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Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn and 32 other Senate Republicans are demanding special counsel powers for the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden.
The lawmakers say they fear Attorney General Merrick Garland or others at the Justice Department may attempt to meddle in the probe to protect President Joe Biden and his son.
“It is clear that Hunter Biden thrived off of a ‘pay to play’ culture of access to his father, then Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for financial compensation,” Cornyn and his colleagues wrote in the letter.
“Given that the investigation involves the President’s son,” the letter from Cornyn says, “we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence.”
“There is no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations,” the senators wrote in a letter.
“Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel,” the letter said. “This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way to restoring faith in our governmental institutions.”
“Fox News, CNN, and other major news outlets reported two months ago that the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s business activities was at or near a critical juncture, with prosecutors weighing the possibility of charges,” Dallas Morning News reported.
“The probe began during the Obama era as a tax inquiry and widened in 2018 during the Trump administration. The inquiry is led by the U.S. attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, a Trump appointee – one of the few kept on by Biden, in part to avoid any appearance of political meddling,” the report added.
Republicans are also demanding access to communication records between Hunter Biden and the Obama White House.
“The top Republican on the House Oversight Committee pressed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for information on the shady foreign dealings of first son Hunter Biden — accusing the White House of thwarting the panel’s probe in order to protect the president,” the New York Post reported.
“Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) claimed in a letter to Yellen that the Biden administration may be preventing the release of suspicious activity reports related to Hunter Biden. The reports, known as SARs, are generated by banks that flag suspiciously large transactions and are meant to guard against money laundering,” the outlet added.
“The Biden Administration is restricting Congress’ access to SARs, and Committee Republicans are investigating whether this change in longstanding policy is motivated by efforts to shield Hunter Biden and potentially President Biden from scrutiny,” Comer wrote. “Though the Committee requested documents and information ‘no later than June 8, 2022,’ the Department of the Treasury has provided no documents or information.”
Prior to that, several Republican members of the House Oversight Committee penned a letter and sent it to the Biden Administration demanding they be given access to any and all communication records between Hunter Biden and the Obama White House.
In the letter, the Republicans said that Hunter must be investigated amid concerns that “he is continuing to profit off” his father’s name.
“Hunter Biden’s connections throughout the Russian sphere of influence have now become especially relevant in the fast-moving and developing Russian war in Ukraine,” the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee said.
“Hunter Biden’s dealings have not gone unnoticed, and a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe begun under the Obama Administration has expanded to include a wide variety of potential violations and crimes. According to the New York Times, Hunter Biden is currently under investigation by the DOJ for possible violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and possible criminal tax evasion and money laundering,” it continued.
“Given Hunter Biden’s foreign business relationships in Ukraine and Russia and the current international landscape, we are concerned about whether Hunter Biden continues to profit off his status as President Biden’s son as well as whether foreign adversaries may be attempting to exploit questionable business dealings. NARA may possess documents relevant to this investigation from then-Vice President Biden’s tenure,” they said.
The letter calls out Joe Biden and accuses him of lying about his involvement in Hunter’s business dealings. The lawmakers said that “the evidence is now clear” that he wasn’t just aware, he was likely involved.
“The Biden family has for decades profited from Joe Biden’s positions of public trust. Hunter Biden has particularly benefitted from his father’s success in politics, from managing a Ukrainian energy conglomerate to selling cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to connecting his father to Kazakhstani oil oligarchs, and preventing a Romanian real estate tycoon’s conviction for bribery charges,” they said.
