Support among House Judiciary Committee Republicans for an impeachment inquiry into Attorney General Merrick Garland grew stronger after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy threatened impeachment proceedings if IRS whistleblower allegations turn out to be true regarding the politicization of the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden tax probe.
IRS whistleblowers told Congress last week the DOJ twice prevented United States Attorney David Weiss from bringing stronger charges in two separate locations against Hunter Biden. In addition, the whistleblowers alleged Garland rejected a request to appoint a special counsel in the probe to place a degree of separation between the DOJ and President Joe Biden.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden congratulates Judge Merrick Garland after he was nominated by U.S. President Barack Obama to the Supreme Court in the Rose Garden at the White House, March 16, 2016, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley claims his allegations can be corroborated by several individuals with firsthand knowledge of Shapley’s account of his communication with Weiss. “It’s up to him and the Justice Department to reconcile the evidence,” Shapley said through his attorney.
Garland denies the DOJ politically interfered in the investigation of the president’s son. Garland says Weiss had full authority to charge Hunter Biden, even though Garland admitted to Congress in March he was the authority to authorize any potential charges against Hunter Biden — including in a separate “jurisdiction.”
Watch: Merrick Garland Says Claims of DOJ Political Bias Are an Attack on American Democracy
The conflicting stories caused McCarthy on Sunday to threaten impeachment proceedings against Garland if the whistleblower allegations are found to be true.
Several Republican House Judiciary Committee members told Breitbart News that they support McCarthy considering an impeachment inquiry. Impeachment proceedings must originate from the House Judiciary Committee before reaching a full House vote.
“It’s not an empty threat,” senior committee member Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) exclusively told Breitbart News. “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.”
“From the start, AG Garland has allowed partisan politics to hold sway in the Justice Department — including the unprecedented targeting of parents,” he added.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), sitting next to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), gavels in a House Judiciary Committee Field Hearing, Monday, April 17, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
“Whistleblower allegations related to the Hunter and Joe Biden investigation make it abundantly clear a two-tiered system of justice exists today,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) told Breitbart News. “I fully support Speaker McCarthy on this issue and welcome the opportunity to question Mr. Garland in Judiciary Committee hearings.”
“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.
Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) and Rep. Troy Nehls’ (R-TX) senior staff also issued statements in support of impeachment proceedings to Breitbart News.
“Congressman Nehls absolutely supports McCarthy’s position that Garland should be impeached,” said Nehls’ Communications Director Taylor Hulsey.
“Congressman Biggs is on board,” Communications Director Matthew Tragesser told Breitbart News.
In a clip shared with Breitbart News from Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) Communications Director Nate Madden, the Texas congressman also supported the potential impeachment proceeding if the allegations prove true.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) speak during a news conference on the debt limit negotiations at the U.S. Capitol Building on March 10, 2023, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“That certainly raises questions of impeachability. There is no question about that,” Roy told WMAL. “That’s what inquiries are for … We’ve got an obligation on the Judiciary Committee to pursue it wherever it goes.”
McCarthy appeared Monday on Fox and Friends and doubled down on his vow of imminent impeachment proceedings against Garland if the whistleblower allegations are true.
“Yesterday, I laid out very clearly by July 6, because of the allegations of the IRS, because of the whistleblowers and Garland — what he is saying and what Weiss is saying are two different things,” McCarthy said. “And if it is true what the IRS whistleblowers are saying, we will start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.