Biden and Garland’s relationship ‘more frigid’ amid Hunter Biden case: Report

President Joe Biden has become frustrated over the Department of Justice‘s intensifying criminal case against his son, causing the president’s relationship with Attorney General Merrick Garland to become “more frigid,” according to a new report.

The report, published in Axios on Tuesday, detailed how the DOJ’s yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden and the dual prosecutions against him have negatively affected the president.

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Joe Biden’s relationship with Garland has become “strained,” and “people close to” the president have “fumed” at Garland, accusing him of pawning off the Hunter Biden case onto special counsel David Weiss, according to the report.

“Those close to [Joe] Biden argue that Garland is trying in vain to satisfy bad-faith GOP critics — and that the special counsel is a way of deflecting a difficult decision under the guise of objectivity,” Axios reported, noting that one person thought Garland was “obsessed with the appearance of having integrity” at the expense of genuinely having it.

Garland told reporters last year, in response to GOP criticism that the DOJ was politically motivated against Republicans, that he does “not shy away from cases that are controversial or sensitive or political.”

The new reporting underscores the high pressure Garland is facing from both sides of the political aisle as Hunter Biden remains a lightning rod in his father’s presidency and campaign for a second term.

It comes days after Weiss brought a second indictment against Hunter Biden alleging the first son committed several tax felonies and misdemeanors. The detailed indictment accused Hunter Biden of living a lavish lifestyle filled with drugs and women, spending his roughly $7 million in income from 2016 to 2019 from foreign business deals on “everything but his taxes.”

Weiss also indicted Hunter Biden in September on charges related to a 2018 gun purchase. The first son has pleaded not guilty to those charges and filed a slate of arguments on Monday asking the judge to dismiss the case.

The federal government’s investigation into Hunter Biden has remained open since late 2018, but it shifted into the national spotlight in 2020 when damning and salacious content from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop began leaking to the media. The media reports brought into public view Hunter Biden’s emails with business partners and explicit photos and videos exposing his drug addiction and escapades with women.

In addition to the DOJ’s investigation, congressional Republicans are leading an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden that centers largely on his son’s business dealings, and they recently subpoenaed Hunter Biden to testify before Congress on the matter.

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Joe Biden’s frustrations with Garland come as the fixed focus on his son has also deeply upset him on a personal level, and the president becomes visibly agitated when talking about the topic, Axios reported.

Joe Biden is, according to the outlet, struggling behind the scenes with seeing his son’s battles with substance abuse and grief splashed across headlines.