobulinski was questioned on the 45-minute discussion in Los Angeles, he made no specific reference to Hunter’s desire to negotiate an arrangement with CEFC.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) issued a statement that praised the recommendation and saying that”the Justice Department should open a criminal investigation in order to show the fact that Garland “is not running a two-tiered system of justice.”

The Justice Department had not responded to the Republican referrals by the end of Wednesday.

In an interview recently in the newspaper Politico, Comer said that the referrals “don’t expire” and that in the event that you think that the existing Justice Department doesn’t “try to uphold the law… maybe the next one will.”

The recommendations may not please the hard-line Republicans They could not be a boon to hard-line Republicanswho remain committed to impeaching President Biden. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has threatened to make a motion for impeaching Biden this week, using special rules that will force the House to take up the matter.the House to consider the issue within 48 hours.

Following a meeting on Tuesday together with Johnson, Greene appears to have abstained from her threat at present and allowed the House to be closed for the rest of the week. But not without scolding her colleagues for not taking action to take a more aggressive approach towards Johnson the presidentand the Johnson family.

“Republicans across the nation and a lot of Americans generally are exhausted and are fed up of an ineffective ineffective Republican Party conference that does absolutely nothing. They’re sick of hearings on committees that do absolutely nothing.” they told journalists. “Here in this shambles building, everyone just talks and doesn’t do anything. I’m done with it.”

Jacqueline Alemany and Devlin Barrett were the authors of this report.