Whistleblower accounts on Hunter Biden probe throw into question timing of Garland House testimony

Attorney General Merrick Garland is scheduled to testify at a House hearing in late September, but that might change following revelations made public last week from Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers about the Justice Department's Hunter Biden investigation.

Garland is scheduled to testify Sept. 20 before the House Judiciary Committee as part on an annual update to Congress on the agency.

"Attorney General Garland is slated to come in for his regularly scheduled oversight hearing on September 20, but obviously new information that has broken may change that date," a committee spokesperson told Just the News on Wednesday. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray is testifying July 12 before the committee, which is led by Ohio GOP Rep. Jim Jordan.

Wray is expected to be grilled about the FBI’s handling of the Hunter Biden probe and the finding of former special counsel John Durham about the agency’s handling of its investigation into whether Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign colluded. However, there was no indication as of Wednesday that Wray would not keep the date.

Jordan is among the most outspoken on Capitol Hill about preventing the "weaponization" of the Justice Department going forward, citing the agency's handling of the Russia probe; the federal, criminal classified documents case against former President Trump; and the probe on first son Hunter Biden failing to pay federal income tax that earlier this month resulted in a plea deal.

The IRS whistleblowers allege the Justice Department interfered with the Biden investigation at numerous stages.

Garland disputes that claim, saying the agency allowed Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to lead the probe without interference.

"Mr. Weiss was appointed by President Trump," he said Friday. "As the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration, [he] would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to."

Biden will reportedly go before a judge in July and plead guilty to minor tax charges and a firearms charge. According to the whistleblowers, he had refused to be interviewed as part of the federal investigation.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled that he is open to an impeachment inquiry on Garland, in light of the whistleblower revelations that were revealed by the House Ways and Means Committee's release of the full interview transcripts.

"If the whistleblowers’ allegations are true, this will be a significant part of a larger impeachment inquiry into Merrick Garland’s weaponization of the DOJ," McCarthy said on Sunday.