This is who's on the panel that Garland is set to testify before soon
From CNN staff
Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to testify soon in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
The standard oversight hearing will be before a panel that includes a number of House Republicans who are Garland's toughest critics. Some have even called for his impeachment.
CNN's Annie Grayer and Alayna Treene contributed reporting.
1 min ago
Today's hearing is likely to offer a preview of the House Republican’s impeachment inquiry into Biden
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy addresses reporters after a House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland's hearing this morning before the House Judiciary committee is likely to offer a preview of the Republican’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden – which will have its first hearing next week – and the partisan brawling that will accompany it.
The bulk of the allegations Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans are investigating in the impeachment inquiry relate to Hunter Biden’s business dealings, though Republicans have uncovered no evidence to date that the president personally received any money. The House Judiciary Committee has also been probing allegations from an IRS whistleblower that the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden was politically tainted.
Despite the partisan rancor of the political probes and the looming impeachment inquiry, Garland is unlikely to say much about either the Hunter Biden or Trump investigations because they are ongoing.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the panel’s top Democrat, charged that Republicans had “poisoned” the committee’s oversight role.
“They have wasted countless taxpayer dollars on baseless investigations into President Biden and his family, desperate to find evidence for impeachment and desperate to distract from the mounting legal peril facing Donald Trump,” Nadler plans to say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
4 min ago
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has floated a potential impeachment inquiry into Garland
From CNN's Andrew Millman
Speaker Kevin McCarthy floated the possibility that the House could open an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland over Internal Revenue Service whistleblower allegations that Justice Department leadership improperly interfered in the Hunter Biden probe, which Garland has denied.
“If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general,” McCarthy told Fox News in June.
In congressional testimony publicly released this summer, two IRS whistleblowers alleged to lawmakers that the president’s son had been given preferential treatment by the Justice Department.
McCarthy said on Fox News that the IRS agents who came forward “watched the abuse of power in how Hunter Biden was treated.”
The allegation that the DOJ has been politicized against conservatives has been central to how House Republicans approach their congressional investigations, though there is scant evidence backing up most of their claims.
Garland rejected those claims during a news conference in June.
“Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department … by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike,” Garland said. “This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy … nothing could be further from the truth.”
New testimony from a number of FBI and Internal Revenue Service officials now cast doubt on key claims from the IRS whistleblower who alleged there was political interference in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Calls to impeach Garland have quieted down as House Republicans have turned their impeachment lens on President Joe Biden himself.
CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed reporting to this post.
13 min ago
Witness testimony disputes IRS whistleblower allegations in Hunter Biden probe
From CNN's Annie Grayer and Jeremy Herb
Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testify in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing about alleged meddling in the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, on July 19, 2023. Leah Millis/Reuters
New testimony from a number of FBI and Internal Revenue Service officials casts doubt on key claims from an IRS whistleblower who alleges there was political interference in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes.
According to transcripts provided to CNN, several FBI and IRS officials brought in for closed-door testimony by House Republicans in recent days said they don’t remember US Attorney David Weiss saying that he lacked the authority to decide whether to bring charges against the president’s son, or that Weiss said he had been denied a request for special counsel status.
Those twin claims, made by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, form the basis of Republican accusations that the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s taxes was tainted by political influence and that Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland tried to protect Hunter Biden in the investigation.
The new testimony comes as House Republicans begin an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his family, potentially undercutting one element of that effort.
At issue is an October 2022 meeting between prosecutors and case agents working on the Hunter Biden investigation. Shapley alleges that during that meeting, Weiss, the then-US attorney for Delaware, told participants that he was “not the deciding person” on whether Hunter Biden was charged, according to Shapley’s notes from the meeting. House Republicans have taken that to mean Weiss was not in charge of his own investigation, and was deferring to a higher authority.
In addition to Shapley and Weiss, there were five others in that meeting, three of whom have recently testified to the Republican-led congressional committees now spearheading the impeachment inquiry.
While the witnesses disputed Shapley’s key allegations from that meeting, they acknowledged Weiss was having trouble finding a venue to bring charges against the president’s son, as US attorneys from other states rejected partnering on the case. They also expressed frustration with the pace of the probe, which at that point had been ongoing for roughly four years.
In June, Weiss reached a plea deal with Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges. But the deal fell apart amid scrutiny from a judge, and Weiss subsequently requested special counsel status. Last week, Hunter Biden was indicted on the gun charges.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan launched a probe this summer into Hunter Biden’s plea deal
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan speaks to reporters before heading into a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan started an investigation into Hunter Biden’s now-scuttled plea deal in July, and he’s asked US Attorney-turned special counsel David Weiss, who negotiated the plea agreement with Hunter Biden, to testify before the committee in October.
The IRS whistleblower, Gary Shapley, has alleged that Weiss said at an October 2022 meeting that he was not the deciding authority on whether to bring charges against Hunter Biden. Weiss, however, denied he made that assertion, and others in the meeting have testified they don’t remember him saying that, either.
Weiss’ June plea agreement with Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges – in which the president’s son agreed to plead guilty to federal tax charges and was likely to avoid jail time – fell apart in July amid scrutiny from a federal judge. Weiss subsequently requested special counsel status from Garland and indicted Hunter Biden on gun charges last week. Hunter Biden told the court Tuesday he will plead not guilty.
In addition, Jordan, a top Trump ally on Capitol Hill, has started an investigation into Smith’s twin probes of the former president. Jordan has also proposed budget cuts to the FBI and DOJ over the investigations.
Several House Republicans – including McCarthy – have floated an impeachment of the attorney general, although those calls have quieted down as House Republicans have turned their impeachment lens on President Joe Biden himself.
40 min ago
"I am not the President’s lawyer": Here's a look at excerpts of Attorney General Garland's expected remarks
From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz
US Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives at a reception hosted by President Joe Biden to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 28, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to forcefully rebuke congressional Republicans who have accused the Justice Department of political bias, according to excerpts of his prepared testimony to be delivered at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.
“I am not the President’s lawyer,” Garland is expected to say, according to the excerpts obtained by CNN. “I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”
Garland will deliver the statement as he faces vitriol from Republicans, who accuse him of failing to protect the department from politicization, and dissatisfaction from Democrats, who say the department has been too timid in going after former President Donald Trump.
Republicans on the panel are expected to grill Garland with questions about the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and his now-scuttled plea deal, as well as special counsel Jack Smith’s two indictments of Trump.
Against that backdrop, Garland will tell lawmakers that the department welcomes “public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight,” but “singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous – particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”
CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
5 min ago
House Judiciary Committee hearing comes on the heels of Hunter Biden's indictment
From CNN staff
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse on July 26, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. Mark Makela/Getty Images
Special counsel David Weiss indicted president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, this month in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president.
The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.
Attorney General Merrick Garland granted Weiss, a Donald Trump-appointed US attorney, special counsel privileges in August.
The appointment marked another dramatic development in the long-running probe into Biden, which at one time concerned multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Joe Biden was vice president.
Many leading Republicans criticized Weiss' appointment, saying he couldn't be trusted to handle the investigation.
Their concerns were largely based on claims that his probe was politicized and was giving special treatment to Biden because of political considerations – which Weiss denies.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are expected to grill Attorney General Merrick Garland during a hearing before the panel this morning. According to excerpts of Garland's prepared testimony, he will push back against the GOP's accusations of political bias in the Justice Department, telling lawmakers he's "not the President’s lawyer.”
The hearing comes following an indictment against President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and amid a House impeachment inquiry against Biden. Several House Republicans – including Speaker Kevin McCarthy – have also floated an impeachment of the attorney general.
Garland's appearance will be for a standard oversight hearing on the DOJ, which is routine for top-level executive branch officials. The panel has had a number of other high-profile Biden administration officials testify in the last few months, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Attorney General Merrick Garland is set to testify soon in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
The standard oversight hearing will be before a panel that includes a number of House Republicans who are Garland's toughest critics. Some have even called for his impeachment.
CNN's Annie Grayer and Alayna Treene contributed reporting.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy addresses reporters after a House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland's hearing this morning before the House Judiciary committee is likely to offer a preview of the Republican’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden – which will have its first hearing next week – and the partisan brawling that will accompany it.
The bulk of the allegations Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans are investigating in the impeachment inquiry relate to Hunter Biden’s business dealings, though Republicans have uncovered no evidence to date that the president personally received any money. The House Judiciary Committee has also been probing allegations from an IRS whistleblower that the Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden was politically tainted.
Despite the partisan rancor of the political probes and the looming impeachment inquiry, Garland is unlikely to say much about either the Hunter Biden or Trump investigations because they are ongoing.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the panel’s top Democrat, charged that Republicans had “poisoned” the committee’s oversight role.
“They have wasted countless taxpayer dollars on baseless investigations into President Biden and his family, desperate to find evidence for impeachment and desperate to distract from the mounting legal peril facing Donald Trump,” Nadler plans to say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy floated the possibility that the House could open an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland over Internal Revenue Service whistleblower allegations that Justice Department leadership improperly interfered in the Hunter Biden probe, which Garland has denied.
“If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general,” McCarthy told Fox News in June.
In congressional testimony publicly released this summer, two IRS whistleblowers alleged to lawmakers that the president’s son had been given preferential treatment by the Justice Department.
McCarthy said on Fox News that the IRS agents who came forward “watched the abuse of power in how Hunter Biden was treated.”
The allegation that the DOJ has been politicized against conservatives has been central to how House Republicans approach their congressional investigations, though there is scant evidence backing up most of their claims.
Garland rejected those claims during a news conference in June.
“Some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department … by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike,” Garland said. “This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy … nothing could be further from the truth.”
New testimony from a number of FBI and Internal Revenue Service officials now cast doubt on key claims from the IRS whistleblower who alleged there was political interference in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes.
Calls to impeach Garland have quieted down as House Republicans have turned their impeachment lens on President Joe Biden himself.
CNN's Jeremy Herb and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed reporting to this post.
Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testify in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing about alleged meddling in the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, on July 19, 2023. Leah Millis/Reuters
New testimony from a number of FBI and Internal Revenue Service officials casts doubt on key claims from an IRS whistleblower who alleges there was political interference in the federal criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes.
According to transcripts provided to CNN, several FBI and IRS officials brought in for closed-door testimony by House Republicans in recent days said they don’t remember US Attorney David Weiss saying that he lacked the authority to decide whether to bring charges against the president’s son, or that Weiss said he had been denied a request for special counsel status.
Those twin claims, made by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, form the basis of Republican accusations that the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s taxes was tainted by political influence and that Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland tried to protect Hunter Biden in the investigation.
The new testimony comes as House Republicans begin an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his family, potentially undercutting one element of that effort.
At issue is an October 2022 meeting between prosecutors and case agents working on the Hunter Biden investigation. Shapley alleges that during that meeting, Weiss, the then-US attorney for Delaware, told participants that he was “not the deciding person” on whether Hunter Biden was charged, according to Shapley’s notes from the meeting. House Republicans have taken that to mean Weiss was not in charge of his own investigation, and was deferring to a higher authority.
In addition to Shapley and Weiss, there were five others in that meeting, three of whom have recently testified to the Republican-led congressional committees now spearheading the impeachment inquiry.
While the witnesses disputed Shapley’s key allegations from that meeting, they acknowledged Weiss was having trouble finding a venue to bring charges against the president’s son, as US attorneys from other states rejected partnering on the case. They also expressed frustration with the pace of the probe, which at that point had been ongoing for roughly four years.
In June, Weiss reached a plea deal with Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges. But the deal fell apart amid scrutiny from a judge, and Weiss subsequently requested special counsel status. Last week, Hunter Biden was indicted on the gun charges.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan speaks to reporters before heading into a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on September 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan started an investigation into Hunter Biden’s now-scuttled plea deal in July, and he’s asked US Attorney-turned special counsel David Weiss, who negotiated the plea agreement with Hunter Biden, to testify before the committee in October.
The IRS whistleblower, Gary Shapley, has alleged that Weiss said at an October 2022 meeting that he was not the deciding authority on whether to bring charges against Hunter Biden. Weiss, however, denied he made that assertion, and others in the meeting have testified they don’t remember him saying that, either.
Weiss’ June plea agreement with Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges – in which the president’s son agreed to plead guilty to federal tax charges and was likely to avoid jail time – fell apart in July amid scrutiny from a federal judge. Weiss subsequently requested special counsel status from Garland and indicted Hunter Biden on gun charges last week. Hunter Biden told the court Tuesday he will plead not guilty.
In addition, Jordan, a top Trump ally on Capitol Hill, has started an investigation into Smith’s twin probes of the former president. Jordan has also proposed budget cuts to the FBI and DOJ over the investigations.
Several House Republicans – including McCarthy – have floated an impeachment of the attorney general, although those calls have quieted down as House Republicans have turned their impeachment lens on President Joe Biden himself.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives at a reception hosted by President Joe Biden to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 28, 2023. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland is expected to forcefully rebuke congressional Republicans who have accused the Justice Department of political bias, according to excerpts of his prepared testimony to be delivered at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday.
“I am not the President’s lawyer,” Garland is expected to say, according to the excerpts obtained by CNN. “I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”
Garland will deliver the statement as he faces vitriol from Republicans, who accuse him of failing to protect the department from politicization, and dissatisfaction from Democrats, who say the department has been too timid in going after former President Donald Trump.
Republicans on the panel are expected to grill Garland with questions about the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and his now-scuttled plea deal, as well as special counsel Jack Smith’s two indictments of Trump.
Against that backdrop, Garland will tell lawmakers that the department welcomes “public scrutiny, criticism, and legitimate oversight,” but “singling out individual career public servants who are just doing their jobs is dangerous – particularly at a time of increased threats to the safety of public servants and their families.”
CNN’s Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, departs the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse on July 26, 2023 in Wilmington, Delaware. Mark Makela/Getty Images
Special counsel David Weiss indicted president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, this month in connection with a gun he purchased in 2018, the first time in US history the Justice Department has charged the child of a sitting president.
The three charges include making false statements on a federal firearms form and possession of a firearm as a prohibited person.
Attorney General Merrick Garland granted Weiss, a Donald Trump-appointed US attorney, special counsel privileges in August.
The appointment marked another dramatic development in the long-running probe into Biden, which at one time concerned multiple financial and business activities in foreign countries dating to when Joe Biden was vice president.
Many leading Republicans criticized Weiss' appointment, saying he couldn't be trusted to handle the investigation.
Their concerns were largely based on claims that his probe was politicized and was giving special treatment to Biden because of political considerations – which Weiss denies.
