Republicans in Congress remain utterly obsessed with Hunter Biden — one private citizen in a nation of hundreds of millions. Imagine the kind of progress that could be seen if Congressional Republicans used the energy they’re now utilizing in fury against Hunter Biden to do basically anything else.
During a hearing this Wednesday of the House Judiciary Committee, chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about the handling of investigations into Hunter, a son of the current president. Jordan raised issues with the purported difficulty faced by U.S. Attorney David Weiss in bringing some potential action in the federal judicial jurisdiction established for Washington, D.C. (Weiss is handling the Hunter investigation, and the prosecutor’s original jurisdiction is in nearby Delaware.)
“No one had the authority to turn him down,” Garland explained, referring to the Delaware prosecutor. “They could refuse to partner with him… It’s not the same, under a well known Justice Department practice.”
Jordan seemed largely interested in utilizing his time allotted for questioning Garland to promote the GOP narrative around what’s shaping up to be an impeachment case against President Joe Biden, who Republicans baselessly allege was substantially connected to Hunter’s business dealings. Jordan outlined a corrupt-sounding scenario, simply ignoring that the older Biden’s pressure for the firing of a Ukrainian prosecutor was in line with documented interests elsewhere in government.
As is characteristic, Jordan was aggressive, essentially yelling through much of his time addressing Garland. The Ohio Republican questioned him about relevant statutes of limitations purportedly expiring around potential offenses by Hunter — who, to be clear, has shown no indication of pursuing elected office. “There’s one more fact that is important, and that is that this investigation was being conducted by Mr. Weiss, an appointee of President Trump,” Garland told Jordan Wednesday. “You will, at the appropriate time, have the opportunity to ask Mr. Weiss that question, and he will no doubt address it in the public report that will be transmitted to the Congress.” Jordan insisted, without evidence, that the statutes of limitations were allowed to expire in connection to efforts to protect Joe.
