OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The Biden administration is in hot water with a judge that Joe Biden nominated to the federal bench.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes sharply criticized the Department of Justice on Friday for directing its personnel to disregard subpoenas from the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee while simultaneously pursuing charges against former Trump officials who had defied congressional subpoenas, Just the News reported.
Reyes presided over a hearing in a legal dispute between the DOJ and the Judiciary Committee regarding subpoenas issued to Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two attorneys with the DOJ, to testify in their ongoing impeachment inquiry, as reported by Politico.
“The Judiciary Committee sued in March to compel testimony from the two attorneys in the DOJ Tax Division, though the DOJ instructed the pair not to comply,” Just the News noted. “Reyes, for her part, appeared to accuse the DOJ of hypocrisy.”
“I think it’s quite rich you guys pursue criminal investigations and put people in jail for not showing up” but then order personnel to do the same thing,” she said during the Friday hearing.
She emphasized the contrast between the DOJ’s actions in this case and the prosecution and imprisonment of former Trump advisor Peter Navarro, who reported to prison last month. Navarro is serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee.
“There’s a person in jail right now because you all brought a criminal lawsuit against him because he did not appear for a House subpoena,” Reyes said before ordering the Justice Department to try and negotiate a resolution with House Counsel Matthew Berry, Just the News reported.
Reyes was appointed to serve at the D.C. Circuit Court in February 2023.
Morgan and Daly were involved in the tax investigation concerning first son Hunter Biden, who has been accused of political interference by IRS whistleblowers who were involved in the case.
“To craft effective legislative reforms and to determine whether President Biden has committed an impeachable offense, it must have all the facts,” the Judiciary suit stated. “And to uncover all the facts, the Committee requires testimony from both Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two current or former Tax Division attorneys who have firsthand knowledge of the irregularities in DOJ’s investigation that appear to have benefited Hunter Biden.”
“For example, as members of the team that recommended what charges to bring against Hunter Biden, Daly and Morgan initially agreed that DOJ should file charges for tax crimes related to 2014 and 2015. But months later, they gave a key presentation and argued just the opposite—that Hunter Biden should not be charged for tax crimes related to those years,” it continued. “DOJ ultimately allowed the statute of limitations for those charges to lapse. Daly and Morgan are thus crucial to the Committee’s investigation.”
In September 2022, the Democrat-led House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2020 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building found Navarro guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for disobeying a subpoena.
Each count entails a compulsory minimum incarceration period of one month; however, the prosecutors urged US District Judge Amit Mehta to impose a sentence of six months for each count, to be served concurrently, and to impose a fine of $200,000.
In January, they informed the judge that a one-month sentence for each of the two charges “does not adequately address, penalize, and discourage the defendant’s criminal acts,” asserting that Navarro’s refusal to comply with the subpoenas was similar to the behavior of certain individuals involved in the riot.
“The defendant, like the rioters at the Capitol, put politics, not country, first and stonewalled Congress’s investigation,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law.”
Navarro’s conviction and sentence signify a significant triumph for the disbanded House January 6 committee, as it successfully compelled the Justice Department to criminally pursue individuals who declined to cooperate with its investigation.
In 2022, Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump, was found guilty of two counts of contempt and subsequently received a four-month prison sentence. The case involving Bannon is currently under appeal.
