House lawmakers looking into allegations that the Justice Department hindered an investigation into President Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, have issued a subpoena to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf. Wolf is accused by whistleblowers of diverting the FBI and IRS away from probing the Bidens.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan signed the subpoena, summoning Ms. Wolf for a closed-door deposition on Dec. 7. In a letter to Ms. Wolf, obtained by Globeblognews, the Ohio Republican stated that the Justice Department did not comply with the panel’s request to voluntarily make her available for a transcribed interview.
According to Mr. Jordan, Ms. Wolf possesses specialized and unique information essential to the committee’s inquiry. He claims that her testimony is necessary to avoid an incomplete investigation.
Ms. Wolf is a central figure in complaints made by FBI whistleblowers, who claim that the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office she helped lead suppressed their efforts to fully investigate Hunter Biden for tax fraud charges.
The whistleblowers also allege that Ms. Wolf obstructed their efforts to pursue evidence linking President Biden to an alleged influence-peddling scheme.
The letter to Ms. Wolf lists her actions that Republicans believe may have been intended to protect the Bidens, including tipping off Hunter Biden’s legal team about a potential search warrant for his abandoned storage unit and later objecting to executing a search warrant on the storage unit.
Whistleblowers claim that Ms. Wolf also blocked investigators from asking witnesses about terminology used by Hunter Biden and his business associates to refer to President Biden. Furthermore, she ordered the removal of references to Mr. Biden in a search warrant and was involved in blocking investigators from pursuing evidence of criminal campaign finance violations.
While the Justice Department has allowed other top officials to testify before the Judiciary Committee, Ms. Wolf was more directly involved in the day-to-day supervision of the investigation. According to whistleblowers, she played the lead role in thwarting their probe of Hunter Biden’s alleged tax fraud and gun crimes and any potential involvement of his father in his business deals.
In testimony before the Ways and Means Committee earlier this year, IRS whistleblowers said Ms. Wolf discouraged them from pursuing uncovered evidence suggesting that Mr. Biden participated in his son’s foreign business deals. The Justice Department even blocked them from seeking a search warrant to determine whether Mr. Biden was home on a specific date when Hunter Biden sent a WhatsApp message to a Chinese energy official, referencing his powerful father.
House GOP is leading an impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden, mostly behind closed doors. Mr. Jordan cited the impeachment probe in his letter to Ms. Wolf, stating that her testimony is required as part of the investigation.
Both Attorney General Merrick Garland and Mr. Weiss have denied the Justice Department’s involvement in protecting Hunter Biden or President Biden by either delaying or obstructing the investigation. However, Mr. Weiss has declined to explain why he allowed the statute of limitations to expire on some of the most serious tax fraud charges against Hunter Biden.
Mr. Weiss cited an ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden, who currently faces three criminal charges related to his purchase of a firearm while addicted to drugs. A previous misdemeanor plea deal on tax fraud charges fell apart in court in July.
Democrats have dismissed the GOP’s investigation as “an absolute waste of time and a farce” that has uncovered no wrongdoing.
