Republicans should guard against catching that same walls-are-caving-in virus for Hunter Biden that Democrats had for Donald Trump.
Yet, the entire Hunter Biden probe seems to have reached another level with recent serious allegations.
House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., says the legal team for the president’s son is engaging in witness intimidation. For that reason, he’s trying to secure immunity deals.
This follows an IRS senior official seeking whistleblower protection, who alleges the Hunter Biden investigation has been mishandled. The official is ready to provide information to contradict the sworn testimony of a senior political appointee.
If a somewhat thinly-sourced story by the New York Post is accurate, the political appointee is Attorney General Merrick Garland. Britain’s Daily Mail says it confirmed the Post’s reporting on Garland.
If all this turns out to be true, this is explosive, involves felonies and conflicts of interest. It could be the age-old example of a felonious coverup being worse than the actual crime of the Biden family’s alleged influence peddling.
The irony of it all. A career federal employee ratting out a Biden political appointee must have President Joe Biden bemoaning those darned deep-staters trying to take him down.
“In the coming days and weeks, a lot of information is going to come forward that’s going to tell a very compelling story to the American people about the extent of this family’s influence peddling,” Comer said in a Fox News interview.
The just-you-wait line has become more suspect.
Let’s show caution that Comer isn’t pulling an Adam Schiff, the California House Democrat and intelligence committee chairman that spent two years on cable news promising the smoking gun on Trump and Russia that only he was privy to.
But Russia collusion always involved a mysterious aura of finding out the shocking depth of treason. In the Hunter Biden case, the allegations are simple, and thus are either provable or not.
The most recent charge is the witness intimidation.
“In communication with our witnesses and with people who are cooperating from a subpoena standpoint, we know that they have been contacted by the attorneys for Hunter Biden,” Comer told Fox News. “We feel that this is really close to crossing the line. Obviously, their objective in my opinion, is witness intimidation. This will not stand.”
Comer went on to give a glimpse of the type of intimidation.
“If you get a call from the lawyers and they remind you of your potential liability in some of these business schemes then yes, I would consider that witness intimidation,” he said. The “next step,” is seeking immunity for the witnesses.
“That is a big deal and hopefully, the DOJ and Merrick Garland will grant immunity to those people,” Comer said.
But, if Garland is part of the cover-up, that’s an entire other matter. We are entering John Mitchell territory–if true. It’s plausible nothing happens to Hunter Biden, but the Biden administration would toss Garland to the wolves.
The IRS whistleblower that wants to talk to Congress provided information to the inspectors general offices of the Department of Justice and the Department of Treasury.
“Despite serious risks of retaliation, my client is offering to provide you with information necessary to exercise your constitutional oversight function and wishes to make the disclosures in a nonpartisan manner to the leadership of the relevant committees on both sides of the political aisle,” Mark Lytle, the whistleblower’s attorney, wrote in a letter to chairs and ranking members of several House and Senate committees.
Hunter Biden is under investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware for tax issues connected to his business deals in Ukraine and China. The House Oversight committee is exploring whether these business deals were a form of influence peddling.
Garland said several times under oath that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, a Trump appointee, had complete independence.
“There will not be interference of any political or improper kind,” Garland told a Senate committee in April 2022. He added, “You have me as the attorney general, who is committed to the independence of the Justice Department from any influence from the White House in criminal matters.”
To be clear, just because the whistleblower can contradict what Garland said under oath doesn’t mean Garland knowingly said anything untrue under oath.
Many have understandably snickered at the Hunter Biden scandal before.
But the witness tampering, political pressure on investigators and contradicting sworn testimony are finite and take the Hunter matter from a tragic tale of a drug-addicted son trying to cash in on daddy’s name, to a serious abuse of power scandal at the highest levels of the federal government.
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Barbara Joanna Lucas is a writer and researcher in Northern Virginia. She has been a healthcare professional, political blogger, is a proud dog mom, and news junkie. Follow her on Twitter @BasiaJL.
