Republicans Ready to Use the Nuclear Option Against Garland: 'It's Not an Empty Threat'
Allegations by two whistleblowers have sparked new interest in impeaching Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The whistleblowers, whose testimony was released by the House Oversight Committee, last week, said that at one point, U.S. attorney David Weiss, who was the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, said during a meeting that he was not responsible for making decisions about whether to file charges against Hunter Biden, pointing the finger at Garland, who has said he did not interfere in the investigation.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday framed the consequences if Garland lied.
“If it comes true what the IRS whistleblower is saying, we’re going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general,” McCarthy said, according to CNN. Last week, McCarthy was cool on impeachment articles introduced by Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado against President Joe Biden, which were sent to House committees for review.
If the allegations from the IRS whistleblowers are proven true through House Republican investigations, we will begin an impeachment inquiry on Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland. pic.twitter.com/tFgjwKWfcR
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 27, 2023
Several Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee said they are ready to start if the word is given, according to Breitbart.
“It’s not an empty threat,” Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California said.
“Congress can’t just look away from the culture of corruption that’s there for all to see, and the possibility of impeachment has to be on the table,” he said.
He said Garland has earned it.
“From the start, AG Garland has allowed partisan politics to hold sway in the Justice Department — including the unprecedented targeting of parents,” he said.
Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming said that the “allegations related to the Hunter and Joe Biden investigation make it abundantly clear a two-tiered system of justice exists today.”
“The Department of Justice, and the entirety of the federal government, must be a fair and impartial agency that enforces federal law, but under current leadership, it is a political weapon used to punish opponents of the president,” she said.
Representatives of Republican Reps. Andy Biggs’ of Arizona and Troy Nehls and Chip Roy of Texas indicated their members are on board.
In May, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia introduced a resolution calling for Garland to be impeached for “facilitating the weaponization and politicization of the United States justice system against the American people.”
Although Garland denied influence, whistleblower Gary Shapley on Saturday issued a statement doubling down on his testimony, according to the New York Post.
“In an October 7, 2022, meeting at the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney David Weiss told six witnesses he did not have authority to charge in other districts and had thus requested special counsel status,” according to a statement from the group Oversight.
“Mr. Shapley would have no insight into why Mr. Weiss’s would make these statements at the October 7, 2022 meeting if they were false. That Mr. Weiss made these statements is easily corroborated, and it is up to him and the Justice Department to reconcile the evidence of his October 7, 2022 statements with contrary statements by Mr. Weiss and the Attorney General to Congress,” the statement said.
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