Legal analyst Jonathan Turley believes the "moment of truth" has come for Attorney General Merrick Garland, Turley said on his eponymous blog. Garland will have to demonstrate his impartiality or admit that he's a political hack when it comes to perjury charges for Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden.
Turley believes there's "overwhelming" evidence that the Bidens made false statements to Congress. The House Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight Committees each sent Garland "formal referrals for the perjury prosecution" of the men.
The George Washington University Law School professor is calling on Garland to act as quickly as he did with former President Donald Trump. "The evidence of false answers to Congress is overwhelming, and Garland’s department has prosecuted Trump associates and others with far less in past cases, including the prosecution of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn," Turley wrote.
This will be the testing ground for Garland and his integrity. After all, Turley says, Garland has maintained that he "would not allow political considerations to cloud his judgment."
Turley recounted the evidence against Hunter and James Biden, which was noted in a summary from the Committees. Hunter Biden allegedly misrepresented his ties to Rosemont Seneca Bohi, which was contradicted in his deposition.
Hunter Biden also claimed that threatening text messages sent to a Chinese business associate were actually sent to another unrelated person with the same name. Those messages included the name of his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden for added intimidation and coincided with that business wiring his company millions of dollars.
Finally, James Biden claimed that his brother Joe Biden never met with business associate Tony Bobulinski. James and Hunter Biden were putting together a deal with CEFC China Energy in 2017, and both Bobulinski and Joe Biden would admit to a meeting at that time.
"These are straight-forward questions and answers. More importantly, both men knew and prepared for these questions," Turley pointed out.
"They were widely discussed before their testimony. They appear to have knowingly lied. The question is what Garland is now prepared to do about it," the legal scholar wrote.
Turley said that although he supported Garland as Attorney General because of his "integrity and intellect," it's becoming more apparent that Garland is deferential to Joe Biden and his family. "Now, Garland has what appears flagrant perjurious statements made by the President’s son and brother," Turley said.
"Given the fact that these were anticipated questions, the false answers appear premeditated and egregious," he added. Turley wonders now whether Garland will show his impartiality and go after Biden with the same zeal that we pursued lesser charges for Trump.
"In the Trump cases, the Justice Department moved with impressive speed in going to grand juries against figures for false statements or contempt of Congress. There was little handwringing, no hem and hawing," Turley wrote.
"So Garland’s moment of truth has arrived. He will either have to meet it or shrink from it. Either way, the Attorney General is about to give the full measure of himself and his office," Turley concluded.
Turley is correct that Garland will have much to prove after the way he acted so swiftly to get Trump on trial. However, what he gets wrong is that Garland does not care at all about fairness and never has.
