House GOP leaders subpoenaed Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas and other officials on Tuesday over allegations President Biden’s aides had been briefed on plans to interview Hunter’s first child.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is targeting Homeland honchos seeking documents on the investigation into Hunter Biden’s alleged tax evasion and gun antics, subpoenaing three Department of Homeland Security and two Secret Service officials to testify.
“The Department of Justice started the cover-up of the Biden family and now DHS under Secretary Mayorkas is complicit in it,” Comer said in a statement.
“Investigators were never able to interview Hunter Biden during the criminal investigation because Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team were notified of the planned interview,” the Republican leader said.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, here with President Biden at FEMA headquarters Aug. 31, is the target of a subpoena on Biden’s son, Hunter.AP
Supporting Comer’s scathing accusations is the testimony of IRS whistleblower agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who appeared publicly before the panel in June.
“December 7, 2020, I was informed that FBI headquarters had notified Secret Service headquarters and [Biden] transition team about the planned actions the next day,” Shapley testified to the Ways and Means Committee on May 26.
“This is basically giving information to a group of people who are very close to President Biden and Hunter Biden and giving this group an opportunity to block the approach to witnesses,” Shapley said.
Top GOP House member James Comer is eager to unearth communications that could shed light on whistleblower allegations about Biden aides tipped off to Hunter Biden’s upcoming interview.Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock
Hunter is accused of evading $1.2 million in federal income taxes several years ago and possessing illegal firearms while addicted to drugs.
FBI and IRS investigators wanted to interview him on Dec. 8, 2020, without prior notice but ultimately, after the information was communicated, the interview never took place, according to Shapley.
Shapley’s testimony was corroborated by an FBI informant.
Comer’s document request targeting Mayorkas seeks communications about the Hunter Biden investigation by members of his department or former members between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020.
President Biden has long supported Hunter’s son through various scandals.AP
Additionally, he is seeking material related to a June 29, 2023 letter he sent demanding an interview with a member of the Secret Service regarding the Hunter Biden investigation. He said his panel did not receive “adequate responses” in a timely manner.
The Secret Service is housed under DHS, which is why Comer ordered several subpoenas at the department.
A DHS official said the department is “working to respond to these inquiries appropriately, including identifying relevant information and individuals.”
The official said Comer’s insinuation that the department was “obstructing or withholding a response is false and this subpoena is completely without foundation.”
Ultimately, the Hunter Biden investigation culminated in a prospective plea deal. Under the agreement, Hunter will plead guilty to two counts of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes and a pretrial diversion agreement on a felony charge of unlawful possession of a firearm while under the influence of an illegal drug.
Many Republicans have pushed to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis.AP
But the deal imploded in federal Delaware court on July 26.
US District Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, tore up the deal by raising constitutional concerns and revealing a spat between Hunter Biden’s defense team and federal prosecutors over the extent of his immunity.
As a result, Hunter entered a plea of not guilty. Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who led the investigation, was elevated to special counsel status last month.
James Comer has led various GOP investigations into Hunter Biden since the GOP took control of the House earlier this year. AP
That means he can prosecute the younger Biden for crimes outside his jurisdiction.
Last month, Hunter Biden’s defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, who has helped him weather the onslaught of congressional investigations, led his defense of the federal investigation.
Comer separately has long spearheaded House Republicans’ probe into the Biden family’s foreign business dealings.
This includes the testimony of an IRS whistleblower alleging various irregularities in the five-year investigation of the eldest son.
Hunter Biden is at risk of additional charges after a plea deal involving him failed.AP
The White House has reprimanded Comer for a series of questions.
“James Comer’s playbook is simple,” White House spokesman Ian Sams tweeted in June. “Make blanket claims and bombshell promises to try to get media attention, then fail to deliver.
“Don’t fall for it. His pattern of repeated thinly veiled insinuations without evidence has caused him to lose credibility.”
Biden insists he never spoke to his son about Hunter’s lucrative business ventures overseas.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
