As this week began, things took a serious turn when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy raised the stakes by mentioning the potential impeachment of Attorney General Merrick Garland. McCarthy said Republicans would initiate an impeachment inquiry into Garland by July 6, adding a sense of urgency.
The push is consistent with Republicans’ longstanding complaints about Garland’s Justice Department operating a two-tier system, wherein individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party often receive lenient treatment while Republicans find themselves targeted for prosecution. Also, the Justice Department and FBI find themselves deeply entangled and face accusations of election interference as we approach 2024.
Allegations And Whistleblower Testimony
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, appointed by former President Trump, has investigated Hunter Biden’s finances since 2018. Weiss’s investigation recently concluded with a plea deal in which Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to two tax misdemeanors for failing to pay income taxes. Hunter would also participate in a pretrial diversion program for unlawful weapon possession, thus resolving a felony gun charge.
Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee released the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers. They claimed Hunter Biden received special treatment from the IRS and the Justice Department that would not have been granted to ordinary Americans.
The committee cited a 2014 case involving a Miami attorney who received a 13-month prison sentence and a year of supervised release for failing to file tax returns in order to highlight the double standard.
The whistleblowers also claimed that the Justice Department interfered in the Hunter Biden probe, using “Delay, Divulge, and Deny” tactics to protect the president’s son.
The testimony showed the investigation faced repeated delays without justification, including during the authentication of the message between Hunter Biden and Chinese officials.
Critical information was divulged to Hunter Biden’s attorneys beforehand regarding actions related to the investigation. For instance, even when investigators had valid reasons to search a storage unit in Northern Virginia where Hunter Biden had stored files, his attorneys were tipped off in advance.
According to the whistleblowers, Weiss attempted to bring charges in the District of Columbia in March 2022 but was denied. In the spring of 2022, Weiss requested special counsel status from the DOJ but was denied. Similarly, in the fall of 2022, Weiss sought to bring charges in the Central District of California, but that request was rejected in January 2023.
Witnesses, including FBI and IRS agents, corroborated the whistleblowers’ statements. Further, Committee members from the Democratic and Republican parties were present during the whistleblower depositions.
On a related matter of high importance, the whistleblowers have also revealed that the FBI authenticated the Hunter Biden laptop in November 2019 by matching the device number to Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID. Despite being aware of its authenticity, the FBI actively urged social media companies to suppress the news in October 2020. Fifty-one senior intelligence officials wrongly claimed that the laptop was Russian disinformation days before a crucial presidential debate, a point President Biden repeatedly leveled against Trump. These two events by themselves could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election.
Garland Denial
AG Garland denied that Hunter Biden received special treatment and defended the integrity of the Justice Department. He claimed that David Weiss followed the law when making decisions. In a press conference on Friday, Garland asserted that the unfounded claims constituted an attack on an essential institution of American democracy.
Additionally, Garland mentioned that Weiss would testify about the allegations raised by the whistleblowers when he deemed it appropriate.
In early June, Weiss wrote to Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that the DOJ had given him “ultimate authority” over the Hunter Biden investigation, “including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution.”
The whistleblowers’ account contradicts Garland’s assertions driving McCarthy’s impeachment push. McCarthy wants Weiss to appear before the House Judiciary Committee by July 6 and answer questions about the IRS whistleblowers’ claims.
What is in question is who is telling the truth: the Whistleblowers or the DOJ? If the whistleblowers’ allegations are true, impeachment inquiries against the attorney general will begin.
Related tippinsights editorials:
4 Compelling Reasons For AG Garland To Reconsider Labeling DOJ Criticism As ‘Attack’ On Democracy
Trump Should Attack Smith’s Crime-Fraud Exception Strategy
Jack Smith’s History Of Aggression May Weaken His Case
Six Strong Reasons Trump Will Come Out Ahead After All
Deep State vs. Trump: Persecution Through Prosecution
5 Reasons Why Merrick Garland Must Stop Lawfare Against Trump
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TIPP Takes
Geopolitics And Geoeconomics
1. Putin Says Wagner Soldiers Who Took Part In Revolt Can Join The Army Or Go To Belarus – RFE/RL
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an unscheduled address to the nation, reiterated his offer of amnesty to fighters who took part in the revolt over the weekend but not to its ringleader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a sign of the Kremlin leader’s complete break with his former ally.
He warned that any attempt at blackmail or unrest in Russia would be “doomed to fail” and claimed the West wanted Russians to “kill each other.”
2. Showed “Master Class” On How Ukraine Invasion Should’ve Been: Wagner Chief – Reuters
Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said that a one-day mutiny by his Wagner force had been intended not to overthrow Russia’s government but to register a protest over what he said was its ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine.
“We showed a master class, as it should have been on Feb. 24, 2022. We did not have the goal of overthrowing the existing regime and the legally elected government,” he said in an audio message.
3. Russia Investigating If Western Spy Agencies Were Involved In Wagner Mutiny: Lavrov – Al Arabiya
Russia’s FM Sergei Lavrov said that when the U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy spoke with Russian officials, she tried to send “signals” that Washington was not involved in the uprising.
Lavrov went on to accuse American intelligence agencies of hoping that the aborted uprising would succeed.
4. EU To Increase Military Aid Fund For Ukraine By €3.5 Billion – D.W.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg decided to increase Ukraine’s joint military aid fund by a further €3.5 billion ($3.85 billion).
According to EU data, since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union has already mobilized €3.6 billion from the shared fund to equip Ukraine’s military.
5. Wagner Mutiny In Russia Raises Questions Over Its Activities In Africa – RFI
Wagner is active in Mali – whose governing junta insists it employs only “Russian instructors” – and in the CAR, where a Wagner executive manages the security of President Faustin Archange Touadera.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Lavrov says the country’s Wagner mercenary group will continue operations in Mali and the Central African Republic despite its leader’s failed mutiny. The revolt, he said, would not affect Russia’s ties with “partners and friends.”
6. New Images Show Chinese Spy Balloons Over Asia – BBC
Working with Synthetaic, an AI company that sifted through huge amounts of satellite data, the BBC has found multiple images of balloons crossing East Asia, including flights over Japan and Taiwan.
Japan has confirmed balloons have flown over its territory and said it’s prepared to shoot them down in the future.
China has not directly addressed the evidence presented by the BBC.
7. China Calls West’s Economic De-Risking A ‘False Proposition’ – AFP
“In the West, some people are hyping up what is called ‘cutting reliance and de-risking,’” Chinese Premier Li Qiang told delegates at opening a World Economic Forum meeting in northern China.
“These two concepts… are a false proposition because the development of economic globalization is such that the world economy has become a common entity in which you and I are both intermingled,” he said. In a wide-ranging speech, he called for deepening economic globalization and cooperation.
8. Switzerland Says Country A Hotbed For Russian, Chinese Spies – Al Jazeera
Switzerland’s intelligence agency, the Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), says Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has made the country an espionage hotspot, with at least a third of the 220 officials Russia has accredited in the country suspected of being spies.
While China is also believed to have dozens of spies at its diplomatic missions in Switzerland, their number is significantly less than Russia’s, the agency said.
9. North Korea Warns Korean Peninsula Close To ‘Brink Of Nuclear War’ – Yonhap
North Korea’s foreign ministry accused Seoul and Washington of pushing tensions to “the brink of a nuclear war” akin to the 1950-53 Korean War, saying it will continue to bolster its self-defensive capabilities.
10. North Korea Holds Anti-U.S. Rallies On War Anniversary – A.P.
Tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-American rallies over the weekend, pledging “merciless” revenge against the U.S. “imperialists,” as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
11. Football Pitch Of Tropical Forest Lost Every 5 Seconds – AFP
Earth lost an area of carbon-absorbing rainforest larger than Switzerland or the Netherlands in 2022, most of it destroyed to make way for cattle and commodity crops, satellite data revealed.
That is nearly a football pitch of mature tropical trees felled or burned every five seconds, night and day, and 10 percent more than the year before, according to the World Resources Institute (WRI).
12. OPEC: Oil Demand To Reach 110 Million Barrels By 2045 – UPI
Oil will remain a major global fuel source well into the 2040s, with demand set to rise to 110 million barrels a day, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais told an energy conference.
While there will be renewables and gas, hydrogen, and nuclear growth, oil will still make up 29% of the energy mix, according to Al Ghais.
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