News: The Justice Department is offering to allow four key officials involved in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation testify before the House Judiciary Committee in response to Chair Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) recent subpoenas.
In a Sept. 22 letter, the DOJ’s legislative affairs chief reiterated the department’s proposal to make Special Counsel David Weiss — who also helmed the Hunter Biden probe as U.S. attorney for Delaware — “available in the near term to address the subject of his authority.”
House Republicans have pointed to testimony from IRS whistleblowers who claim Weiss said he lacked authority to bring charges against Hunter Biden. Weiss, for his part, has stated in correspondence to lawmakers that he had full freedom to carry out the probe.
A plea agreement between Hunter Biden and the Justice Department — which was heavily criticized by GOP lawmakers — fell apart in late July. The younger Biden was indicted on felony gun charges on Sept. 14, and more charges may follow.
Decoding DOJ: The latest move from DOJ signals the department will allow Weiss to speak to Jordan’s panel. “We remain deeply concerned about any misrepresentations about our work that could harm public confidence in the evenhanded administration of justice,” Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte writes in the letter.
Uriarte insists that the department has made “extraordinary efforts” to comply with Jordan’s oversight of the Hunter Biden investigation. The DOJ is offering U.S. Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada to testify, along with Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg.
Graves and Estrada are of particular interest because Weiss once sought to partner with these officials in order to bring charges against the younger Biden outside of his Delaware jurisdiction.
But Uriarte rebuffed Jordan’s earlier request to interview a total of seven officials and produce a plethora of documents and communications relating to whistleblower allegations.
“The volume and requested pace of the Committee’s proposed schedule far exceeds the Department’s resources, especially in light of the Committee’s other pending requests and subpoenas to the Department on other topics,” Uriarte wrote.
Impeachment hearing: The House Oversight Committee will hold its first hearing Thursday related to the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is framing the hearing as a chance to “establish the basis for the impeachment inquiry.” But don’t expect any major revelations.
Comer has described the hearing to reporters as “a refresher course” of what the panel has compiled so far in its probe into the financial dealings of the president’s family members. While the panel has uncovered information about shell companies connected to Hunter and James Biden — the son and brother of the president — Republican investigators still haven’t established any wrongdoing on the part of Joe Biden.
The committee plans to bring a financial expert to testify about the bank records Comer has subpoenaed, in addition to a witness that will argue the constitutional rationale for impeachment.
Democrats, for their part, are seizing on the shutdown split-screen.
“Instead of these stunts intended to distract from the disastrous consequences of their shutdown, House Republicans should do their job and avoid economic pain and threats to our national security,” White House Spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations Sharon Yang said in a statement.
Oversight Committee Democrats will seek to fact check Comer in real time, a marked change from the Kentucky Republican’s usual friendly audience of conservative cable hosts.
— Max Cohen
