House Republicans ramped up pressure on the Department of Justice on Thursday to allow four witnesses to testify about the DOJ’s yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden, arguing that the department is prohibiting employees involved in the case from complying with congressional subpoenas.
The House Judiciary Committee indicated in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner to Attorney General Merrick Garland that the DOJ had already instructed two Tax Division officials to defy their subpoenas.
The officials, senior litigation counsel Mark Daly and trial attorney Jack Morgan, worked on the Hunter Biden case and represented the Tax Division during a meeting at DOJ headquarters in June 2022 about prosecution decisions related to the first son. Gary Shapley, an IRS criminal investigator-turned-whistleblower who was present at the meeting, alleged to Congress that the Tax Division opposed bringing charges against Biden during that meeting.
A year and a half later, the DOJ brought nine tax charges against the first son related to the tax years 2016 to 2019, but the committee is still interested in determining whether Biden received preferential treatment that allowed him to skirt charges for the 2014 and 2015 tax years.
Republicans, as part of their impeachment inquiry, are also looking into the DOJ’s investigation of Biden to determine whether President Joe Biden‘s office had any involvement in the investigative steps taken with his son.
“The Department’s obstruction in this matter has delayed the Committee’s investigation for months, and the Committee must gather all necessary information to determine whether to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden and/or develop legislative reforms,” Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote, requesting that the DOJ “reverse the Department’s directive to the witnesses that they not comply with the Committee’s lawfully authorized and issued subpoenas.”
Several DOJ officials who have already testified to Congress on the matter have denied that political influence had a role in Hunter Biden’s case, according to transcripts reviewed by the Washington Examiner. The committee is, however, not finished probing the matter, as indicated by its subpoenas.
In addition to Morgan and Daly, Jordan also recently issued subpoenas to former Delaware Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf and U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves of Washington, D.C. Both officials have already testified on their knowledge of the Biden investigation, but the DOJ had placed limitations on the topics that could be addressed in their interviews. Their subpoenas signal the committee is seeking additional information from the pair.
As for Morgan and Daly, Jordan’s letter on Thursday is the latest in a painstaking dialogue the committee has engaged in with the DOJ since at least last September about them. Republicans explicitly indicated in their impeachment resolution last year that they will pursue litigation against both officials should the DOJ not allow them to testify. That appears to be the next step Republicans will take at this stage, unless they reach a last-minute resolution with the department.
The DOJ has repeatedly argued in letters to the committee, including its most recent one on Feb. 29, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, that it has a long-standing policy against allowing line-level employees such as Daly and Morgan to testify, particularly about open matters, such as the investigation into and prosecution of Hunter Biden.
Republicans have already interviewed Morgan and Daly’s supervisor, Stuart Goldberg. Goldberg, a 35-year veteran of the department and head of the Tax Division, testified that the division has had a critical role during the investigation into Biden in terms of advising what tax-related charges the department can bring.
The DOJ has also pointed to a Trump-era policy that established that department lawyers are permitted under the Constitution to be present at depositions when the witnesses are department employees. The committee, however, is not bound to this policy and has maintained its counterposition that Morgan and Daly can be accompanied by personal lawyers, but not department lawyers, during their depositions.
In the DOJ’s most recent letter, Carlos Uriarte, an assistant attorney general, also asked that the committee provide questions for Morgan and Daly in advance of possible depositions with them.
Jordan rejected that request, calling it an “eleventh-hour demand” and explaining that an in-person interview “is a type of fact-finding that is materially unique from written questions and answers.”
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In response to Jordan’s letter, a DOJ spokeswoman said on Thursday that the department is “committed to working with Congress in good faith.”
“In that spirit we made six supervisory employees available to speak to the Committee last year on this topic,” the spokeswoman said. “At the same time, the Department will continue to protect the integrity of our ongoing investigations and the work of our prosecutors, both of which are critical to the Department’s mission.”