Tipsheet

Here's Who the House Judiciary Committee Just Subpoenaed in Connection to Hunter Biden Case

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 22, 2023 9:00 AM

The Republican-controlled House is really making moves with the Hunter Biden investigation. On Tuesday, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf for the District of Delaware, who was involved with investigating the first son. Townhall was given the opportunity to review subpoena, as well as the cover letter that Jordan sent to Wolf, with the subpoena indicating Wolf must appear before the Committee on December 7 at 10:00am. This subpoena comes after the Department of Justice (DOJ) had previously refused to allow Wolf to voluntarily give testimony, as the letter indicates, referecning specific requests from June 29 and July 21.

These investigations into Hunter Biden, as Jordan's letter reminds, have considerable ramifications: deciding if there is enough evidence to impeach his father, President Joe Biden. "The Committee is also investigating whether sufficient grounds exist to draft articles of impeachment against President Biden for consideration by the full House," the letter mentions early on. Jordan's letter also mentions a memo from September 27, 2023, in which he, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO)  "set forth... the evidence justifying the inquiry and the scope of this impeachment investigation."

For years now, the District of Delaware has been investigating Hunter on gun and tax charges. He initially received a sweetheart plea deal, though that fell apart in late July. He'll be going to trial sometime next year.

Where Wolf comes in is that she has "first-hand knowledge of the Department’s criminal inquiry of Hunter Biden." Citing "the Committee's investigation to date," Jordan's letter notes "it is clear that you possess specialized and unique information that is unavailable to the Committee through other sources and without which the Committee’s inquiry would be incomplete," referring to Wolf. 

"Witness testimony and public reporting indicates that as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware, you were directly involved in that office’s investigation of Hunter Biden, which deviated from standard investigative procedures," the letter goes on to point out. 

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IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler have provided whistleblower testimony, as has Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Matters Stuart Goldberg.

The findings mentioned in the letter are numerous and damning. Wolf suppoedly attended most if not all of the prosecution's team regarding the DOJ's investigation of the first son. When it comes to those deviations, Wolf was:

  • Telling defense counsel about a potential search warrant for Hunter Biden’s abandoned storage unit and later objecting to executing a search warrant on the storage unit;
  • Prohibiting investigators from asking witnesses about “the big guy” or “dad,” presumably referring to President Biden;
  • Ordering investigators to remove from a search warrant any reference to “Political Figure 1,” that is, President Biden;
  • Prohibiting investigators from following up on evidence of criminal campaign finance violations; and
  • Forbidding investigators from interviewing Hunter Biden’s adult children

The letter also went on to note that Wolf "obstructed the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania from briefing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delawareabout information from a highly credible confidential human source regarding bribes allegedly paid to President Biden and Hunter Biden," adding that "the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania testified that you served as the 'primary interface' for your office to receive information about the Biden family bribery allegations."

Wolf's unique role is once more reiterated, as the DOJ and the arguments for not making her available are addressed and picked apart, specifically when it comes to how "the Department has generally claimed in correspondencethat its longstanding policy is to not make non-Senate-confirmed and line-level Justice Department employees available for interviews." Jordan's letter slams such a claim as "factually, legally, and historically inaccurate," and cites a 2012 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service on "Congressional Investigations of the Department of Justice" from 1912-2012. 

The DOJ has also tried to hide behind the "ongoing investigation" claim,  which the letter refers to as an "amorphous assertion," and which is where Jordan really lets the department have it. Jordan and his fellow chairman have stood firm behind citing Congress' authority, and it's truly on display in such a letter.

Jordan notes that this argument "prohibits Congress from exercising its Constitutional oversight obligation," also going on to write "[t]he suggestion that the Departmentmay somehow dictate the nature of the Committee’s oversight because of the continuing nature of an ongoing law-enforcement investigation lacks any valid legal basis, and the Committee does not accept it as a legitimate reason to obstruct or otherwise delay ouroversight efforts."

Chairman Comer similarly emphasized while appearing on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight," also on Tuesday, that "all roads lead to Lesley Wolf" and her "calling [investigations into the Biden family] off."

While a common narrative from Democrats is that it was former President Donald Trump who chose U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was kept on for the Biden administration and later named special counsel, it was Delaware's two Democratic senators who recommend Weiss. This was highlighted back in August in a fact-check by Empower Oversight's Tristan Leavitt. The group is representing Shapley.

As Leavitt also pointed out, though, Wolf is known for some partisan politics. She "donated to Democrats in 2020 and 2022. Her husband is a longtime Democratic donor, dating back to the 2008 and 2012 Obama/Biden campaigns," his fact-check indicated.

The Federalist, which also covered the subpoena, noted that Wolf was also the subject a letter from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). As Grassley's office told the outlet, however, the DOJ ignored such a letter.