House Republicans sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday accusing Hunter’s Biden legal team of engaging in a "brazen effort to intimidate and harass" the two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden tax probe.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Jason Smith, R-Mo., and James Comer, R-Ky., accused Biden’s attorneys of intimidating IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who recently alleged political interference in the prosecutorial decisions throughout the years-long federal probe into the president's son.
The letter accused Biden’s lawyers of having "slandered" the whistleblowers as "disgruntled" and of "urging" the Department of Justice to prosecute them.
"Federal law protects whistleblowers from retaliation, and efforts to intimidate these whistleblowers raise serious concerns about potential obstruction of the Committees’ investigation," the letter read. "Accordingly, we request information about any attempts by Hunter Biden’s legal team to encourage the Department to take action against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler."
The letter pointed to a New York Times article that said Biden’s legal team "have contended to the Justice Department that by disclosing details about the investigation to Congress, they broke the law and should be prosecuted."
The Republicans are giving the DOJ until 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 26 to produce any letters or communications from Biden’s lawyers to the DOJ "advocating for the investigation or prosecution of Mr. Shapley or Mr. Ziegler," as well as any documents and communications between his attorneys and the DOJ referring or relating to a criminal investigation or prosecution of Shapley or Ziegler.
Garland is scheduled to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee for a standard oversight hearing on Sept. 20.
Fox News has reached out to the DOJ and Biden’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Chris Clark, for comment.
The letter comes the same day that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to endorse an impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged involvement in his son's business dealings.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday said House Republicans have "uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden's conduct" that will serve as the basis of an impeachment inquiry.
"Today, I am directing our House committees to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe," McCarthy announced in a statement at the Capitol Tuesday. "This logical next step will give our committees the full power to gather all the facts and answers for the American public."
The speaker said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will lead the inquiry in coordination with House Oversight Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Ways & Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
McCarthy spoke for only roughly three minutes and did not take questions from reporters. He made no mention of holding a floor vote before opening the impeachment inquiry, despite telling Breitbart earlier this month it would happen "through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person."
He listed allegations of "abuse of power, obstruction and corruption" made against Biden by several GOP-led committees who have been investigating the president.
"Through our investigations, we have found that President Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family's foreign business dealings. Eyewitnesses have testified that the president joined on multiple phone calls and had multiple interactions, dinners resulted in cars and millions of dollars into his sons and his son's business partners," McCarthy said.
"We know that bank records show that nearly $20 million in payments were directed to the Biden family members and associates through various Shell companies. The Treasury Department alone has more than 150 transactions involving the Biden family. Another business associates that were flagged as suspicious activity by U.S. banks. Even a trusted FBI informant has alleged a bribe to the Biden family. Biden used his official office to coordinate with Hunter Biden's business partners about Hunter's role in Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company," he continued.
He concluded, "Finally, despite these serious allegations, it appears that the president's family has been offered special treatment by Biden's own administration. Treatment that not otherwise would have received if they were not related to the president. These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction and corruption, and they want further investigation by the House of Representatives."
Earlier, Fox News confirmed that McCarthy will tell House Republicans today that beginning an impeachment inquiry against Biden is the "logical next step" for their investigations. An inquiry is the first step of the impeachment process, where evidence is gathered for the articles, or charges, of impeachment against an official.
The House GOP conference plans to hold a meeting on Thursday morning for key committee chairs to lay out their latest findings and the status of the investigations into the Biden family. The chairs of the committees overseeing the inquiry will brief rank-and-file lawmakers.
In a statement responding to McCarthy's announcement, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations Ian Sams blasted the effort as politically motivated.
"House Republicans have been investigating the President for 9 months, and they've turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. His own GOP members have said so. He vowed to hold a vote to open impeachment, now he flip flopped because he doesn't have support. Extreme politics at its worst," Sams wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Sources first told Fox News Digital in August that McCarthy planned to open an impeachment inquiry this month. There had been debate at the time over whether to first hold a floor vote in a show of GOP unity.
A House vote is not necessary to open an impeachment inquiry, but McCarthy had criticized former Speaker Nancy Pelosi for launching one into former President Donald Trump before formalizing it on the chamber floor.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy is pressing forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and rallying his House Republican Conference this week to back the probe, sources close to the speaker told The Washington Times.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is facing a “perfect storm” of complications when the House returns to work Tuesday, Rep. Ken Buck said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday. The Colorado Republican should know—he’s a member of the extremist Freedom Caucus, the group that is gleefully making McCarthy’s life miserable.
McCarthy has promised a lot of different things to a lot of different people, Buck said, including suggesting that he’s open to the idea of impeaching President Joe Biden. Buck is not an impeachment believer and has taken on radical GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying that "the idea that that she is now the expert on impeachment or that she is someone who should set the timing on impeachment is absurd." He added that it should only happen if there is “evidence linking President Biden to a high crime or misdemeanor. That doesn’t exist right now.”
As for the “perfect storm” brewing in the next three weeks, Buck lists a continuing resolution that has to be passed to keep the government operating, the massive funding cuts the Freedom Caucus is demanding before they’ll allow that continuing resolution, and the impeachment. “So you take those things put together, and Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, has made promises on each of those issues to different groups. And now it is all coming due at the same time.”
Time for the voice of experience to weigh in—namely, former Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leader during the 2013 shutdown. You might remember Cantor as one of the “Young Guns” trio, who were, according to the press copy for their book, “changing the face of the Republican Party and giving us a new road map back to the American dream.” The other “guns”? McCarthy and former House Speaker Paul Ryan. In retrospect, how hilarious is this video?
You might think, given that experience, that Cantor would tell the last Young Gun standing to finally cut off the Freedom Caucus and work with the majority of Republicans—along with Democrats—to avoid a shutdown. In a new interview with Politico, he doesn’t do quite that. He told them that he learned the lesson from 2013 that “individuals would be willing to embark upon a plan that was so poorly conceived that there was no exit strategy at all — and that that would be appealing.” He added, “A lot of people were just fine with being able to vent their anger and frustration, go into the shutdown and leave it to leaders to figure out how to get out of it. I think that politically, that’s not a winner — but perhaps that will be what happens again.”
So Cantor’s advice to McCarthy is basically to find an “exit strategy.” That’ll work!
Buck is a little more realistic about it. McCarthy likely will have to pass the continuing resolution with Democratic votes, which will enrage the Freedom Caucus and almost certainly result in their trying to oust McCarthy with a motion to vacate the chair. That’s not something that Buck says McCarthy should be too worried about, though. “I think there will be challenges, but I don’t see anybody stepping up and say, I’ll take Kevin’s job,” he said. “So I think that’s really what saves Kevin is the lack of enthusiasm from anybody else to do the job.”
Gosh, what a ringing endorsement for keeping the House in Republican hands.
Why does it seem like Republicans have such a hard time recruiting Senate candidates who actually live in the states they want to run in? We're discussing this strange but persistent phenomenon on this week's edition of "The Downballot." The latest example is former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who's been spending his time in Florida since leaving the House in 2015, but he's not the only one. Republican Senate hopefuls in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Montana, and Wisconsin all have questionable ties to their home states—a problem that Democrats have gleefully exploited in recent years. (Remember Dr. Oz? Of course you do.)
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"Former chief of staff for AG’s office details alarm over Ken Paxton’s alleged affair" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Attorney General Ken Paxton’s alleged extramarital affair came up for the first time at length Monday in his impeachment trial.
Katherine “Missy” Cary, the former chief of staff in the attorney general’s office, testified how she came to learn about the affair and how Paxton ultimately confessed to it. But perhaps most relevant to the case, Cary testified how she warned Paxton it could make him vulnerable to bribery, an allegation central to his impeachment.
The dramatic testimony came as Paxton’s wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, listened on from the Senate floor.
“My heart broke for her,” Cary said of Angela Paxton, who is disqualified from voting in the trial but has to attend.
The alleged affair is referenced in one of the articles of impeachment that is being tried. The article accuses Paxton of bribery because he “benefited from Nate Paul’s employment of a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair.”
House impeachment managers allege that Paxton, driven by his desire to continue his affair and hide it from his wife and religious voters, went to impeachable and criminal lengths to help Paul. In exchange, they allege, Paul hired Olson at his company so that she could move from San Antonio to Austin.
While Paxton's alleged affair has increasingly taken center stage since the House impeached him in June, Cary marked the first time a witness provided firsthand knowledge of it — and in painful detail. Upon cross-examination, Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee sought to stir doubt about the veracity of some of Cary's early observations of the alleged affair and downplayed its relevance to the case.
[Ken Paxton tried to hide his affair from his wife and voters. It may be his undoing.]
"Imagine if we impeached everybody here in Austin that had had an affair," Buzbee said. "We’d be impeaching for the next 100 years, wouldn’t we?"
Cary testified that her knowledge of the alleged affair all began in the spring of 2018 when she was eating lunch alone at Galaxy Cafe in Austin. She overheard a woman next to her having a conversation that troubled her, suggesting the woman was conveying “very personal” information about Ken Paxton. Cary said she took her concerns to the attorney general, who said the woman was the real estate agent selling his condo in Austin.
But later that spring, Cary said she saw the same woman at an official event in San Antonio and saw her name tag: Laura Olson.
Cary said she then learned about the relationship from other people in the office and felt “surprised” Paxton had lied to her about who Olson was. The relationship was impacting staff morale, Cary added, with Angela Paxton calling the office to try to track down her husband and staffers feeling “uncomfortable answering those questions.”
Cary eventually had a meeting with Paxton where they discussed the legal and “ethical implications of a secret affair,” she said. Cary said they discussed that such conduct could “open one up to bribery and misuse of office” — allegations at the center of his impeachment.
In that meeting, Cary said Paxton confirmed he was having an affair but did not say whether it was with Olson. He was “contrite and he listened to what I had to say very carefully,” Cary recalled.
In September 2018, Paxton and his wife convened a meeting with top aides where he confessed to the affair, Cary said. She described it as an awkward and emotional meeting. Angela Paxton was “sad and embarrassed” and cried, Cary said. Cary said she hugged Angela Paxton and told her she was sorry this had happened to her.
After that meeting, Cary said, she believed such behavior was “out of [Paxton’s] life for good.”
But months later in 2019, Cary said, Paxton told her the affair was continuing. Cary said Paxton expressed that he "still loved Mrs. Olson" and wanted Cary, as the chief of staff, to "be more accommodating" of it when it came to things like his security detail.
Cary said she told Paxton "quite bluntly it wasn't my business who he was sleeping with, but that when things boiled over in to the office," it became a concern to her. In Cary's telling, that comment enraged Paxton, who turned "red in the face," raised his voice and stormed out of her office.
Buzbee took an aggressive tack in cross-examining Cary. After initially trying to put her at ease, he launched into an interrogation of her account of how she first came to learn about Olson. Buzbee accused Cary of getting wrong the kind of car Olson had at Galaxy Cafe, saying Olson has "never owned a red car." Cary said she never claimed the car she saw belonged to Olson.
"I guess I'm trying to figure out how good is your memory," Buzbee said.
Buzbee did not explicitly mention Paxton's alleged adultery. But he cast such misbehavior in religious terms, first asking Cary if she attended church. She initially resisted answering, questioning whether it was an appropriate question. But Buzbee insisted it was relevant and asked her, in an allusion to God, if there was "only one person who was ever perfect." She agreed that is the case in her belief system.
"All have sinned and fallen short of the grace of God, right?" Buzbee asked, to which Cary agreed. "Sometimes people make stupid mistakes, right?"
That is when Buzbee raised the possibility of impeaching anybody in Austin who has had an affair. Cary declined to respond to the hypothetical, saying, "I don't think I should answer this question in this chamber, particularly."
"Just because somebody has an affair doesn't mean that they're a quote criminal, does it?" Buzbee asked, to which Cary said she "would not associate that directly."
The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is expected to make a forceful pitch at a Thursday special conference meeting on investigations among House Republicans, that opening an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden is the next logical step, sources familiar tell CNN.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy McCarthy plans to tell his GOP colleagues that opening the impeachment inquiry into the president is the "logical next step" in the investigations into Mr. Biden and his son.
As we do every few weeks or so, let’s check in on the Daily Kos relief fund for the Ukrainian civilians—and their furry friends—affected by Russia’s daily war crimes. As of this morning, you’ve contributed:
Despite the perpetual whining of the armchair generals, Ukraine’s military continues sticking to the plan, making progress with creativity, tenacity, and a kind of get-off-my-lawnism that Putin’s goons will never figure out how to overcome. Many thanks for your continued support of the civilians keeping things as normal as possible on the home front. It all helps.
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Note: Our food service vendor has informed us that the yogurt served in the C&J cafeteria on yesterday contained live active cultures that, instead of aiding digestive health, actually cause painful facial disfigurement and a significant loss in monthly revenue. We regret the inconvenience.
JEERS to reapin' what ye sowed. We knew this shit was goin' down—knew it for many decades—and the people in charge just kept looking the other way. And here we are, living now on what feels like a different and dystopian planet that has just begun taking its revenge on us. The bill is literally coming due and humanity's gonna pay:
With four months still left in the year, the US has been hit with 23 disasters that each cost at least $1 billion, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, surpassing the previous annual record of 22 events in 2020.
Meanwhile, hurricane Lee is getting too close to C&J HQ for comfort.
This year’s billion-dollar disasters have caused 253 direct and indirect fatalities and have resulted in $57.6 billion in damage, NOAA data shows. That price tag does not yet include Hurricane Idalia. […]
The impact of extreme weather is being amplified by decisions to build and rebuildin high-risk areas, and the events themselves are being supercharged by the climate crisis, said Rachel Cleetus, a policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “These record-breaking and sobering numbers are the latest confirmation of a worsening trend in costly disasters, many of which bear the fingerprints of climate change,” Cleetus told CNN.
Anyone think this is gonna get better in our lifetimes? Me neither. But on the bright side, [Insert bright side here once one is found]. So go on out there and have a super duper day!
CHEERS to another feisty day in The Lege. Here's a partial transcript as yesterday's impeachment hearing for disgraced Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is being charged with all kinds of crimey business, entered its second week:
"He's all hat and no cattle!"
"Oh yeah? Well you ain't got the sense of a Sugar Land armadillo that fell down a well full o’ scorpions!"
"Oh yeah? I got six slugs in mah six-shooter that says you're fulla beans in a skillet over a campfire that got stamped out by a herd o' cattle in a rainstorm!"
Due to the sensitive nature of the hearings, additional security has been called in.
"Oh yeah? Y'all couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn built outta planks cut up in a Nerf sawmill!"
"Oh yeah? This ain't my first rodeo outta the gate while it's rainin' frogs in a dust storm in the panhandle!"
"Oh yeah? Remember the Alamo!"
"Oh yeah? You remember the Alamo! I'll remember faith and freedom and your mama, with whom I had sex last night with mah boots on!"
"Oh yeah? Why, you couldn't lasso your tallywacker if I gave ya a hundred tries!"
"Y'all!"
"Y'all y'all barbeque!"
[Plaster rains from the ceiling as all the legislators start shooting their guns in the air]
The hearings continue this morning. As a special treat, the attendees will be treated to a buffet of ribs and fracking fluid.
JEERS to the human snot rag. Lest we forget, a 12 years ago this week Newton Leroy Gingrich put on a display of the class and charm that makes him one of America's most admired leaders since, oh, the First of Never. See if you can detect the subtle undertones in his pronouncement...
"What if [President Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?" Gingrich asks.
Newt Gingrich: giant asshole since 1943.
"This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president," Gingrich tells us.
I'm still shocked that Trump didn’t make Newt his Secretary of Racism. Such a natural. Then again, I understand why he didn’t—he would’ve made Stephen Miller jealous.
CHEERS to that little nip in the air. I'm told that fall is on our doorstep (11 days and counting, not that we're counting), although it's a bit hard to believe after last week's 80-plus days (145 with the heat-index thrown in) melted our collective brains and popsicles.
“Soon, my children. Soon.”
But, no matter—the future-tellers from the 229-year-old Old Farmer's Almanac trotted out their latest meteorological predictions this month. Having read the moss on the bark, the fuzz on the caterpillars, the chicken bones in the wooden bowl, and the sound of our neighbor Mrs. McGillicutty's creaky knee on her front porch, the old farmer predicts that the entire country will have a winter season starting two-thirds of the way through December and ending roughly ten days before the end of March. I'm as skeptical as anyone, but they’re the experts.
CHEERS to the new talkie machine on the block. For just $799—plus tax, title, licensing fee, twenty-year wireless contract, first-born child, and $50 extra for rust-proofing and mud flaps—you can have an iPhone 15 of your very own. The latest model gets unveiled today by executives in turtlenecks taking turns walking around a stage muttering, "Hmm, that's weird—it worked fine in rehearsal" to wild distorted cheers and applause from their millions of fans. Here are some exciting features in the new model:
» 34xT569yu to replace the 34xT569yt
» 56907bit656789
» Ice cream maker
Exclusive look at the iPhone 15, debuting today.
» Hurricane shifter
» fRPohtRtEty technology
» 18 cameras with free starter pack of flash bulbs
» Fully dockable with the International Space Station
» Bionic arm that can whip a peach pit with 100% accuracy from 80 yards
» Optional 23iTT59097 pack to enhance the 34xT569yu (But don’t use it to enhance your 5675jg77 or the room's gonna get real smoky real fast.)
» Butt-ID unlocking feature
» Manufactured with new and improved Chinese child labor
» Tim Cook will have a drone come to your house and deliver a pot pie he made himself with his own two hands and lots of love
Sadly, no room in it for a phone.
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Ten years ago in C&J: September 12, 2013
JEERS to the return of the nasty people. After loading up on vegemite sandwiches and traveling to the polls in a fried-out Kombi, Australians voted for whatever they vote for over there. (Probably a kangaroo court—ha ha!) Now they have a new leader, and I'm sure you want to know, "Who can it be now?" Sadly it's a conservative. So get ready for nice and sensible things to be taken away from you, Down Underers. Because if it's one thing we all know, no matter what hemisphere you're in, conservatives always like to move in a counterclockwise direction.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to making your mark making your mark making your mark. Sad news from across the pond, as one of the most interesting scientists ever to walk the planet has passed on:
Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Monday. He was 79.
Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for animal biosciences had cloned Dolly using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep.
It marked the first time that a genetically identical mammal was created from an adult cell and spurred questions about the potential cloning of humans.
C&J sends our condolences to his extended family members Ian Wilmut, Ian Wilmut, Ian Wilmut, Ian Wilmut, Ian Wilmut, and Ian Wilmut.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
CNN Reports ‘Cheering and Chanting’ For Bill in Portland Maine—Despite BiPM Being Jeered in the Kiddie Pool By His Own Boosters
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen described Grisham's 30-day "public health order" as "unconstitutional" during a press conference this week despite standing beside the governor during her rollout of the policy.
"It’s unconstitutional, so there’s no way we can enforce that order," the sheriff said in a Monday news conference. "This ban does nothing to curb gun violence."
"We must always remember not only are we protecting the Second Amendment, but at the same time, we have a lot of violence within our community. Let me be clear, I hold my standards high, and I do not or never will hedge on what is right."
Grisham issued an emergency order on Friday suspending the right to carry guns in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County for at least 30 days following recent instances of gun violence.
The governor said she expects the order to face legal challenges, but she believes she needed to act in response to recent gun-related deaths, such as an 11-year-old boy who was shot and killed outside a minor league baseball stadium earlier this week.
The suspension was classified as an emergency public health order and applies to open and concealed carry in most public places, excluding police and licensed security guards. The restriction is connected to a threshold for violent crime rates met only by the Albuquerque area.
Allen claims he pressured against the public health order, saying "[Grisham] knew we as law enforcement did not agree with the order, and as a result, this was solely her decision."
Grisham fired back at Allen following his press conference, ordering the law enforcement official to "stop being squeamish" about enforcing the order.
"I don’t need a lecture on constitutionality from Sheriff Allen: what I need is action," Grisham said in a statement responding to Allen. "What we need is for leaders to stand up for the victims of violent crime. We need law enforcement, district attorneys, public officials, school leaders and state agencies to use every single tool at their disposal to stop this violence. Period."
She continued, "We’ve given you the tools, Sheriff Allen — now stop being squeamish about using them. I will not back down from doing what’s right and I will always put the safety of the people of New Mexico first."
Violators could face civil penalties and a fine of up to $5,000, according to the governor's spokeswoman Caroline Sweeney. The governor said state police are responsible for enforcing the order, but she acknowledged not all law enforcement officials – including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area – agree with it.
Lujan Grisham cited several recent shootings in Albuquerque when issuing the order, including the Wednesday shooting outside the Albuquerque Isotopes' field that left 11-year-old Froyland Villegas dead and a woman critically wounded. The two were inside a vehicle that was sprayed with bullets as people were leaving the game.
On Aug. 13, 5-year-old Galilea Samaniego was shot and killed as she slept when four teens entered a mobile home community in two stolen vehicles and opened fire on the home. The girl was shot in the head and died from her injuries at a hospital.
Another deadly shooting took place in August in Taos County when a 14-year-old boy used his father's gun to shoot and kill his friend, 13-year-old Amber Archuleta, while they were at the boy's home.
Fox News Digital's Landon Mion contributed to this report.
