The Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, denied on Wednesday the accusations of Republicans who claim that it benefits the son of Democratic President Joe Biden and harms former President Donald Trump, prosecuted by the Department of Justice.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, accused Garland, also Secretary of Justice, of having helped stop an investigation into Hunter Biden.
Republicans claim, without evidence, that this investigation could show that Biden obtained financial advantages from his son’s overseas businesses.
Jordan assured that, on the contrary, Garland promoted the two federal prosecutions against Trump, who is the favorite for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential elections and therefore Biden’s main rival.
“There is one investigation that protects President Biden, there is another that attacks President Trump,” Jordan said.
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In a heated hearing, Garland, who appointed special prosecutors for the investigations into Trump and Hunter Biden, flatly denied that politics or the White House influenced his decisions.
He denied interference in the decision on whether Hunter Biden will be prosecuted and said this is in the hands of special counsel David Weiss.
“We apply the same laws to everyone,” he defended himself. “Our job is not to take orders from the president, Congress or anyone else about who or what to criminally investigate.”
One of the jobs of the Justice Department is to protect democratic institutions and this includes “holding accountable all those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” he added, referring to the trial of Trump and hundreds of his supporters for the assault on 2021 to Congress.
The president’s son
Last week, Republicans in the House of Representatives opened an investigation into Joe Biden to impeach him.
They allege, without evidence, that Biden directly benefited from the millions of dollars his son made from businesses in China, Ukraine and elsewhere while he was Barack Obama’s vice president and oversaw relations with Kiev.
The opening of the investigation is interpreted as an attempt to counter the political consequences of the two criminal proceedings against Trump led by special prosecutor Jack Smith.
Trump faces criminal charges in Florida for hiding top-secret documents and in Washington for attempting to alter the results of the 2020 US election that triggered the January 6 attack.
Garland, who was appointed attorney general by Biden, said he was not involved in any of Weiss’s or Smith’s decisions.
Last month, Weiss charged Hunter Biden with one count of illegally purchasing a gun in 2018, a time when he was using drugs, and is investigating him for possible tax fraud related to his earnings in Ukraine and China.
But Jordan and other Republicans believe he is being lenient toward the president’s son.
Garland insisted to the committee that Weiss’s decisions do not concern him.
“I told the committee I would not interfere. I made it clear that Weiss would have the authority to bring whatever cases he deems appropriate,” he said, reiterating that Weiss was appointed by Trump.
Garland warned the committee that accusations against the Justice Department and those charged with enforcing the law have consequences and there have already been real threats against officials.
“It’s dangerous,” Garland said. “We will not be intimidated. We will do our work free from outside interference,” she added.
2023-09-22 00:24:12
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