House Republicans sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday accusing Hunter’s Biden legal team of engaging in a “brazen effort to intimidate and harass” the two Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers in the Hunter Biden tax probe.
Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Jason Smith, R-Mo., and James Comer, R-Ky., accused Biden’s attorneys of intimidating IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, who recently alleged political interference in the prosecutorial decisions throughout the years-long federal probe into the president’s son.
The letter accused Biden’s lawyers of having “slandered” the whistleblowers as “disgruntled” and of “urging” the Department of Justice to prosecute them.
“Federal law protects whistleblowers from retaliation, and efforts to intimidate these whistleblowers raise serious concerns about potential obstruction of the Committees’ investigation,” the letter read. “Accordingly, we request information about any attempts by Hunter Biden’s legal team to encourage the Department to take action against IRS whistleblowers Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.”
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The letter pointed to a New York Times article that said Biden’s legal team “have contended to the Justice Department that by disclosing details about the investigation to Congress, they broke the law and should be prosecuted.”
The Republicans are giving the DOJ until 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 26 to produce any letters or communications from Biden’s lawyers to the DOJ “advocating for the investigation or prosecution of Mr. Shapley or Mr. Ziegler,” as well as any documents and communications between his attorneys and the DOJ referring or relating to a criminal investigation or prosecution of Shapley or Ziegler.
Garland is scheduled to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee for a standard oversight hearing on Sept. 20.
Fox News has reached out to the DOJ and Biden’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Chris Clark, for comment.
The letter comes the same day that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to endorse an impeachment inquiry into President Biden for his alleged involvement in his son’s business dealings.