House Judiciary Chairman Plans Busy Summer, With Probe of Merrick Garland’s Handling of the Hunter Biden Case Atop Agenda
In addition to the Attorney General, the committee’s other targets include the embattled Homeland Security Secretary and Big Tech ‘censors.’
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan, will spend his summer under the glare of the national media with a series of hearings that will cover topics ranging from the investigation of Hunter Biden to censorship to immigration law.
Mr. Jordan, a conservative Freedom Caucus member who once derailed Speaker McCarthy’s ambitions but has now embraced the Californian, has spent the first few months of the Congress focusing on the new Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee, which falls under the umbrella of his Judiciary committee. Mr. Jordan is the chairman of both panels.
His schedule for witness testimony shows that Mr. Jordan likely plans to spend his summer months issuing subpoenas for documents and making public statements denouncing what he sees as various abuses of power by the federal government.
It will begin shortly, as Mr. Jordan seeks information from the federal prosecutor, David Weiss, the United States attorney for Delaware, who spent years investigating President Biden’s troubled son, Hunter.
Mr. Jordan has expressed his intention to use his subpoena powers to investigate allegations by IRS whistleblowers that the federal probe of Mr. Biden fils was slow-walked and constrained by Attorney General Garland and his chief deputies, something Mr. Garland has denied.
On June 22, Mr. Jordan sent a letter demanding documents from Mr. Weiss related to the investigation into the first son. The two IRS whistleblowers are claiming that Mr. Weiss attempted to charge the younger Mr. Biden with multiple felonies in multiple districts across the country.
They say that was rebuffed by superiors at the Department of Justice, who allowed Mr. Weiss to charge Mr. Biden with only misdemeanor tax evasion. That was despite evidence of alleged influence peddling and other crimes with foreign interests including Communist China.
Both Messrs. Weiss and Garland have publicly maintained that Mr. Weiss was acting independently. Mr. Jordan says he’s determined to get to the bottom of the discrepancies between their stories and that of the IRS whistleblowers.
Hunter Biden recently entered with Mr. Weiss into a plea agreement, which Republicans have called a “sweetheart” deal. It would require him to plead guilty to the two misdemeanor counts of “willful” tax evasion, likely avoiding prison.
While Mr. Weiss has not received a letter requesting in-person testimony, Mr. Jordan has said multiple times in recent days that he hopes to speak with the Delaware prosecutor. Mr. Garland will sit before the Judiciary Committee in September in what is expected to be a blockbuster showdown.
For his weaponization subcommittee, Mr. Jordan is turning to a witness on the other side of the aisle, political scion and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Mr. Kennedy will sit before the subcommittee on July 20, according to Breitbart News’ Ashley Oliver. Mr. Kennedy plans to speak on the issue of government censorship via technology companies, sources cited by Breitbart say.
In the past, claims by Mr. Kennedy about public health and vaccines have been removed from platforms like Facebook and YouTube. On June 5, Mr. Kennedy appeared on the podcast of an influential Canadian psychologist, Jordan Peterson, to discuss his presidential campaign and his position on childhood vaccinations.
The video was promptly removed from YouTube, which Mr. Kennedy railed against on Twitter. “Do you really need Big Tech censors to decide what you should hear?” he wrote.
Just days after Mr. Kennedy’s appearance before Mr. Jordan’s weaponization subcommittee, the embattled Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, will sit to give testimony before the full Judiciary Committee, likely about his enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws, which has been repeatedly criticized by Republicans.
Like Mr. Garland, Mr. Mayorkas is in the sights of Congressional Republicans who are hoping to impeach a member of the Biden cabinet. One Republican, Congressman Pat Fallon of Texas, introduced articles of impeachment against the secretary on January 9. To date, the measure has nearly 50 cosponsors.