US House Republicans ask Justice Department to prosecute Biden's son,
brother
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[June 06, 2024]
By Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top U.S. House of Representatives Republicans
leading an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden on Wednesday
asked the Justice Department to prosecute his brother James and his son
Hunter for allegedly lying to their probe.
More than eight months have passed since House Republicans launched
their probe into the Democratic president, alleging that members of
Biden's family profited by actions he took as vice president from
2009-2017. They have produced no evidence proving wrongdoing on Biden's
part and have not brought impeachment articles up for a vote.
The Justice Department is not expected to take up the requests to charge
Hunter Biden, 54, or James Biden, 75, with making false statements
during the inquiry, and to also charge Hunter Biden with perjury.
"Hunter Biden and James Biden provided false testimony to the Oversight
Committee and the Judiciary Committee, in what appears to be a
conscious, calculated effort to insulate Joe Biden from the duly
authorized impeachment inquiry," Representatives James Comer, Jim Jordan
and Jason Smith, the chairmen of the three committees leading the
impeachment probe, wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland
and Special Counsel David Weiss.
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Hunter Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell called the referrals "nothing more
than a desperate attempt by Republicans to twist Hunter's testimony so
they can distract from their failed impeachment inquiry and interfere
with his trial."
The president's son went on trial this week on charges that he illegally
bought a gun while addicted to crack cocaine. Hunter Biden is charged
with tax crimes in another case slated to go to trial in September. He
has pleaded not guilty in both of those cases, which were brought by
Weiss.
James Biden's attorney Paul Fishman said: "This baseless partisan action
is a transparent and cynical attempt to distract from and retaliate for
Donald Trump's recent criminal conviction."
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![](../images/060624PIX/news_v42.jpg)
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, gets into a vehicle,
as he departs the federal court, on the second day of his trial on
criminal gun charges in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., June 4, 2024.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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The Justice Department declined to comment.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's allies in Congress,
including the three committee chairmen, have accused President
Biden, without providing evidence, of orchestrating the four
criminal prosecutions of the Republican former president.
A Manhattan jury convicted Trump last Thursday of falsifying
business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star,
making him the first former or sitting U.S. president to be
convicted of a felony.
Trump also faces charges stemming from efforts to overturn Biden's
2020 election victory, in federal court and in Georgia, as well as
federal charges he unlawfully kept classified documents and misled
officials seeking to recover them. None of those remaining three
cases is expected to go to trial before the Nov. 5 election.
Trump has pledged to install loyalists at the Justice Department who
will do his bidding if he is reelected. Traditionally, the
department's decision-making on criminal investigations are
independent and the White House has no say in such matters.
(Reporting by Makini Brice; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch;
editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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