During a hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the claims made by IRS whistleblowers about the Justice Department’s investigation of Hunter Biden are “opinion” rather than truth.
Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson was in disbelief, asking Garland if he believed the whistleblowers that had come forward were all lying.
He told the congressman that the inquiry about their process description was more of an opinion than a factual one.
One of the charges stated by the IRS leakers is that Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf prevented probes into reports that President Joe Biden was referred to as “the big guy.”
Another allegation was that the DOJ prevented Special Counsel David Weiss from pursuing more serious charges against Hunter Biden on two separate occasions. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recommended criminal charges against Hunter Biden without the approval of Attorney General Merrick Garland, who rejected to designate a special counsel for the tax probe.
According to the partisan Attorney General, these claims are “opinions.”
Johnson asked Garland whether he had any direct communication with the FBI’s headquarters about the Hunter Biden case.
Garland said, oddly, that he didn’t know the answer to that, adding that the FBI is part of the Department of Justice.
Johnson apologized for his interruption, but he was incredulous that Garlad was suggesting that he “didn’t remember” if he talked to anyone about the president’s son with the FBI.
“I don’t think I did,” Garland said emphatically. He noted that he promised the Senate he would not intervene in Mr. Weiss’s inquiry into the Hunter Biden investigation.
Weiss gave contradictory claims in two letters to Congress on his power to bring charges against Hunter Biden. After initially disagreeing with Garland, Weiss eventually came around and agreed with him that only Weiss could bring charges against Hunter.
Gary Shapley, an IRS whistleblower, and his superior, Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, refute Weiss and Garland’s claims and say that Weiss did not have the power to charge Hunter Biden.
