[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.