Federal prosecutor remains silent on whistleblower claims in Hunter Biden probe
Fox News correspondent David Spunt reports on Merrick Garland claiming that attorney David Weiss had authority over Hunter Biden probe on ‘Special Report.’
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is urging the House to look into impeaching President Biden after an IRS whistleblower on the Hunter Biden probe told Congress that the president's son invoked his father to pressure a Chinese business partner through WhatsApp and claimed the elder Biden was in the room while he was making deals.
Asked at what point the investigation and problems pertaining to Hunter Biden turn into an issue for the president, which could lead to impeachment efforts by Republicans, Cruz said: "It is right now."
"Look, this WhatsApp is direct evidence of Joe Biden abusing his government power to enrich his son, and, assuming 10% for the big guy, to enrich himself," Cruz continued. "Remember, this WhatsApp says ‘we want to know.’ This is not just me, Hunter, just mooching off my dad.... Of course the House needs to investigate it, but the stunning thing is what the IRS whistleblower says is [Department of Justice], Merrick Garland prevented an investigation even into this message."
Garland has denied that there was any interference in the Hunter Biden probe.
Cruz's remarks came during a new episode of the senator's podcast, which is called Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Hunter Biden, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and President Biden (Al Drago/Bloomberg | Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency | Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)
Cruz discussed allegations from an IRS whistleblower released by House Republicans this week, where an investigator on the Hunter Biden probe claimed there had been unprecedented efforts to prevent investigations into Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign and into his presidency.
Whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr. — who oversaw the IRS probe into the president's son — said the IRS had obtained a WhatsApp message dated July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged that he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.
"And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."
"I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father," Hunter Biden reportedly said.
"This WhatsApp directly ties Joe Biden to the millions of dollars coming from communist China," Cruz said. "Now, it is possible Hunter Biden was lying, it's possible Joe Biden wasn't next to him. It's possible Joe Biden was not going to inflict official damage on the Chinese if they didn't pay him and his son millions of dollars. That's possible, but you know what, we don't know if it's true or not. Why? Because, according to the whistleblower, they didn't investigate, and they were prohibited from investigating. They were prevented from even asking the question."
"Let me be clear: This, on the face of it, is obstruction of justice," he said. "And if Merrick Garland issued that order, he is the one blocking the investigation, and I think there's real evidence of Merrick Garland being guilty of obstruction of justice."
Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has served in the Senate since 2013, said, "If you had a single Democrat who gave a flying flip about the rule of law, we would have a hearing right now with Merrick Garland in front of us, under oath, asking about this WhatsApp," he said. "We would ask to see every document, we would ask to see every email, we'd ask to see every communication between DOJ and the investigators. We would put the IRS whistleblowers on the stand, under oath to testify about it, and we would confront Merrick Garland with that."
KIRBY ARGUES WITH REPORTER ABOUT PURPORTED HUNTER BIDEN TEXT MESSAGE: 'NOT GOING TO COMMENT FURTHER'
President Biden departs Dublin Airport on Air Force One with his sister Valerie and son Hunter on April 14, 2023, in Dublin, Ireland. (Julien Behal/Irish Government via Getty Images)
"The chances of the Senate Judiciary Committee doing that are zero, because [chairman] Dick Durbin doesn't care," he added. "No Senate Democrat cares, but the House does, so that is the only hope for investigating this."
If the claims made in the WhatsApp message are accurate, they starkly contradict President Biden's repeated insistence that he had no knowledge of son Hunter's business dealings.
Asked Friday by a reporter whether the WhatsApp message undermines the president's claims that he had no knowledge of his son's overseas activities, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby replied, "No, and I'm not going to comment further on this."
President Biden and his son Hunter Biden (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)
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A Hunter Biden attorney said in a statement Friday, "Any verifiable words or actions of my client, in the midst of a horrible addiction, are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family."
White House Counsel's Office spokesman Ian Sams said, "As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son."
"As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, and in this case, the White House has not been involved," Sams continued. "As the President has said, he loves his son and is proud of him accepting responsibility for his actions and is proud of what he is doing to rebuild his life."
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