House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., left, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., make opening statements during a hearing at the Capitol in Washington on July 19. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Monday subpoenaed several FBI and IRS agents involved in the federal investigation into Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden as the party weighs whether to open an impeachment inquiry into the president this fall.
Leaders of the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees demanded testimony from four agents who worked on the yearslong Justice Department case into President Biden’s youngest son and his tax and business dealings.
“Our duty is to follow the facts wherever they may lead, and our subpoenas compelling testimony from Biden administration officials are crucial to understanding how the president’s son received special treatment from federal prosecutors and who was the ultimate decision maker in the case,” Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jason Smith of Missouri said in a statement.
Both men, along with Oversight chairman James Comer, joined forces in June to open an investigation into what they have claimed is widespread, improper interference in the high-profile case.
One focus of the congressional inquiry has been an October 2022 meeting where U.S. attorney for Delaware, David Weiss, who was in charge of the Hunter Biden case, supposedly told investigators that he was not the “deciding person whether charges are filed” and that in multiple instances his efforts to bring charges in multiple jurisdictions were denied. That’s according to Gary Shapley, an IRS employee who was in the room.
Both Weiss and the Justice Department have denied Shapley’s account.
Shapley and another IRS employee, Joe Ziegler, have testified to Congress that there was a pattern of “slow-walking investigative steps” and delaying enforcement actions in the Hunter Biden case, including during the Trump administration, in the months before the 2020 election.
The subpoena letters sent Monday to the four individuals — two from the IRS and two from the FBI — say they have “been identified as someone who has direct knowledge” of the October meeting.
The move by Republicans comes just over a week after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, a move that surprised many, including House Republicans who had been pushing for the designation.
In his Aug. 11 remarks, Garland noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of naming Weiss as special counsel after plea deal talks in the case broke down earlier this summer. Weiss had asked to be named special counsel, gaining broad authority to investigate and report out his findings.
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