Main Topic: Accusations of misconduct and misrepresentation in Hunter Biden's criminal tax case.
Key Points:
1. Attorney for Rep. Jason Smith sought to introduce evidence from the House Ways and Means Committee.
2. Hunter Biden's lawyer opposed the filing, citing failure to follow proper procedures and inclusion of unredacted tax information.
3. Accusations were made regarding impersonation and misrepresentation during communications with the court clerk.
Main Topic: House Republican committee chairmen investigating the circumstances of the plea agreement with Hunter Biden.
Key Points:
1. Investigation into the provision in the plea agreement that would have allowed the judge to determine if Biden violated the terms over a 24-month period.
2. Concerns raised about the clause granting Biden immunity from all other crimes in exchange for completing the pretrial diversion program.
3. Allegations of preferential treatment and requests for information about similar provisions in other pretrial diversion agreements.
Main Topic: Testimony of Hunter Biden's business associate, Devon Archer, before the House Oversight Committee regarding Joe Biden's involvement in his son's business dealings.
Key Points:
1. Devon Archer testified that he has no knowledge of Joe Biden altering U.S. foreign policy to benefit his son.
2. Archer stated that he is not aware of any wrongdoing by Joe Biden in relation to his son's business dealings.
3. Archer described how Hunter Biden used the Joe Biden "brand" to protect Burisma legally and politically, but also agreed that Hunter's role had no effect on U.S. foreign policy.
Main Topic: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer plans to subpoena members of the Biden family, including President Joe Biden, as part of the investigation into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings.
Key Points:
1. Comer intends to subpoena the Bidens and expects the matter to end up in court due to opposition and obstruction from Biden attorneys.
2. Comer believes his team has put together a strong case that would stand up in any court of law in America.
3. The subpoena threats come after the release of bank records showing Hunter Biden and his associates received millions of dollars from foreign entities, but there is no evidence implicating Joe Biden in his son's business transactions.
Main Topic: Appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the ongoing probe of Hunter Biden
Key Points:
1. U.S. Attorney David Weiss appointed as special counsel in the investigation of Hunter Biden and any related matters.
2. Weiss was already overseeing the Hunter Biden probe and requested to be appointed special counsel.
3. Plea negotiations with Hunter Biden's team on tax charges have fallen apart, and the case is now expected to go to trial.
Main Topic: Appointment of David Weiss as special counsel for the Hunter Biden probe
Key Points:
1. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss as special counsel for the Hunter Biden probe.
2. Weiss, who was already overseeing the probe, requested the special counsel title.
3. The appointment confirms Weiss's authority to conduct a thorough investigation independently.
Main Topic: Republicans criticize the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the investigation into Hunter Biden.
Key Points:
1. Republicans accuse Weiss of signing a "sweetheart deal" with Hunter Biden and question his trustworthiness as special counsel.
2. Republicans suggest that Weiss was appointed to inhibit congressional investigations into the Bidens and to avoid testifying before Congress.
3. Republicans vow to continue their own investigations into the Biden family's alleged corruption and insist that Weiss must still testify before Congress.
Main Topic: The appointment of a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe creates challenges for President Joe Biden's re-election campaign.
Key Points:
1. The appointment distracts from Biden's message and draws attention away from Trump's legal problems.
2. Republicans may attempt to exploit Hunter Biden's predicament, similar to how they weaponized Hillary Clinton's private email server in 2016.
3. The investigation into Hunter Biden's business dealings could tarnish President Biden's image and create potential pitfalls for Democrats.
Main Topic: Mike Pence welcomes newly appointed Hunter Biden special counsel and criticizes Justice Department under Trump administration.
Key Points:
1. Mike Pence welcomes the appointment of David Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe.
2. Pence criticizes the Justice Department under the Trump administration for pushing a "political agenda."
3. Pence expresses confidence in Congress, particularly House Republicans, to continue investigating the Hunter Biden probe.
Main Topic: House GOP committee chairmen issue subpoenas to IRS and FBI officials regarding the investigation into Hunter Biden's tax violation allegations.
Key points:
1. The subpoenas are issued to IRS and FBI officials who were present at or had direct knowledge of a meeting where the investigation into Hunter Biden was discussed.
2. The House GOP committee chairmen have been looking into potential political interference in the federal probe.
3. The subpoenas are crucial to understanding if Hunter Biden received special treatment and who made the ultimate decision in his case.
Emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit reveal that false information about the origins of evidence implicating Hunter and Joe Biden in a bribery scandal was fed to Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss by the FBI and then leaked to The New York Times.
Special counsel overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden plans to seek a grand jury indictment of the president's son before the end of September, according to a court filing.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer criticized special counsel David Weiss for seeking to indict Hunter Biden on a gun charge, stating that it is the least of the crimes Biden has committed.
Special Counsel David Weiss assures a Delaware federal court that an indictment against Hunter Biden will be forthcoming by the end of the month, following the collapse of a plea agreement and concerns over a pretrial diversion agreement.
The White House is preparing for a potential impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden as prosecutors seek a criminal indictment against his son, Hunter Biden, on a gun possession charge, further fueling Republican efforts to investigate the president and potentially leading to political trench warfare.
Emails obtained by the Heritage Foundation reveal a lack of documentation supporting Attorney General Merrick Garland's claim that he gave U.S. Attorney David Weiss authority over the Hunter Biden investigation, raising questions about misleading Congress in his testimony.
Republicans are continuing their investigations into Hunter Biden, with two IRS employees testifying privately about the federal probe into President Biden's son, raising concerns of interference from the Biden White House or Justice Department.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is demanding answers from the State Department regarding the Obama administration's foreign policy decisions that led to the dismissal of the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma Holdings while Hunter Biden was on the board, as part of an investigation into President Biden's connections to his son's business activities.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has not yet subpoenaed Hunter Biden due to the legal complexities, but indicated that he is open to Hunter Biden voluntarily testifying before the committee to clear his name.
An FBI agent involved in the Hunter Biden probe testified that the prosecutor leading it faced hurdles and lack of cooperation from other U.S. attorneys, but still had the authority to bring tax charges against Hunter Biden; the testimony comes amid investigations into the Biden family and Republicans' push for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, has been indicted on charges of making false statements on a federal firearms form and illegal possession of a firearm, marking the first time in US history that the child of a sitting president has been charged by the Justice Department; the indictment follows the collapse of a previous plea deal and could potentially impact President Biden's 2024 reelection bid.
The FBI has established a dedicated unit to investigate threats against agents and prosecutors involved in the Hunter Biden case, as right-wing individuals accuse them of being too lenient, despite the recent indictment of Hunter Biden on federal felony charges for lying on a gun form; however, critics argue that Hunter Biden's alleged crimes would never have been prosecuted if he weren't the president's son.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has requested more information and documents related to the Justice Department's investigation into Hunter Biden, including an interview with special counsel David Weiss and interviews with other top DOJ officials, amidst allegations of mismanagement and slow progress in the case.
Hunter Biden has filed a lawsuit against the IRS, arguing that he should not be treated differently because of his status as the president's son, while concerns grow among Democrats that his legal troubles could harm the president's reelection campaign and pose difficulties for Democrats in tight House races.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will hold its first hearing on the impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Sept. 28, focusing on constitutional and legal questions surrounding his alleged involvement in corruption and abuse of public office, while also planning to subpoena the bank records of his son, Hunter Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appears before the House Judiciary Committee, defending himself against Republican accusations that the Justice Department is protecting President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, while also facing questions about the investigation into Hunter Biden and the indictments against former President Trump.
Potential tax charges against Hunter Biden faced obstacles when federal prosecutors in California and Washington, D.C. declined to assist U.S. Attorney David Weiss in charging him, leading to frustration and concerns about the investigation's future, according to testimony from an IRS law enforcement official obtained by POLITICO.
IRS officials Michael Batdorf and Darrell Waldon testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, contradicting Attorney General Merrick Garland's claim that Special Counsel David Weiss had "full authority" over whether to charge Hunter Biden with tax crimes, revealing that the Justice Department's Tax Division would also need to authorize charges.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan announced that David Weiss, the special counsel appointed in the Hunter Biden case, will appear before a congressional committee on October 18th.
House Republicans released documents suggesting that IRS agents investigating Hunter Biden faced obstacles whenever President Joe Biden's name came up in the probe, though senior Justice Department prosecutors believed the investigators had legitimate reasons to avoid the elder Biden, and there is no evidence that DOJ officials acted at the request of senior leadership.
The House Oversight Committee's first hearing in the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden featured several false and misleading claims from Republican members, including claims about shell companies and payments to the Bidens, Hunter Biden's qualification to sit on the board of Burisma, the Justice Department's handling of a search warrant related to Hunter Biden, wire transfers to Hunter Biden from China, allegations of bribery involving Joe Biden and Burisma, Hunter Biden's failure to pay taxes, and a purported text message between James and Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has appeared in federal court in Delaware to be arraigned on firearms charges, marking the first time a child of a sitting president has faced criminal charges.
The Department of Justice violated its own policy when Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss responded to congressional inquiries about the Hunter Biden investigation, contradicting their claim that only the Office of Legislative Affairs can respond to requests from the legislative branch.
President Biden's chosen federal prosecutor in DC, Matthew Graves, confirmed to Congress that he wouldn't cooperate with his Delaware counterpart to bring tax charges against Hunter Biden, arguing that such cooperation is rare and would require too much time to get up to speed on the case.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss sought special attorney authority to charge Hunter Biden in D.C., but his actions and testimony from D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves suggest that Weiss did not actually need this authority, leading to questions about why he pursued it and why he did not pursue charges in D.C.
In his closed-door testimony to Congress, Matthew Graves, the top-ranking Justice Department prosecutor in Washington, DC, refuted claims by two IRS whistleblowers that he blocked federal investigators from charging Hunter Biden with tax crimes, discrediting allegations that have been used to fuel an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
Special Counsel David Weiss will appear before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in a closed-door interview next month to clear up discrepancies regarding the investigation into Hunter Biden.
