By Ashley Oliver, Justice Department Reporter. Media:Washingtonexaminer
Attorney General Merrick Garland will be in the hot seat this week facing serious questions about historic indictments against President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and former President Donald Trump.
Garland will appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, where committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said the “two big issues” will be the fairness of prosecutions led by special counsels David Weiss and Jack Smith, both appointed by Garland.
“I think that the top issues are going to be David Weiss, this [Hunter Biden] investigation,” Jordan told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “I think there’s certainly going to be questions — what we’ll see, he probably will try to not answer, but there’ll be questions on Jack Smith, as well.”
The chairman said he’s prepared for Garland to decline to provide substantive answers, referencing the Department of Justice’s long-held stance that it does not divulge nonpublic information about ongoing investigations.

Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
Weiss, the top prosecutor in the Hunter Biden case, became a top target for Republicans after two IRS criminal investigators involved in the case reported to Congress in the spring that the department had “slow-walked” the case and that U.S. attorneys in Washington, D.C., and California had blocked Weiss from bringing charges against Biden in those jurisdictions.
Jordan also took issue with Weiss, who has led the case for roughly four years, being named special counsel, a position that is typically reserved for a prosecutor who works outside of the department.
“One of the themes that the country sees is you’ve got now David Weiss named a special counsel, the same guy who for four and a half years tried to make this all go away,” Jordan said. “Every witness we’ve talked to has told us how they were frustrated at the pace of this investigation, how it was slow-walked, how there was no real urgency to try to get it done in their minds, so you’ve got David Weiss, the special counsel here it looks like to protect Joe Biden.”

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The chairman added of Smith, the prosecutor who brought two historic indictments against Trump this year, “And of course, you’ve got Jack Smith, who’s on the attack against President Trump. So, I think those issues, those will be two big issues there will be questions about.”
In addition to Garland’s testimony — the attorney general typically attends an annual hearing as part of the committee’s standard oversight obligations — Jordan is expecting to question Weiss after the DOJ vowed the prosecutor would testify in September or October.
“They committed to it. I mean, they said that he will come in and testify in front of the Judiciary Committee, so we expect that to happen either … later this month or early next month,” Jordan said.
While the DOJ has not rescinded its offer that Weiss testify since he gained the elevated authority of special counsel, the department did indicate in a letter after his special counsel appointment in August that the “most appropriate time” for Weiss or anyone else to testify in an “ongoing criminal investigation” is after the case was closed.
Jordan said he is particularly interested in questioning Weiss on whether he had “full authority” in the case after receiving what Jordan said were conflicting letters from Weiss about the matter.
“Well, dude, which is it? It can’t be both. It can’t be full authority — you’re Tarzan, you can pound your chest and determine when, where, and whether, and then also on the other hand, ‘Oh, but it’s only limited to Delaware,'” Jordan explained. “So that’s why we expect him to come in and testify. He committed to do so. We’ll expect him to be there.”
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), did not respond to a request for comment.
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