House Republicans Demand Department of Justice Release Documents for Hunter Biden Investigation

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday subpoenaed the Department of Justice (DOJ) for material related to special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Hur did not recommend criminal charges for Biden, stating in his report a reason was that at trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

The report, released Feb. 8, also found Biden shared classified information with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, although Biden publicly denied that happened.

In a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the Oversight Committee, and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the Judiciary, said the DOJ did not properly respond to their Feb. 12 request for “a narrow and specific set of material” relating to Hur’s investigation of Biden’s “willful mishandling of classified information.” The request included audio and video recordings of Hur’s interviews with the president and Zwonitzer.

They wrote the DOJ’s response Feb. 16 did not produce “any of the requested material and stating instead that it was ‘working to gather and process’ responsive documents.”

“The Department, however, offered no timeframe by which it expected to make any productions or, indeed, any commitment that it would produce all of the material requested,” the lawmakers wrote. “The Oversight and Judiciary Committees, in coordination with the Ways and Means Committee, are investigating whether sufficient grounds exist to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House.”

In addition to the impeachment inquiry, the Judiciary Committee is investigating the DOJ’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who has been charged regarding his alleged role in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and for his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination to face Biden in November’s election, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims his prosecutions are politically motivated.

The lawmakers wrote they are concerned that Biden might have retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business dealings, which are central to their impeachment inquiry. They also are seeking documents referenced in Hur’s report that relate to a Dec. 11, 2015, phone call between then-Vice President Biden and then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk during a timeframe when Biden called for the firing of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating energy giant Burisma Holdings Ltd., on whose board Biden’s son Hunter Biden served.

“Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents made two things clear: there’s a double standard of justice in this country and Joe Biden isn’t fit for office,” Jordan said in a news release. “The transcripts and materials from his investigation are critical to our oversight work.”

Comer and Jordan gave the DOJ a March 7 deadline to comply with the subpoena. Newsmax reached out to the DOJ for comment.