Rep. Jim Jordan blasts Garland’s ‘refusal’ to appoint special counsel over Hunter Biden
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) blasted Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday for his “refusal” to appoint a special counsel in the government’s criminal investigation of first son Hunter Biden.
Jordan wrote in a letter to Garland that the Justice Department’s investigation into President Biden’s eldest living son has the “appearance of a conflict of interest” and seems to meet the criteria necessary for a special counsel to be appointed.
“To date, you have declined to appoint a special counsel in this matter, despite appointing special counsels in other investigations. Your refusal to appoint a special counsel here is conspicuous in this context,” Jordan’s letter continued.
The Ohio Republican also requested that Garland provide the Judiciary Committee with documents from employees in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware relating to the status of a special counsel for the investigation and communications between employees of US attorney’s offices who could bring charges against the 80-year-old president’s troubled son, 53.
Jordan demanded that the information be turned over to the panel no later than March 14 at 5 p.m., as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight of the DOJ.
To date, the DOJ has resisted cooperating with the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan has accused the DOJ of being “scared to cooperate” with the panel’s investigations.
His calls for a special counsel in the Hunter Biden case come as the House Oversight Committee conducts its own expansive probe into the business dealings of the Biden family, including the first son.
Last week, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) accused the Biden Treasury Department of “operating in bad faith” by preventing his committee from accessing more than 150 bank reports of transactions tied to Hunter Biden.
Comer says Treasury had made “several excuses” to not comply with his Jan. 11 request for so-called “Suspicious Activity Reports” (SARs) — triggered by “unusual foreign or high-dollar transactions” executed by Hunter, first brother James Biden, their associates and related companies.
“The American people deserve transparency,” Comer tweeted on Monday. “Treasury’s failure to produce requested information related to the Biden family’s influence peddling schemes is unacceptable.”
Garland is slated to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday and face a grilling by Comer and other Republicans on the panel.
According to reports, federal agents investigating Hunter Biden believe they have sufficient evidence to charge him with tax crimes and for lying about his drug abuse on paperwork for a firearms purchase.
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