It's not as eloquent as Shakespeare's "Hamlet," but it sometimes feels like we're watching a similar play-within-a-play. One where, instead of an attempt to evoke guilt in a presumed murderer, it's the Biden administration making a mockery of blind justice by acting out the motions of an investigation, charges, and punishment to try and create a mirage of impartiality. Still, like "Hamlet," the Biden administration's play seeking to depict adherence to the rule of law is one in which Attorney General Merrick Garland is protesting "too much" and not in reality as committed to treating all cases equally, just as Gertrude in "Hamlet" is not as loyal to the late King of Denmark.
As the pile of whistleblowers pointing to preferential treatment for Democrats and their friends — evidenced by Hunter Biden's sweetheart plea deal — gets bigger, it's a totally different story over at the Justice Department, where the Rule of Law™ is waved about as if Teflon against criticism. To question how Hunter got a slap on the wrist, according to Garland, "constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy."
Mr. Garland doth protest too much, methinks. But he has reason to and a lot to lose. Too bad he's so bad at it.
It came as little surprise when Americans were told by the House Ways and Means Committee last week that whistleblowers had come forward to claim the U.S. attorney from Delaware investigating Hunter Biden's tax crimes was hamstrung by the DOJ. A federal agency that is conveniently run by Merrick Garland, a man chosen by Hunter Biden's dad — also known as President Joseph R. Biden.
It must just be a coincidence that the Biden administration prevented U.S. Attorney David Weiss from bringing charges against Hunter Biden in two separate jurisdictions and denied a request for special counsel status from Weiss as he investigated the son of the man who put Garland in the position to approve or deny such a request.
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It's hardly the first time a Democratic administration has shown preferential treatment to powerful Democrats, their families, or their allies. In the web of dysfunction that is the federal bureaucracy, it's become easier for Democrats to get away with. Just look at all the convenient "leaks" in recent days from the DOJ's case against former President Donald Trump. Will anyone be held accountable for breaching protocol and doling out the government's evidence against Biden's leading 2024 challenger to CNN?
Garland, of course, denies any wrongdoing or bias in the case against Hunter Biden. Last week, Garland brushed off claims from the whistleblowers who gave testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee, but he had an interesting answer when asked directly whether he'd told Weiss "no" regarding bringing charges against Hunter Biden — he wouldn't deny that fact. Instead, he claimed Weiss "was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own." That doesn't mean Weiss wasn't told "no."
What's more, The New York Times — an outlet not known for going against powerful Democrats — quietly admitted in the 21st paragraph of a Tuesday story that it had "confirmed independently" the "episode" in which Weiss was rebuffed in attempts to bring charges against Hunter.
So, that's why Garland is cowering behind "institutions" of our "democracy." Never mind, apparently, that we're a republic. He seems to have realized that he can't use bureaucratic bull…you know…or the power of his office to cover his tracks. He has to throw up "democracy" as a diversion to try and block exceedingly deserved and increasingly credible criticism directed at his apparent use of the Justice Department to protect the Biden family.
Just because Garland says he lives by the rule of law does not make it so. But his incessant invocation of democracy and values that ought to guide the Justice Department to protect the American people from government zealots while refusing to issue direct denials of accusations of wrongdoing only adds to the appearance of impropriety.
That appearance is worsened when one remembers it isn't just Hunter Biden that Garland has abandoned the rule of law and blind justice to protect. In just one memorable previous example, Garland used the power of the Justice Department to label and treat concerned parents at school board meetings as terrorists, aimed at protecting leftist activists and their control over public education.
At the time, while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland denied any knowledge of the memo and hid behind that lazy and flimsy defense.
Coincidentally, that's the same defense Garland trotted out again last week when he was asked about U.S. Attorney Weiss' request for special counsel power to investigate Hunter Biden. "Mr. Weiss never made that request to me," Garland said, just like he asserted "no one has sent me that memo" when asked about treating American parents like terrorists.
