Biden Justice Department
July 2, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Has United States Attorney David Weiss been granted the ultimate authority to investigate and charge the Hunter Biden case as he sees fit? IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified that Weiss told him and others on the investigative team that he did not (for example, at page 28 of the Shapley transcript). Taking advantage of the long holiday weekend in a scandal management kind of way, on Friday Weiss released a
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June 29, 2023 — Scott Johnson
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley appeared for an interview over two segments on Special Report with Bret Baier last night. I have posted video of the first of the two segments below. Fox News has posted stories on the interview here and here. Shapley blows the whistle on the Department of Justice’s “investigation” of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes. As with other famous scofflaws of American history, Biden’s tax crimes open a
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June 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The story of the Biden family business continues to be the lead story in American politics. Let us strive to keep our eye on it one way or another. The pending plea deal arranged for Hunter Biden makes up an essential component of the story. In a post behind NRO’s subscription paywall, Brittany Bernstein provides the comments of former United States Attorney Brett Tolman on the deal: Brett Tolman, executive
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June 26, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Wall Street Journal contemplates “Hunter Biden’s ‘fair’ tax share” with the help of the testimony of the IRS whistleblowers released late last week. The Journal editorial bears on a number of issues including the Bide/Dem/left-wing mantra about “the rich” paying their “fair share” (what is it, by the way?) and the nature of the deal that the Biden Department of Justice has extended to Hunter. Here is the summary
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June 25, 2023 — Scott Johnson
There was really only one story in American politics last week. It came with the release of the IRS whistleblower transcripts on Thursday on Thursday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith. I wrote about Smith’s press conference in “Is the cover-up unraveling?” and noted the availability of the whistleblower transcripts online. They are posted here (Gary Shapley) and here (witness name redacted, supplemental submission here). These materials
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June 22, 2023 — Scott Johnson
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith has just released the committee’s transcribed interview with IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and an unidentified colleague. The interviews took place on May 26 and June 1. Redacted interview transcripts are accessible online here at the bottom of Smith’s press release. Smith’s press release provides this quote: Whistleblowers describe how the Biden Justice Department intervened and overstepped in a campaign to protect the
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June 22, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The terms of Hunter Biden’s plea deal are set forth in a June 20 Department of Justice press release. Ruminating about the plea deal in my sleep overnight, I have a few more thoughts on the Hunter Biden plea deal or a restatement of my morning-after theses. The deal reeks of shamelessness. Shamelessness is its leading quality. The meritless Merrick Garland could not be reached for comment. He was out
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June 21, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday “prosecutors” in the Biden Department of Justice filed charging documents in the Hunter Biden case. Politico has posted copies of the documents here. The charging documents correspond with the plea deal that was arranged to resolve the case. The deal is separately set forth in the cover letter accompanying the charging documents. The letter is accessible here. The related Politico story on the plea deal is here. Six thoughts
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June 20, 2023 — Scott Johnson
President Trump sat for an interview with Bret Baier for Fox News Special Report. They played the first 30 minutes of the interview last night. They discussed the allegations of the documents indictment at the top of the interview and then moved on to other subjects. Trump’s comments seemed to me illustrative of some of the theses I have set forth in this series. • President Trump is an impossible
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June 16, 2023 — Scott Johnson
My purpose here is to put forward propositions in the form of theses related to the Trump indictment that I believe to be true and worthy of note. At the least, I hope they may spur serious thought and analysis. • The indictment is an incredibly destructive act. Krazee-Eyez Killa Jack Smith is the wrong man to stand behind it. His selection as Special Counsel was uncalled for by any
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June 15, 2023 — Scott Johnson
AEI’s Marc Thiessen and Danielle Pletka take up the Biden Justice Department’s indictment of President Trump with our own 3WHH’s Professor John Yoo on their What the Hell Is Going On? podcast. Dated yesterday, the podcast takes up one or two of the the themes I have touched on in my own series of theses on the indictment. I have about 13 more parts and 77 theses to go, but
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June 13, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I would like to get to the resonant number 95 in my theses on the indictment of President Trump by the Biden Department of Justice. Here are six more. • Trump’s indictment is bad for the United States. It is difficult to calibrate all the negative consequences at the moment, but they outweigh whatever benefit can be cited on its behalf. • The Biden administration’s approach to the indictment is
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June 12, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I concluded “Six theses on the Trump indictment” with this thought: “Smith’s indictment reflects both President Biden’s desire to run for reelection against Trump and the insuperable difficulties Trump’s candidacy poses for the Republican Party. When it comes to Trump’s accusation of ‘election-interference,’ Trump is right in more ways than one.” I want to expand on that proposition with six more. • If the Biden team didn’t want to run
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June 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
NRO has posted the federal indictment of President Trump and his aide Walt Nauta here (via Ryan Mills and Caroline Downey’s report here. I thought I would postulate six theses on the indictment in lieu of legal analysis of the various counts and possible defenses. Mills and Downey summarize the charges: “According to the 49-page document, Trump is being charged with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information,
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May 26, 2023 — Scott Johnson
We’ve heard about the IRS whistleblower in the joint Justice Department-IRS investigation of Hunter Biden. Byron York put it this way in his column on what he calls the “brewing scandal.” I would describe it as the obvious suppression of the Hunter Biden case by the Department of Justice: The whistleblower was a career IRS criminal supervisory special agent who, according to his lawyer, could reveal “clear conflicts of interest”
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May 25, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Andrew McCarthy considers the transformation of the Department of Justice’s investigation of President Trump for mishandling classified investigation into an obstruction of justice probe. He traces the transformation our having “suddenly learned…drumroll…that Joe Biden had been illegally hoarding classified information for decades, from his time in the Senate through his time as Obama administration vice president” in locations ranging from his private office to his private den to his private
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May 12, 2023 — Scott Johnson
I can’t say I thought “Mongo Santa Maria” was the funniest line in Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles, but I thought it was funny and it has stuck in my mind for some 50 years. It comes to mind in connection with the indictment of Republican Rep. George Santos on federal charges this week. Mongo Santos Maria! Santos was just elected this past November and his offenses only came to light
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