House GOP subpoenas Hunter Biden prosecutor in impeachment inquiry

House GOP subpoenas Hunter Biden prosecutor in impeachment inquiry

House Republicans are demanding testimony on Dec. 7 from a top prosecutor on the Hunter Biden investigation as part of their impeachment inquiry into the president, according to a subpoena reviewed by POLITICO.

The House Judiciary Committee, helmed by Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) subpoenaed Lesley Wolf — a prosecutor in the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office — on Tuesday. The panel is investigating allegations of political interference in the federal investigation into Hunter Biden. Prosecutors reached a plea deal with Biden’s lawyers this summer that fell apart after scrutiny from a judge. The Justice Department then charged the president’s son in September with illegally owning a gun while a drug user.

Two IRS agents who worked on the Justice Department’s investigation into the president’s son have accused Wolf of stymieing their efforts to fully investigate the Biden family. They also told lawmakers she directed investigators to remove a reference to Joe Biden from a search warrant and that she blocked the team from searching his home.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on the subpoena. Special Counsel David Weiss, who is running the probe, defended Wolf this month in a closed-door interview with the Judiciary Committee.

“I believe she is an excellent lawyer and is a person of integrity,” he said, later adding that political concerns did not shape her decisions.

Wolf is the latest person at the receiving end of a battery of subpoenas from House Republicans. The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Hunter Biden, James Biden, and several other members of the Biden family earlier this month.

The Judiciary Committee has also held a series of voluntary closed-door interviews with Justice Department officials as part of the probe. Those people — including two U.S. Attorneys and two FBI officials — have fielded questions about the scope of Weiss’ authority over the probe, but have withheld details about how investigators made specific decisions, given the probe is ongoing.

Those officials appeared with the Justice Department’s blessing, and accompanied by agency lawyers. But DOJ declined to make Wolf available for a voluntary interview, according to a letter from Jordan. The Department has said its general practice is to refrain from allowing testimony to Congress by line-level employees.

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