by David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Republicans on Thursday requested testimony from more than a dozen Justice Department officials, the FBI and other government agencies involved in the federal tax investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
Three Republican committee chairmen in the House of Representatives said the testimony was necessary in light of allegations by Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers that the DOJ interfered in a tax investigation to protect the president’s son.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland last week rejected accusations that the prosecutor appointed by Republican former President Donald Trump to lead the investigation had been given full power to make decisions on charges.
House Republicans have made investigations of the president, his family and his administration a top priority. Calls for cross-party action have intensified since Trump was indicted for mishandling classified government documents.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned earlier this week that Garland could face impeachment on the whistle-blowing charges.
Testimony questions Thursday are from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith.
“The committees want to investigate allegations by whistleblowers who allege that the investigation into Hunter Biden has been deliberately slow and has been subject to improper and political interference,” Garland wrote in the letter.
A Justice Department spokesman confirmed receipt of the letter and declined to comment further.
Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts of willful failure to pay income taxes and two felony counts of a gun-related charge as part of a plea deal.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone, Alexandra Hudson)