[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S479-S480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Hunter Biden
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, this week, news reports made public a
May 2019 subpoena from the Justice Department. That subpoena requested
financial records relating to Hunter Biden as part of the Department's
criminal investigation into his activities.
Notably, that subpoena also requested records relating to James
Biden, Devon Archer, and Eric Schwerin. That subpoena sought records
relating to companies that Senator Johnson and I discussed in our Biden
report.
If the reports are accurate, this subpoena is yet another stake in
the heart of a totally unsubstantiated claim made by the liberal media
and Democrats that the Grassley-Johnson report on Biden was Russia
disinformation.
Today, I come here to speak about a matter directly related to the
recent news--specifically, the Biden Justice Department's failure to
answer fundamental questions related to Hunter's criminal
investigation.
I have asked serious ethical questions of the Justice Department that
the Department so far has refused to answer. In fact, the Department
has actually publicly contradicted itself.
Just one example of contradiction: On May 31, 2021, Senator Johnson
and I wrote to Attorney General Garland. Our letter noted that Hunter
Biden had a close association with Patrick Ho, an individual who is
associated with the
[[Page S480]]
communist Chinese Government and its intelligence services. Patrick Ho
was also charged and convicted of international bribery and money
laundering offenses relating to his work for companies connected to
that communist regime.
After his arrest, his first call was reportedly to James Biden,
President Biden's brother. Hunter Biden reportedly represented Patrick
Ho for $1 million.
In our letter, we noted that a Justice Department Federal court
filing said DOJ had FISA information on Patrick Ho. Not only did they
possess this information, the Department informed the court that they
intended to use it to prosecute that person.
Senator Johnson and I asked the Justice Department for that FISA
information as well as FISA information for other Chinese nationals
linked to Hunter Biden. In response, I quote the Justice Department:
Unfortunately, under the circumstances described in your
letter, we aren't in a position to confirm the existence of
the information that is sought (if it exists in the
Department's possession).
Now, get that--``if it exists in the Department's possession.''
Simply put, that is not a true and accurate statement unless the
Department's statement to the Federal court in the Patrick Ho matter
wasn't true and accurate.
So, then, as we naturally followed up, on November 15, 2021, we asked
Attorney General Garland to explain the discrepancy. No response to
this very day.
Both statements can't be true. Either the Department possesses the
information or it doesn't possess the information.
So we can legitimately ask Attorney General Garland again: What is
your answer?
Now, this doesn't end there with that question. On February 3, 2021,
and March 9, 2021, Senator Johnson and I asked Attorney General Garland
if Nicholas McQuaid is recused from the Hunter Biden criminal case.
Now, this McQuaid works in the Department's Criminal Division but
worked with Hunter Biden's criminal attorneys before joining the
Department. This poses a clear conflict of interest. Attorney General
Garland has refused to answer to this very day.
On June 29, 2021, Senator Johnson and I asked Attorney General
Garland whether Susan Hennessey, a National Security Division employee,
is recused from the Durham investigation. Before working for the
Department, she made negative comments about the Durham investigation.
In Attorney General Garland's July 13, 2021, response letter, he
failed to answer our questions. However, at the Senate Judiciary
Committee's oversight hearing October 27, 2021, the Attorney General
said she ``has nothing whatsoever to do with the Durham
investigation.''
Although this statement doesn't fully answer our questions, such as
whether she has been formally recused from the matter, it is more than
what we were provided in the Department's letter response.
Likewise, the Justice Department said that Margaret Goodlander ``has
no role in Mr. Durham's investigation.'' She is married to Biden's
National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Sullivan worked for the
Clinton Presidential campaign. While there, he peddled the false Alfa-
Bank story about the Trump Organization having a secret back channel to
this Russian bank. Those false allegations were reviewed as part of
Crossfire Hurricane.
Now, with all that said, let's take stock of where we are. On the one
hand, Attorney General Garland has publicly said Susan Hennessey and
Margaret Goodlander have no roles in the Durham investigation. On the
other hand, Attorney General Garland refuses to say the same for
McQuaid and the Hunter Biden criminal investigation.
So we can really ask, ``Why is it that way? Why won't the Attorney
General say that McQuaid has no role in the criminal case involving the
President's son?'' because this is a fundamental ethical question.
Our letters have provided Attorney General Garland the opportunity to
hit the ball right out of the park. Instead, he doesn't even try to
make a swing.
What is the Biden Justice Department hiding? This blatantly
inconsistent treatment has cast a cloud over Hunter Biden's criminal
case.
Just imagine if this fact pattern had evolved between President Trump
and his sons. The media would have gone nuts over it. You wouldn't hear
the end of it--also from my Democratic colleagues here in the Senate.
Yet not a sound from them, not a peep.
The American people are rightly skeptical of how the Justice
Department is handling the Hunter Biden criminal investigation. And the
secrecy and the lack of public transparency will only increase the
skepticism that the American people have.
So I and Senator Johnson won't stop doing good government oversight
on this issue. The American people deserve answers, one way or another.