House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is sounding off on Hunter Biden’s “preferential treatment” at the hands of the Department of Justice, arguing they ran the case in a “ridiculous way.”
During an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Jordan spoke about reports that Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanor tax avoidance charges and that he may not serve any prison time for a felony gun charge. The first son was charged with failing to pay any taxes on around $1.5 million in income for two straight years. He was also accused of lying on a federal gun background check form about his past drug use and addiction in order to purchase a handgun.
Jordan was outraged at the “sweetheart” plea deal, saying it was yet another example of how the country’s justice system has become politicized and two-tiered.
“I think the big takeaway from last week is nothing has changed at the Justice Department. I mean, John Durham told us how bad it was, that it was all a lie, Crossfire Hurricane. He told us they got incredible intelligence that said this whole thing, Trump-Russia narrative, was from the Clinton campaign. So, the intelligence is credible enough that he briefed the president, the vice president, attorney general, the director of the FBI puts it in a memo,” Jordan said.
“And Jim Comey doesn’t share that memo with the agents doing the case. I mean, that’s how wrong. And now we get to this situation. We have a whistleblower come forward and says they were denied information that they should have had. Hunter Biden got special treatment, preferential treatment, and they ran this case in a ridiculous way. So that to me is the big takeaway. Nothing has changed at the Justice Department, which is why what we do with the appropriations process and our focus on not allowing FISA to be reauthorized in its current form is so darn important,” he added.
Jordan also recently sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting information on the status of a special counsel investigation into President Joe Biden’s potential mishandling of classified documents.
Jordan, an Ohio Republican, specifically wants Garland to provide him with an “unredacted copy of the memorandum outlining the scope of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s probes regarding President Biden and any supporting documents relating to his appointment.”
“The Committee on the Judiciary has jurisdiction to oversee the activities of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation pursuant to Rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives,” he wrote, adding that he’s also requesting “any other document describing, listing, or delineating the authority and jurisdiction” outlining the scope “of the special counsel” probe.
Hur was appointed after classified documents were discovered at the Biden Penn Center, which dated back to when Biden served as vice president. Additional classified materials were also found at one of Biden’s residences in Delaware.
Jordan’s letters to Garland came as former President Donald Trump appeared in court this week.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon issued her first big decision on Thursday afternoon in the case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who Biden’s Department of Justice appointed.
Cannon declared in a brief order that all attorneys in the case — as well as Trump’s longtime valet, Walt Nauta, who is charged alongside him as an alleged co-conspirator — are required to contact the DOJ about obtaining security clearances.
“Cannon ordered the attorneys to file a ‘notice of compliance’ by June 20, a relatively rapid pace. Both Trump and Nauta are looking to fill out their legal teams in the coming days. Trump, in particular, has suffered setbacks as several of his veteran lawyers quit the case in the leadup to his indictment, the result of internal turmoil that has spilled into public view,” Politico reported.
“There are no additional dates set yet in the case against Trump, whose historic arraignment was completed on Tuesday in Miami. Nauta’s arraignment was postponed until June 27 because he did not yet have a lawyer who is a member of the bar in the federal court in south Florida,” the outlet added.
Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell tweeted: “New on Trump Mar-a-Lago docket: US judge Aileen Cannon orders defense counsel to contact DOJ to expedite security clearance process on or before June 16 and file compliance notice by June 20. Cannon does not appear to be recusing this case.”