The political corruption within the Justice Department has been laid bare with the recent explosive testimony from an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower. According to the whistleblower, Attorney General Merrick Garland and IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel lied to Congress about the Hunter Biden probe.
Eileen J. O’Connor, the former head of the Tax Division of the Justice Department from 2001 to 2007 expressed her shock over the revelations. She said in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, “I wanted the public to understand what happened in this case. Informed citizens are essential to the operation of this government. From my decades as a tax practitioner and my six years as head of the tax division, I read Special Agent Shapley’s testimony with deep, deep interest. When I got to page 95, my jaw dropped.”
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee released transcripts of depositions from Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers who said that U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who had been appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017, allegedly told investigators that he was “not the deciding person” as to whether or not Hunter Biden would be charged.
It appears that Garland had failed to give Weiss the special counsel authority to do whatever he needed to do, wherever he needed to do it, as he testified to Congress in March. Without this authority, Hunter Biden could not be prosecuted for any of the potential tax crimes.
The Attorney General’s questionable actions, and the revelations from the IRS whistleblowers, underscore the grave issues of political corruption within the DOJ. It is a stark reminder of how the administration under former President Donald Trump may have weaponized the DOJ against the political opposition.
O’Connor, whose op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on the matter called for the judge hearing the case to throw out the plea deal, noted, “I want to thank ‘The Wall Street Journal’ for publishing my op-ed and giving it a catchy title. My title had been ‘Corruption, Collusion, or Mere Incompetence?,’ because any of those might actually describe what caused what happen here to happen here.”
The Justice Department’s blatantly partial actions in regards to Hunter Biden have served to further erode the public’s trust of the agency, and the Biden administration must take swift measures to repair the damage. Ultimately, the truth of hidden political corruption needs to be exposed, and the public must be made aware of any irregularities and potential violations of law so the public can take the necessary steps to hold the responsible parties accountable.