It's already been a wild week in Hunter Biden news. While the plea deal that would have allowed him to avoid jail time for tax and gun charges has fallen apart, there's also concerns about Mann Act violations with Hunter having transported women he used as prostitutes and then wrote off as business expenses. The fallout still continues though. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) revealed in a letter from Tuesday sent to to National National Human Trafficking Coordinator Hillary Axam and Director at the Office for Victims of Crime Kristina Rose, both employees with the Department of Justice (DOJ), that they are concerned with how charges brought will affect the rights of those exploited women.
More from the @RepJamesComer and @RepMTG to the National Human Trafficking Coordinator and Director of the Office for Victims of Crimes at DOJ, regarding concerns the DOJ disregarded the victims who were sexually exploited by Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/Ontuiv8FNs
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) July 25, 2023
"The Department of Justice (DOJ) should uphold the rights of any victim who was sexually exploited by Robert Hunter Biden (Hunter Biden)," the lawmakers begin their letter with. "DOJ appears to have ignored its own policies by only charging Hunter Biden with two misdemeanor tax charges. But more disturbing, the Committee is concerned DOJ disregarded the victims who were sexually exploited by Hunter Biden. Congressional testimony indicates that Hunter Biden paid prostitutes—victims—and used such payments as tax expenses for one of his companies. These testimonies also indicated DOJ was investigating Hunter Biden for Mann Act violations," that opening paragraph continues.
Concerns abound when it comes to the DOJ's charging of Hunter Biden, and, as Comer and Greene lay out in their lengthy letter, this also applies to exploiting these prostitutes, whom the lawmakers acknowledge as having been "exploited" and refer to as "victims" throughout their letter.
Because of how the DOJ brought the charges, Comer and Greene are concerned that certain provisions of The Crime Victims’ Rights Act (CRVA) and Mandatory Victim Restitution Act (MRVA) may not be available to the exploited women.
As the letter read at one point, "the Committee is concerned about the narrow scope of the charges that the DOJ chose to bring despite available evidence to other, more serious crimes. The limited charging decisions may directly affect the victims’ ability to obtain relief. In choosing to ignore more severe criminal charges or omit relevant offense conduct, the DOJ opted to leave victims out of the conversation—a statutory right under the CVRA."
Comer and Greene are clever in their letter when it comes to using Attorney General Merrick Garland's words against him for any inaction on the DO's part. This includes quoting Garland’s own remarks from February 13, 2013, about human trafficking, and mentioning the boasting that occurred with regards to how the Office for Victims of Crime has distributed to victims.
The letter also goes after the DOJ for special treatment afforded to Hunter Biden.
"When DOJ chooses to forgo particular charges in an investigation because of an individual’s last name or political affiliation, they run the risk of foreclosing victims’ rights. The Hunter Biden plea agreement sets a dangerous precedent and one that the American people deserve an answer for," the lawmakers wrote. "Accordingly, we seek transparency related to whether the DOJ consulted with victims in the plea negotiation process with Hunter Biden; what DOJ did with the information that was compiled by law enforcement agents related to these victims; whether such victims have been notified of the change of plea hearing and potential sentencing dates; and whether they can submit victim impact statements during court proceedings."
Comer and Greene are asking Axam and Rose the following questions by August 4:
Did anyone at the United States Attorney’s Office for Delaware contact anyone at DOJ regarding potential victims in the investigation of Hunter Biden?
Who at DOJ received the compiled list of women who were allegedly sexually exploited by Hunter Biden and what did those persons do with that information?
Was the U.S. Probation Office informed of relevant offense conduct involving victims?
Whether DOJ conferred with any victims pursuant to the CVRA prior to entering into the plea agreement(s) with Hunter Biden’s attorneys?
Were any victims notified of the change of plea hearing?
Does DOJ intend to notify victims of the sentencing hearing so they can submit victim impact statements to the Court?
Was the U.S. Attorney for Delaware or another DOJ component responsible for handling victim issues related to the investigation of Hunter Biden?
“Additionally, the Committee seeks a briefing to discuss how DOJ has allocated and used funds for grants and other expenditures related to the Crime Victims Fund since 2021,” the letter continues.
Greene has continuously spoken out against any potential Mann Act violations that Hunter Biden may have committed, including during last Wednesday's House Oversight Committee hearing featuring testimony from IRS whistleblowers. During her time, she held up sexually explicit pictures from Hunter Biden's laptop that showed him engaging in sex acts with prostitutes. Although some details were blurred, such as the victims' faces, Hunter Biden's face was not.
Hunter Biden's attorneys filed an ethics complaint against Greene last Friday for showing the pictures, and Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) introduced a privileged resolution on Tuesday to censure Greene, due to, in part, her showing such photos. Greene does not appear worried though, especially as indicated by her tweets.
Geez fundraising must be really bad. https://t.co/Wrs0xNEvC7
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 25, 2023
In quoting one of her own tweets from Monday, the congresswoman put on notice those who would act offended about the photos being shown, which she again shared over Twitter.
"If you’re offended by the Hunter Biden pictures I showed during the Oversight IRS whistleblowers hearing, why aren’t you outraged by the proof of Hunter Biden human sex trafficking (Mann Act violations) that I showed? What about his victims? He wrote them off on his taxes," she wrote in a tweet from her official account.
"The same people offended by this support genital mutilation of children, sexualizing kids with LGBTQ agenda books in school, support men dressed in drag showing their genitals to kids at parades and drag shows, and would give anything to have this kind of proof to use against @EricTrump and @DonaldJTrumpJr," she wrote in a retweet from her political account. "But they aren’t offended at Hunter Biden for making sex videos with prostitutes and uploading his sex tapes onto porn sites himself. They aren’t offended that Hunter actually engaged in human sex trafficking and paid for it through his law firm then wrote his victims off on his taxes. And they aren’t shocked that the IRS whistleblowers were told to stop investigating and the corrupt DOJ has not prosecuted Hunter Biden. No, they are just offended that I dare show the proof of only a fraction of what Hunter has done," she continued.
Watch Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's questioning of IRS Whistleblowers which began with a "parental discretion" warning. pic.twitter.com/BtFDOdiIDM
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 19, 2023
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